LINCOLN, Neb. -- She missed the biggest event in her hometown again. But these things happen when its time to be a college volleyball star.Nebraska outside hitter Mikaela Foecke -- whose last name is pronounced FECK-ee -- is from West Point, Iowa, which has hosted the annual Sweet Corn Festival every summer since 1952. Its a four-day celebration of Iowa-ness, with carnival rides, bands, bathtub races, water fights, a horseshoe tournament, a tractor pull, an arts and crafts show, 5K and 10K runs and a parade.And, of course, massive consumption of sweet corn. The whole town gathers before the festival to shuck upwards of 18 tons of corn. So, yes, before she became a Cornhusker, Foecke did a lot of corn shucking.Its pretty crazy, Foecke said. Its a town of about 900, and it multiplies by a lot during the Sweet Corn Festival. Theres lots of visitors, and all the family members who dont live in West Point anymore come back for it. Its basically a big reunion.However, this years festival was held Aug. 11-14, and defending national champion Nebraska had started volleyball practice. So, like last year, Foecke had to rely on reports from her mom about how things went.She lets me know who shes seen, who came home, who was the Sweet Corn Festival queen, Foecke said.The athletic queen of West Point already had been crowned, though, and her reign is ongoing. Foecke came to Lincoln in 2015 as one of the countrys most coveted recruits. She showed a knack for the big points early on, and that carried all the way through the national championship match in December.Foecke had 19 kills in a sweep of Texas in front of an NCAA-record crowd of 17,561 mostly red-clad Husker fans in Omaha, Nebraska. She was named the most outstanding player of the volleyball championship.I just love the big moments; Im not going to lie, Foecke said. When you hear the fans screaming, and you want that point so bad for your team, and you know the games on the line, Im not going to let my teammates down.You have to go after it and play fearlessly. I hope thats the mentality I have, and a lot of that is attributed to my teammates. Because you cant swing fearlessly if you dont believe your teammates are going to have your back.So how many times has she seen that championship match, or highlights of it?None, she said, smiling. I think that if I re-watched it, it wouldnt be as gd as it is in my mind.But every athlete probably has that one game where he or she can always pull from that. The national championship -- just the feeling of the crowd and the way we all played together -- is something I want to work for every game.We can assure her if she ever does watch the final, it will be really gd. Nebraska avenged a 3-2 loss to Texas near the start of the 2015 season. It was shortly after that early-September defeat, in fact, that Nebraska coach John Ck made two key position changes. He switched All-American Kadie Rolfzen to the right side, and put Foecke on the left.Kadies twin, Amber, already had changed from outside hitter her first two seasons to middle blocker for 2015, so there was a lot riding on everyone adapting well to reach their stated goal of an NCAA title.I think we continued to get better all season, but we didnt make it click until after those two losses at home to Minnesota and Wisconsin, Foecke said, referencing back-to-back defeats at the Devaney Center on Oct. 23-24. Then it was like, OK, weve got to kick this into gear if we really want to make our words reality. We worked harder than we had before. We started getting to know each other, not just the obvious things, but the deeper things.She means the Huskers truly started to understand the complexities of their strengths and weaknesses, and the best ways to complement each other. They didnt lose another match, closing out the season winning 16 in a row.With so much back -- including the Rolfzens, Foecke and setter Kelly Hunter -- plus key additions both from transfers and the freshman class, the Huskers are preseason No. 1 and have a realistic hope of accomplishing a first for Nebraska: repeating as national champions.The program has won four NCAA titles overall: in 1995, 2000, 2006 and last year. Ck was head coach for the past three. He was pleased with the way Nebraska played in 2001 when trying to repeat; the Huskers made the final four before falling in the semifinals to a Logan Tom-led Stanford team that won the title.The end of the 2007 season, though, was a disappointment. The Huskers were mega-talented, bringing back all their stars from the 2006 championship. Yet they were swept in a regional final by Cal.They were a great team on paper, but they were not a great team when it came to crunch time, Ck said. And thats what this team has been working on and figuring out this summer: How they can be great at crunch time.Foecke, who was second on the team last year in overall kills (386) and kills per set (3.09), should be a big part of that. Hunter, who as the setter knows her teammates pluses and minuses very well, basically says Foecke is so gd, shes ridiculous. But Hunter thinks Foecke can be more vocal this season.Foecke is also making the improvements