Rebekah Allick, junior, Lincoln, 6-foot-4 middle blocker
Allick is Nebraska's leader in blocks this season and has the fifth-most kills with 92. In catching up with Allick, the junior covers a lot of ground, from season expectations to goofy road trips. Nebraska is 16-1 and is riding a 13-match winning streak.
“I’m really excited about the season. I think a lot of our heads are in different places, but more days than not, our heads are in December (and the NCAA Tournament). We’re just really motivated.
“We’re women. We have all of these responsibilities, and we’re treated like (women). We have the expectations put on us, as women do. With all of the things that happened with Harper (Murray during the offseason), she had to grow up super-fast, and I think she’s handled it gracefully and so well. Even before I was here, I had all kinds of expectations put on me as well just with my character and my work ethic outside of the gym, and it can be a lot.
People are also reading…
“(Coach John Cook) has a bottomless hunger for greatness. I think I bring so much to the table, and yet he still thinks he can bring more out of me. I’ve never met someone who will stand by wanting the greatest things in people. And he will push you and push you, and you wonder why he’s being so hard on you. But you reflect on those times when we had coaches quit on us or go quiet, and those times are hard and difficult as an athlete too because it made you wonder if this is as good as it gets. Here at Nebraska with Coach Cook, he pushes you. And he also celebrates you really well. I’ve never met somebody so hungry, and he’s at the ripe age of 68. It’s like he’s got the ambition of a 20-year-old. He wants it all. Nothing gets taken for granted. He wants another conference title. He was upset about the Purdue numbers. He’s like, ‘No one should be hitting like that in our house.’
“Growing up I played basketball, and I tried tennis for a semester in high school. I did swimming for five years. I did T-ball when I was little.
“In volleyball, I love the part where I get to throw my body on the floor. I love the spontaneous of it all. I love the athleticism that it requires. It requires work ethic for sure, and I think that’s what separates it from a lot of other sports is you’re not giving 100% of what you have it’s pretty evident and someone will outwork you and it will show quite quickly, versus other sports like basketball I discovered it’s quite easy to have a ball hog. In the game of volleyball, there are no ball hogs. It’s quite impossible to win the whole game by yourself. And I only say that because basketball was my first love. Everything I ever wanted to be was a basketball player. But then it changed. My love for volleyball was different.
“There is a lot on the table for me (after college). Right now, I’m taking a lot of that to prayer. I’m really big on my faith and what the Lord wants for me. So there are a couple of things on the table. I’m considering a pro volleyball career for sure. And I’m looking into the house remodeling business. My mom always had HGTV (Home and Garden Television) on, so I think that’s part of it. But I love doing stuff with my hands. I just want to be active. And it’s another way to give back to the community.
“I cannot get over the story of how (in the 1980s the Nebraska volleyball team would play its matches right after Husker football games to try and get more fans to attend), and now we’re selling out. Just the other day I was on my Instagram Stories and a college player — I think she’s in the SEC — she posted about her volleyball game like, ‘Tomorrow night at 6:30.’ I can’t tell you the last time I had to advertise about a volleyball game. I feel like if I did people would get mad, like, ‘Oh, trust me we know when it is, but we can’t get tickets.’ It’s just crazy.
“I want my legacy at Nebraska to always be yourself. Always, always be yourself. I found from a really young age the benefits of being yourself, and also the cons of feeling the need to please others just so they would accept you and love you and choose you. And I always found that I always ran out when I was trying to be something that I wasn’t. But whenever I was myself, regardless of who chose me and regardless of who didn’t, I was comfortable in my own skin. I also found I experienced a lot of different people versus sticking to what I thought was comfortable. I found whenever I put myself out there and sat with that random kid and asked how that kid was doing — what he was drawing and listening to — it made me appreciate all the different variations human beings come in.
“An (ESPN camera crew came to my house for the Nebraska volleyball documentary, No Place Like Nebraska). It was weird. Never in my days did I think ESPN would come to my house. You grow up watching as a kid. In the morning, we’d always have The Weather Channel on, and then the sports channel after that. So it would be ESPN Top 10 highlights from all of these sports. So the fact that same ESPN came to my house and saw my dogs, it was crazy. It was really cool.
“On my favorite road trip this year, I roomed with (Laney Choboy) and then there was a door that connected to the other room, and it was (Leyla Blackwell and Kennedi Orr). It felt like a sisterhood. I remember Laney and I grabbed our food and went into their room and ate with them and we just stayed up and messed around and laughed. I really enjoyed myself. We have some very, very funny women on this team. They’re so funny, and they’re random and they’re unapologetic.â€
— Brent C. Wagner