Huskers In China Day 16: Battling with the Chinese Army Team

Day 16: Battling with the Chinese Army Team

Our final full day in Beijing included a trip to a tea shop and an introduction to Chinese tea, a source of national pride here.  Then we headed to a nearby university, a neutral location for Nebraska's battle with the Chinese Army team comprised of players recruited by the Army strictly to play for the Army's pro volleyball team.

Last year, Tianjin won the pro league, Shanghai finished second and the Army team finished third.  The Huskers beat Shanghai and lost to Tianjin earlier on this trip. 

The Big Red dropped today's match three sets to one: 25-20, 20-25, 18-25 and 19-25.  The Army team played its starters the entire match.  The Huskers were out-hit .342-.227.  Brooke Delano led the Big Red with nine kills and hit .600, while Gina Mancuso had six kills and hit .333. Nebraska won the blocking battle 9-7

I think the players to a person feel that they're a better team with more potential now, but each would probably admit that they played their best volleyball earlier in the trip.  Kayla Banwarth's highlight for the 17 days was the win over the Zhejiang pro team, a win ten days ago.

There may be many reasons explaining why the team actually played better earlier in the trip.  Normally the team works out twice a week in season; this trip has not involved any lifting.  The team normally eats hearty, healthy meals.  They're less accustomed to the Chinese cuisine served here and haven't always eaten a lot during meals.  They're simply not as strong as they were ten days ago.  They also ran into two teams over the last three days that are superior to any of the competition faced earlier on the trip. Tara Mueller said afterwards that Tianjin and the Army team played faster than any competition she's ever faced.

Check out today's video blog for some of Coach Cook's postgame comments.  He believes the volleyball this fall will seem slower to the Huskers and easier because of this experience.

Tomorrow is the half-day team meeting that has been the culmination of each of these three Husker volleyball trips to China over the last decade. Whatever is discussed there will be kept private.  The meetings in 2000 and 2006 heightened the commitment those players had to those teams.

We leave Shanghai for O'Hare in the afternoon, arriving in Omaha a little past 7 p.m. Friday.

I'm John Baylor, describing what I see.  To ask questions or offer comments, please email us at John@JohnBaylorTestPrep.com.