Husker Volleyball Returns in 1 Month at the AVCA First Serve Showcase

While we are in the worst part of the year, because there are quite literally no interesting sports on, ………sorry MLB and golf fans, we are getting close to one of the best times of the year…… volleyball season. Oh and football season too. We are also in an Olympic year which will help get us through this last month of pain without sports.

Three former Huskers will be playing in the volleyball portion of the Olympics set to begin on July 29th. Team USA will play their first match the next day on the 29th against China. Libero Justine Wong-Orantes and OH Kelsey Robinson-Cook are part of the team along with current Husker Assistant Coach OH Jordan Larson. Larson is competing in her 4th Olympics this year.

The 2024 Husker squad has a lot of the same, but some new. They could definitely still be National Title contenders this season, but with another challenging schedule. The B1G has expanded to 18 teams and has brought in strong teams like USC and Oregon.

Going 33-2 was amazing to watch last season as the only two losses were one to Wisconsin at the end of the regular season and a heartbreaking one to Texas in the national championship.

With the new teams in the conference, it could be more difficult for the Huskers to remain loss free for as long as they did last year.

Nebraska’s preseason consists of 11 matches against some strong teams, but also some teams that will help get their feet under them for the coming gauntlet of a schedule.

They start off the season, rather strong, at the AVCA First Serve Showcase against Kentucky, who was a tournament team last year. The other two teams competing at this showcase are Louisville and Wisconsin. The Huskers will only play that one match though.

Their first home game will be at the Ameritas Players Challenge. They are hosting TCU, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M – Corpus Christi in Lincoln. They play Texas A&M – Corpus Christi on August 30th and TCU on August 31st. They will not play Oklahoma as each team only plays two matches.

Since SMU traveled to Nebraska last season, the Huskers are returning the favor and traveling to Dallas to play the Mustangs on September 3rd.

They will play a second “tournament”, given the unique name Tournament #2 on the schedule, September 5th-7th. Montana State, The Citadel, and Denver will travel to Lincoln for this. The Huskers will only play two of these teams again. They play The Citadel on September 5th and Montana State on the 7th.

A special note about The Citadel is that they were the only team that was also undefeated, along with the Huskers, for some time after Nebraska took down Wisconsin last season.

September 10th brings the Nebraska rivalry match against Creighton. This will be played in Lincoln again this year.

They will play their last tournament of the year the weekend of September 12th-14th. This will, yet again, consist of 4 teams, but only 2 matches for the Huskers. Wichita State, Arizona State, and Long Beach State will be in attendance. Nebraska will take on Arizona State on September 13th and Wichita State on the 14th.

They will close out their preseason schedule in the third week of September with some matches that will, for sure, set the tone going into the conference schedule. Stanford will travel to Lincoln to play the Huskers on September 18th. They will close out preseason traveling to Kentucky to take on Louisville on the 22nd.

The grind of the regular season begins with a new B1G opponent in UCLA on September 27th. They meet in Lincoln for their only matchup this season.

They will play Ally Batenhorst and USC on September 29th for their only meet up of the season. That will be an exciting match welcoming Batenhorst back.

Illinois is next on their schedule on October 3rd. They will have a home and home meeting with them with the next match on October 25th.

Nebraska will play Iowa twice this season with the first match on October 6th and the second one on November 20th.

Purdue will travel to Lincoln on October 11th for their only meeting of the season. This match was one that was almost dropped last year so this will probably be another tough matchup with the returning roster Purdue has.

Rutgers on the 12th, Michigan State on the 18th, Ohio State on the 19th, and Michigan on the 26th will round out their October matches.

November starts out tough with a match against rival Wisconsin. This will be the first of two for the season with the second one at the end of the month on the 23rd. These will, yet again, be some intense and good matches to watch. Hopefully they are national TV worthy.