youd expect from a big hitter entering her sophomore year: getting stronger, diversifying her offense, and ramping up her serve receive and defense.At 6-ft-3, she relied on natural ability throughout high schl. At Nebraska, shes had access to top-notch strength training, and the results are obvious.Im hang-cleaning and squatting things now that I would have lked at last summer and thought, Wow, Im never going to get there, Foecke said. But its all a process, and each day you keep getting better and striving to work harder.For a kid who showed hogs and always had a daily list of chores, hard work is routine. An animal science major, she wants to be a veterinarian, preferably for large animals. But she probably has a lot of volleyball to play before shes practicing as Dr. Foecke.Shes gotten stronger, quicker, more explosive, Ck said of Foeckes work during the summer. Hopefully, thats going to allow her to go to another level as a player. p.com/ultra-bst-sneakers/ultra-bst-19.html" target="_blank">Adidas Ultra Bst 19 Kopen . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. 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They would have to qualify for one of the wild-card spots, then win the single-elimination playoff game.If they do, the Cardinals may be the one club that wont be fazed by Wrigley Field and the Cubs.Yadier Molina drove in four runs, Stephen Piscotty homered and the Cardinals improved their standing in the NL wild-card race by getting to Jason Hammel early in a 10-4 rout of Chicago on Saturday.Randal Grichuk added three RBI and Jhonny Peralta had three hits and scored three runs for the Cardinals, who stopped a two-game skid and are a half-game behind New York and San Francisco for the two NL wild-card spots.Its been a difficult year for us, up and down, but we got a gd win and a lot of base hits, said Molina, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Hopefully, we can continue it.Hammel (15-10) allowed six runs and six hits while getting just seven outs, hurting his bid for a postseason rotation spot. A day after clinching the NLs best record, the Cubs were denied their 99th win and a record 57th at Wrigley Field.Dexter Fowler finished a home run shy of the cycle, Ben Zobrist had a two-run triple and Willson Contreras homered in the ninth for the Cubs, who are 3-6 at home against St. Louis and 53-17 against other teams.Theyre obviously the best team in the league, Molina said. We respect that. But at the same time we come here thinking about winning.Alex Reyes (4-1) needed 115 pitches to get through five innings. But the rkie settled down after a tough start and allowed three runs and six hits with six strikeouts.Hours after Fridays win, the Cubs clinched home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs when Washington lost to Pittsburgh. Manager Joe Maddon was watching on TV and declared it another checkmark for their season.They remained two wins shy of another goal -- 100 wins -- thanks to Hammels struggles.The right-handers solid previous outing renewed talk he could supplant John Lackey as the No. 4 playoff starter. But Hammel saw his ERA risse from 3.dddddddddddd56 to 3.83 after Maddons early hk.Molina had a two-run double and Grichuk a two-run single in the first. An inning later, Piscotty crushed Hammels slider 450 feet onto Waveland Avenue for a solo homer. Hammel was lifted after giving up two more hits in the third.Molina added a two-run single for his third hit in a three-run seventh against Hector Rondon. Piscottys third hit in the eighth off Rob Zastryzny scored another run.Reyes had his 11 1/3-inning scoreless streak snapped in Chicagos two-run first, and Fowlers RBI double an inning later made it 5-3. But Reyes allowed just two hits over his final three innings.When you have 71 pitches after three (innings), you typically got a lot more on you than the three runs they had, Cardinals manager Mike Mathney said. He just did a nice job of managing the innings.Maddon cleared his bench in the late innings as Chicagos four-game winning streak ended. The Cubs fell to 9-9 against St. Louis.They would be very tough, Maddon said of a potential playoff matchup. Theyre very gd offensively. They can match up out of the bullpen. They do a lot of things.TRAINERS RMCardinals: Mathney said LF Matt Holliday (broken right thumb) was pretty sore a day after his first live batting practice session. Hell see a hand specialist Monday before being cleared to hit again. . SS Aledmys Diaz (arm fatigue) started after a day off. . Kolten Wong (shoulder) didnt start after an outfield spill Friday.Cubs: LF Jorge Soler (right side soreness) started for the first time since Sept. 16. . RHP Pedro Strop (knee, groin) reported no pain a day after his first appearance since Aug. 10.SCHEDULE CHANGEMaddon pushed his bullpen game to Thursday in Pittsburgh. Kyle Hendricks, Lackey and Jake Arrieta will start the first three games against the Pirates.UP NEXTLHP Jon Lester (18-4, 2.36 ERA) faces Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (15-8, 3.16) in Chicagos regular-season home finale Sunday night. Lester is 8-0 with a 1.05 ERA in his last 10 starts. ' ' '