Next week, on senior night for the Nebraska volleyball team, Brooke Smith will walk onto the court with her family. She’ll probably get a hug from coach John Cook and a loud ovation from the fans.
There will be a few more weeks left of the season, in the NCAA Tournament, but it will be near the end of an interesting and winding path Smith has had with Nebraska. That path includes getting to meet Cook when she was 11 years old, winning a national championship as the Huskers’ backup setter in 2015, leaving the team, and then making an extremely rare return to the same team.
Let’s start with her childhood.
Smith grew up in Texas when Nebraska was in the Big 12 Conference and making trips to Texas. She’s from Weatherford, which is three hours from Austin, but Smith still got to watch the Huskers several times. It worked out perfectly: Smith liked Nebraska, her mom had played volleyball for Texas, and she had an aunt living in Austin.
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“For some reason I just loved watching Nebraska volleyball on TV as a little girl,†Smith said. “I idolized (former Husker Jordan Larson), even though I wasn’t an outside hitter.â€
It was on one of those trips, when Smith was 11 years old, that she got to take a picture with Larson and Cook.
When she was 14, Smith’s mom said she could go to one volleyball camp that summer, and she chose Nebraska. Later the family asked about Smith being a walk-on at Nebraska. They didn’t have an open spot for a setter, but later one opened up. But first Cook needed to see Smith play, and he went to watch her club team play in San Antonio.
“I remember it like it was yesterday, he was wearing this bright, white jacket and came and sat right behind me while I was serving. I was nervous,†Smith said.
As a freshman in 2015, Smith was the backup setter and a serving sub — she had six aces — for Nebraska’s national championship team. She didn’t play as much as a sophomore, then transferred to Kansas State.
“I do have a lot of pride and I wanted people to know that I was more than a great teammate, and a great server,†Smith said of her transfer. “Even though those are not bad qualities at all, I just wanted to make myself proud and make my family proud and my hometown.â€
Smith transferred back this summer. She's played in only 10 matches this season, but Cook has always made Smith’s role on the team seem bigger.
“I think the biggest thing is in practice, around the team, (team captains Mikaela Foecke and Kenzie Maloney) needed support, and she gives them that," Cook said. "Just her work ethic and her energy and enthusiasm is just a great role model."
Smith played more at the start of the season when Anezka Szabo and Smith came in for one rotation to make the Huskers a better blocking team, and when Szabo returns from an injury, they’ll try that again.
At Kansas State, Smith played a lot and had 27 ace serves.
When players leave Nebraska, it can make you think about if it’s better to play a lot somewhere else, or only a little at Nebraska?
“I think it’s important to be somewhere you feel supported 100 percent and that you feel that teammates have your back and the relationships you’ve created are ones that would last a lifetime,†Smith said. “And I think ultimately that’s what I’ve learned along the way. Sure, the playing time thing is what it is, but I think it’s more about the relationships.â€
On Friday, sixth-ranked Nebraska plays No. 12 Purdue for the first time this season. Earlier this season, Purdue beat No. 4 Penn State for the first time in eight years.