For all the power and grace –—pure athleticism — that goes into every Jordan Larson jump serve, there’s another, even more powerful factor at work.

The combination of the toss, the leap, the swing and the end result serves to intimidate not only opposing passers but also wannabe hecklers.

“Holy crap!” exclaimed a face-paint-sporting Iowa State student earlier this season upon seeing Larson’s serve overwhelm one of the Cyclones’ passers. “How are we supposed to stop that?”

Those hecklers, strategically positioned directly behind the service line in most Big 12 venues, can say some pretty racy things.

In two seasons in which the Nebraska volleyball team has come into every match ranked No. 1, Larson says she has heard everything, including those rare unsolicited words of respect.

“I hear the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs,’” Larson said, smiling. “Especially at home, people tell me that my serve is their favorite thing about the games.”

From Hooper, the small  Nebraska town where Larson worked at perfecting her serve beginning at age 12, to overseas trips representing her country on age-group national teams, to this weekend’s NCAA regional in Gainesville, Fla., Larson’s jump serve has always been a topic of conversation.

Larson’s serve remains unique in a time when more and more college women are utilizing the jump serve. On Nebraska’s team alone, Larson and Sarah Pavan have powerful jump serves, while Rachel Schwartz, Rachel Holloway and Dani Busboom send over what are known as jump-floats.

The numbers of aces created off serves can be misleading given the caliber of opposition. But in Larson’s case, her 48 aces this season are just one shy of 10th on Nebraska’s all-time single-season list.

Currently, that list includes just one player from the last 17 years —Kelly Aspegren in 1993.

“It’s still a huge weapon,” said Texas A&M coach Laurie Corbelli. “It’s still as intimidating as it has ever been.”

Even for hecklers, the jump serve is a fan favorite.

Nebraska fans eagerly watched freshman Taylor Barnes of Baylor send high-velocity serves at the Huskers last month.

In the Pac-10, a conference laden with quality passers, Oregon sophomore Mira Djuric, a native of Serbia, has developed a reputation for tossing the ball 20 feet in the air before ripping her serve.

“She’s liable to take your head off,” said USC coach Mick Haley. “It’s almost to the point where you should just like four people across with their eyes closed and arms up.”

But ask Haley about Larson and his wry smile turns to a grin.

“I love that kid,” said the former coach of the U.S. National Team who knew all about the player from small-town Nebraska from an early age.

It was Larson’s stepfather, Pat Clough, who first suggested that Jordan try the jump serve. It began with her simply throwing the ball in the air and catching it.

By high school, it’s overwhelming effectiveness at the Class C-1 level was predictable. But her confidence in blistering the ball didn’t fully develop until playing for the age-group national team in Poland under coach Shelton Collier her sophomore year.

“He said, ‘No matter what, swing away,’” Larson said. “That mentality is what got me going.”

That “grip it and rip it” philosophy still applies at Nebraska, although Larson walks a bit of a tightrope as a serving circus act.

Head coach John Cook asks her to move the ball as much as possible. Assistant coach Lee Maes wants her to keep it in play.

Larson combines all of that with the ability to send the serve cross-court or drop it short, all by the placement of her hand on the ball and the flick of her wrist.

“It’s your time to take over the match,” Larson said. “It’s you and the ball against all the passers and you’re just trying to place it the best you can.

“But sometimes, I don’t even know where the ball’s going.”

From Pavan’s standpoint, Larson easily has the more productive jump serve, a fact borne out by the statistics.

Larson has just nine more service errors than aces this season, compared with Pavan, who has 31 aces but has erred 74 times. Beyond the aces, Larson has routinely run off strings of points this year, including seven straight against American and 10 in a row against Texas.

“There are two parts to her serve, simply trying to pass it and the mental part that it puts teams through,” Cook said. “Mentally, you start to think, ‘Is this going to be an ace?’ or ‘Where is it going to go?’

“What that gives Jordan is the ability to run off a three- or four-point run and break open a game.”

Such runs are never more critical than this point in the season. Remember Ashley Ivy’s run of points when Stanford rallied to beat Nebraska in the 2001 Final Four in San Diego?

Including that loss, Nebraska has been eliminated by a lower-ranked team in three of the last five NCAA Tournaments. The Huskers, seeking their first national title since 2000, are seeded No. 1 in the tournament for the third straight year.

Larson has grown from last year’s disappointing performance against Washington in the national championship match. The sophomore, whose all-around game goes well beyond serving — she ranks among the top 10 in the Big 12 in kills, digs and aces — is stronger physically and mentally.

She is a difference-maker.

“I’m trying to go out there having the mentality that I’m the best out there and nobody can stop me,” Larson said.

Not even the hecklers.

Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.