Just throw your All-Americans out there on the court and sweep team after team.

The final tally was 26 sweeps in 32 matches last year for coach John Cook and his Nebraska volleyball team. That's certainly impressive, but the Cornhuskers didn't get where they wanted to be.

With all that talent, they couldn't win a second straight national title.

Much of that talent is gone. Now there is new talent ready to take over.

That new talent may not be quite as impressive as what the Huskers had the last few years, but setter Maggie Griffin said not to sell her old teammates short.

"It's going to be a really young team, but at the same time we have great senior leadership," said Griffin, who was the setter for the Huskers in their 31-29, 25-18, 25-20 exhibition victory over Kentucky Saturday night at the NU Coliseum. "These girls have been through a lot this year, a lot more than people know about or hear about. If you're not a part of it, it's hard to grasp it.

"But they've handled it really well. We may not be as talented as we were the past couple of years, but I think we have a lot of heart. Sometimes that's all you need."

Griffin knows all about heart.

She signed up for a huge load of classes this semester because she thought her volleyball career was over. When All-American setter Rachel Holloway announced in January that she was not returning to the team, Griffin didn't hesitate to volunteer.

Her friends needed help.

Griffin used up all her eligibility last fall, but she is still a student at Nebraska so she could play in the spring matches.

In fact, she's the only setter on the team who could play in the spring matches. Transfer Jessica Yanz is practicing with the Huskers but can't play in matches until she receives her release from Penn State.

Former Utah setter Sydney Anderson is still finishing up her course work to become eligible and should be ready to join the program this summer.

Nebraska coach John Cook said Griffin played extremely well against Kentucky.

"She hasn't played this well all spring," Cook said after the match. "She's only been practicing twice a week and she comes late on one of the days. It's not like she's been in there training.

"Maggie was in the moment tonight. It was a blast to watch it."

Griffin said she was relaxed on Saturday night knowing that Cook had no reason to get on her about anything.

What's the point? She won't be back in the fall anyway.

"It's kind of a nice feeling to go in knowing if you play good or bad he's not going to yell at you," Griffin said. "It's always easy to play like that."

The Huskers really played pretty well against the Wildcats considering that Kentucky returned almost its entire roster from last year's 22-10 NCAA Tournament team.

"I think we did some really good things," Cook said. "I thought our passing was really good for the spring. We really only broke down at the end of the first game in serve receive. I thought that was a real positive. Our floor defense was great.

"I think they played really well as a team. I just sensed there was a tremendous commitment to each other."

The NU offense clicked pretty well. Jordan Larson had 17 kills, Tara Mueller 16, Lindsey Licht 12 and Kori Cooper 10.

The Huskers hit .316 for the game even though they had 28 attack errors. Some of those errors were rather spectacular, but the bottom line was still pretty good.

"I'll take 76 kills in 152 attempts any time," Cook said. "That's a great night. We could have eliminated five or six of those bonehead plays, but those kids are trying. They're trying to be aggressive."

The Huskers are going to have to be aggressive in the fall. They will have to play hard and play as a team to be successful.

Nobody is predicting a national championship this season, but Cook has seen some good signs this spring.

"This team has a chance to really grow into a great team," Cook said. "They're just not going to make the jump tomorrow. It's going to be a slow work in progress.

"I think this team can play with a lot of heart. They know that."

Now, Larson said, the Huskers have to decide how good they want to be.

"We've had a lot of ups and downs," Larson said. "I think we've come through it and made great progress. I think it's going to be a fun season if we keep going all the way through the summer and keep building as a team. We can only go up from here.

"We have a chance to be great. It's our decision whether we want to be great."

Bob Hamar is assistant sports editor for The Independent.