A coach can do some things to make a college volleyball player better, but it's nice to have a strong foundation to build off.
With Kayla Caffey, one of Nebraska's four new players this season, coach John Cook liked a lot about what he had to start with when he began coaching Caffey six months ago.
“She’s got a great arm, and she’s got great vision, so those things are hard to coach,†Cook said. “She’s got a lot of natural ability.â€
It’s from that point that Cook and the coaches went to work trying to make the 6-foot middle blocker from Chicago into a better player.
“We just got to figure out a way to take advantage of it,†said Cook of Caffey’s arm and ability to see the spots to hit on the court.
Nebraska coaches have a long record of taking good players and developing them into something even better, including with All-Americans Kelsey Robinson, Amber Rolfzen and Annika Albrecht.
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Caffey is in her first season with Nebraska after joining the team last summer as a graduate transfer from Missouri. Still, she’s a junior in eligibility and could play a few years for the Huskers. She’s excited about working on a master’s degree in education.
She redshirted as a freshman at Missouri, then missed the 2018 season with a leg injury and was awarded a medical redshirt by the NCAA.
Caffey has already had a nice college career. During each of the two seasons Caffey played for the Tigers she was one of the best middle blockers in the Southeastern Conference. In 2019, her .408 hitting percentage ranked ninth nationally.
Now Cook is working to take Caffey to the next level as a player, especially in blocking.
“She has a very fast arm and she can hit it all directions and in different body positions,†he said. “So that’s a great arm. Baseball pitchers have a great arm. She’s got every pitch there is and can do it well.â€
Caffey is smaller than many other Big Ten middle blockers, but she can jump high. So it will be interesting if she can still get kills at a high percentage.
Nebraska has yet to play the top programs in the conference, but Caffey is off to good start to the season. She’s averaging 2.2 kills per set with a .342 hitting percentage. Her 13 blocks are tied with Riley Zuhn for the team lead.
In Nebraska’s three-set win against Maryland last Saturday, Caffey had a season-best eight kills with a .538 hitting percentage and five blocks.
“We’ll see how it goes, but she’s a dynamic jumper and a very good athlete,†Cook said. “We’re trying to train her how to block successful in the Big Ten.â€
During matches, when Nebraska transitions from playing defense to offense, Caffey can quickly make herself available to be set the ball.
“We’re trying to take advantage of her speed and her arm and her movement,†Cook said. “Sometimes when you’re a little smaller and faster there is advantage to that, as opposed to being tall and slower.â€
Caffey says the changes the coaches are making with her are pretty significant.
“I think a huge difference, mostly coming from Tyler Hildebrand, he’s the middles coach, is he’s really allowing me to use my full athleticism offensively,†Caffey said. “And then blockingwise I’ve learned a lot of new things, like shaping and using my full athleticism and split-stepping.
“It’s a whole new world, honestly, at Nebraska. It’s pretty night and day from the training that I received previously. It’s pretty cool.â€
Caffey feels good about her progress.
“I’m still pretty new to the program,†she said. “I think eventually it will get better and crisp up as the season progresses, but I think right now it’s going pretty good.â€
Nebraska (4-0) has matches on Friday and Saturday at Rutgers (1-5).
This week gives No. 4 Nebraska one final chance to get its offense running at a higher level before the schedule gets more challenging beginning next week with two matches against No. 5 Minnesota. And two weeks from now the Huskers get No. 1 Wisconsin.
Cook would like to see the Huskers make fewer hitting errors and improve its on-court communication.