November’s schedule is as follows with two new B1G opponents being played that month:

• Northwestern – Nov. 2nd
• Oregon – Nov. 7th
• Washington – Nov. 9th
• Minnesota – Nov. 14th
• Indiana – Nov. 16th

On November 29th, Nebraska will travel to an intense Rec Hall environment to take on Maggie Mendelson, Caroline Jurevicius, and the rest of the Penn State team.

The regular season will end against Maryland on November 30th in Maryland. THe NCAA Tournament will, hopefully, follow after.

Nebraska’s roster looks a lot like last years team, but there are noticeable additions to the squad through the transfer portal and incoming freshman. They also lost some strong players as well.

The Huskers picked yet another Libero in Olivia Mauch. She is a 5-6 freshman from Bennington, Nebraska. While she had a great spring game and offseason, she may not be able to crack the starting line up this year with Lexi Rodriguez and Laney Choboy in front of her though. Only time will tell.

Skyler Pierce is their only other freshman this year. She is a 6-2 Outside Hitter from Lenexa, Kansas. She had a strong showing in the Under Armour high school all star game, the spring game, and the offseason. She has a chance to vie for a starting spot right now.

The Huskers also picked up two transfers from the portal. Senior Taylor Landfair is a 6-5 Outside Hitter who played for Minnesota her last 4 seasons. She took a medical Redshirt her sophomore year there. She was B1G Player of the Year in 2022 and is a huge addition for this Husker squad.

Pierce and Landfair are huge pickups at the OH position as the Huskers lost Hayden Kubik, Caroline Jurevicius, and Ally Batenhorst to the portal. Kubik went to Tennessee, Jurevicius to Penn State, and Batenhorst to USC.

Senior Leyla Blackwell is the second player picked up in the portal. She is a 6-4 Middle Blocker who played 1 year at Indiana and 3 years at San Diego. She was part of Torero squad that reached the NCAA semifinal match for the first time in school history.

Blackwell was brought in to replace transferring middle blocker Maggie Mendelson who joined Penn State in the offseason.

The Huskers seem to be unstoppable at the outside hitter position this season. They are returning Merritt Beason, Lindsay Krause, and Harper Murray with the addition of Landfair and Pierce. Beason has already won the opposite hitter position which leaves only a couple starting positions left if Coach Cook chooses to go that way.

Krause looks to be full strength by opening day after her season ending injury last year. Murray had an eventful offseason with a DUI and a shoplifting charge. She was handed a 9-month probation, but Cook said she would be available for the first match of the year.

Returning Middle Blockers this year are Rebekah Allick and Andi Jackson with the addition of Blackwell. Allick sat out of the sand volleyball season to help rehab some lingering injuries from the season. Jackson was one Husker who competed for the gold medal winning USA U21 team in June. She is expected to have another big year.

Kennedi Orr and Bergen Reilly are the Nebraska setters heading into the 2024-2025 season. While it seems like Reilly probably has the starting position on lock, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Orr being rotated into matches to serve like last season.

Coach Cook must love his DS/Liberos because he has 4 this season. Lexi Rodriguez, Maisie Boesiger, and Laney Choboy are returning this season while welcoming Mauch into the crew.

I can’t believe it is already Rodriguez’s last season, but she looks to win the National Title this year along with the rest of the team. Like I said, her and Choboy will probably be the starters with Boesiger and Mauch getting rotated in here and there.

B1G Media Days will take place in Chicago, Illinois on August 6th. Seniors Lindsay Krause and Kennedi Orr will be in attendance with Coach John Cook.

An important date for ride or die Husker fans is Fan Day on on August 24th. Volleyball is 9-11am at the Bob and football is 11am-12:30pm at Hawks. The volleyball Red-White Scrimmage will take place on the 24th, as well, at 6:00pm at the Bob.

Husker Volleyball is set to have another amazing year with hopes of returning to the national title game. They look to win their first since 2017 after two runner up finishes in 2019 and 2023. If you can, try to make it out to a game at the Bob Devaney Sports Center because the atmosphere there is unlike any other in college volleyball. 1 month until their return! GBR!