In recent years, the Nebraska volleyball program parlayed a couple of transfers from Tennessee into deep runs in the NCAA tournament when Kelsey Robinson and Mary Pollmiller left the Volunteers to take starting roles at Nebraska.
But now, NU seems to be building inroads into Knoxville that will bring players to Lincoln via a more traditional route.
Nebraska added its second commit in the class of 2018 Monday when setter Nicklin Hames of Knoxville's Webb School gave a verbal pledge to join the Huskers. Hames, who was named PrepVolleyball.com's 2014 national freshman of the year, will join her close friend, Knoxville Beardsley High School middle blocker Chesney McClellan, a verbal pledge to NU for 2017.
"That made a huge difference in my choice," Hames said Monday. "I already knew one of my best friends was going there."
Hames already has had a standout high school career playing for her mother Chris, Webb's head coach. Nicklin Hames started for Webb as an eighth grader, allowable in Tennessee, and led the Lady Spartans to back-to-back Division II-A state championships in one of the state's smaller classes while being named state tournament MVP both years.
"It was a really good experience for me because I got to play up with a bunch of really good players," she said. "I got to set a bunch of really good hitters."
As a freshman in 2014, the 5-foot-11 Hames led Webb in aces, digs and blocks, while ranking second on the team in kills and set assists. Though she has played setter and outside hitter in Webb's 6-2 system, she is the lone setter for her K2 club team and will be a setter at the college level.
Hames said she picked Nebraska over some of the Huskers' Big Ten rivals, including Penn State, Michigan State and Minnesota. But after attending a camp in Lincoln last summer, Hames moved NU to the top of the list. She was able to reach Nebraska coach John Cook, vacationing in Montana, on Monday to inform him of her choice, and she plans another unofficial visit to take in a match at the Devaney Center this fall.
"Honestly, when I first visited Nebraska, I loved the environment and the vibe it gave off," Hames said. "Everyone loves volleyball. Everyone supports volleyball."
It marks Nebraska's second 2018 recruit of July after Kearney, Missouri, middle blocker Callie Schwarzenbach pledged to join the program last weekend.
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