In case you weren’t following Northern Kentucky University sports seven years ago, Liz Hart pulled off one of the all-time fantastic coaching jobs in 2012 while leading the Norse volleyball program into the unknown.
Yes, it was the year that NKU’s athletics programs began the difficult transition from NCAA Division II to Division I. Not an easy task for any school. It’s a tough journey, even for programs such as NKU, which had been ultra-successful at the Division II level.
Division I is a completely different landscape. Most first-year Division I programs struggle, and very few finish above .500 — regardless of the tradition they’re bringing along from Division II.
The move can be especially stressful for head coaches. It’s like asking the locomotive engineer of a freight train to suddenly operate the Shanghai Maglev.
NKU senior setter Jenna Schreiver played a major role in the Norse’s 25-7 record in 2012. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Instead of fretting over the unknown, NKU easily won its first-ever Division I match on Aug. 24, 2012, sweeping past Saint Peter’s (N.J.), 25-9, 25-9, 25-11, in the city of Cullowhee, which is located in the western part of North Carolina. Showing no nerves, the Norse also knocked off host Western Carolina later that same day.
Schreiver finished with 59 assists, 16 digs and seven kills in the four-set victory over Western Carolina, while Kelly Morrissey 15 kills and 10 assists. Those were the first two double-doubles for NKU as a Division I program. The Norse displayed no first-day jitters in their Division I debut.
NKU, in fact, began the season 8-0 and became an immediate factor in the Atlantic Sun Conference. By the time the 2012 campaign ended, the Norse owned a 25-7 mark — the best record in NCAA Division I volleyball history for a reclassifying school.
“After we picked up that first win, we just started gaining confidence in every tournament we played in,” Hart said. “Later in the season we beat Akron, a good team in our region, and I said, ‘Wow, we can be really good.’ We just continued to get better each week.”
Did they ever. NKU knocked off programs such as Morehead State, Wright State and Evansville. The Norse later collected their 20th victory of the season with a sweep of in-state rival Eastern Kentucky in Regents Hall. NKU completed that inaugural campaign with a 25-7 record, with four of those losses coming in five-set decisions.
NKU’s Shelby Buschur prepares to hammer an attack against Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 23, 2012. NKU swept EKU as Buschur finished with 12 kills. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
“I remember beating Florida Gulf Coast in five sets to end the season,” Hart said. “They were unbeaten at home going into that match, and we knocked them off. It was really weird to just end it like that since we weren’t eligible for the tournament.
“I was really proud of the girls because not many people get to end their season with a win, but we did. They proved to themselves, to the university, the other NKU student-athletes getting ready for their seasons, plus our future recruits, that we could compete at this level.”
Part of the price in making the jump from Division II to Division I at that time was no postseason for four years. NKU posted a 12-6 record in the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2012 and finished the season with four consecutive wins, including the triumph at Florida Gulf Coast. But there would be no tournament action for the Norse.
“It was definitely one of the toughest challenges those first two years. You were playing for pride. You were playing to win because you’re a competitive person,” Hart said of being unable to play in the postseason. “Everyone was so used to playing in postseason when we were in Division II. We tried to enjoy the trips that first year in Division I, and made sure we had a goal each week to get better.
“Making the transition from Division II to Division I was a challenge, and not being able to play in the postseason was difficult.”
The Atlantic Sun Conference changed its policy regarding the postseason in 2014 and permitted NKU to be eligible for all conference tournaments. The change in A-Sun policy arose after NCAA clarification that a conference could set specific criteria allowing its highest-ranked finisher to be the NCAA automatic qualifier recipient if a non-eligible team won the conference tournament.
That’s no longer a problem for NKU, which has completed the transition and is now in the Horizon League. The Norse posted a 21-10 record a year ago and finished as Horizon League Tournament runner-up, then advanced to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
NKU is picked second in the Horizon League’s 2019 preseason poll. With five starters returning and a host of talented attackers, plus two experienced setters and an outstanding defense, the Norse are in position to challenge for the title and claim their first berth in the NCAA Tournament as a Division I program.
Liz Hart (née Holmes) became NKU’s all-time career leader in kills on Oct. 12, 2007, with this attack against Drury. Hart finished with 1,850 career kills.
Hart was later named the GLVC’s 2007-08 Woman of the Year and earned an NCAA postgraduate scholarship after being a four-time member of the GLVC All-Academic squad.
As NKU’s head coach, she’s continued a tradition of winning that began for the volleyball program during the 1970s.
“When a program starts losing, it’s hard to get it back,” Hart said. “The expectation of winning is really important. I think that’s what has been a central theme in our program. No matter what, regardless of what team we’re playing, we expect to win.
“Obviously, the players you recruit have to want it and be willing to put the work into it. You have to find those players who are competitive and demand to work hard in order to win. I think sometimes you find really good athletes that don’t have the work ethic, but I think we have athletes who are willing to work in order to get those wins.”
Now solidly entrenched as a Division I program and featuring a roster loaded with talented players, Hart is looking forward to the upcoming season. But she also remembers the journey into Division I.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished,” said Hart, whose team opens regular-season play Friday with a match against South Alabama at the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational. “We have never lost sight that we wanted to have an outstanding volleyball program with really good people, with girls who care about their academics.
“We never lost our values. We continued to recruit players who are a little more athletic or a little faster, and we’ve gradually built on what we have at NKU.”
Contact Don Owen at don@nkytrib.com and follow him on Twitter at @dontribunesport
