Huskers Meet Shockers in Central City for Spring Match Presented by FNBO

MATCH PREVIEW
• The Nebraska volleyball team will play its 2023 Spring Match presented by FNBO against Wichita State at the new Bison Activity Dome in Central City on Saturday, April 29. The match is set to begin at 2 p.m., with doors opening 90 minutes prior to first serve. The Huskers will sign autographs after the match. Ticktes to the match were sold out in 52 minutes.  
• For the second consecutive year, the Huskers’ spring match will be televised statewide on Nebraska Public Media and streamed online on B1G+. Larry Punteney and Kathi Wieskamp will be on the call. 
• The Huskers Radio Network will broadcast all the action on their radio affiliates, including 107.3 FM in Lincoln. A live audio stream will be provided at Huskers.com and the Huskers app. John Baylor and Lauren (Cook) West will provide color commentary.

NOTING THE HUSKERS

• Nebraska has 14 players on its roster for the 2023 season and all 14 have been practicing with the Huskers this spring. 

• NU has no seniors on its roster and six of the 14 players are new to the program. Five of the six newcomers are freshmen: libero Laney Choboy, middle blocker Andi Jackson, outside hitters Caroline Jurevicius and Harper Murray, and setter Bergen Reilly. Junior outside hitter transfer Merritt Beason, an All-SEC performer at Florida, is the only upperclass newcomer. Beason amassed 565 kills in two years at Florida and was on the All-SEC and AVCA All-Region Team in 2022. 

• Junior libero Lexi Rodriguez led the Huskers to a nation-leading .128 opponent hitting percentage in 2022 with 4.26 digs per set. Rodriguez is a two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection and AVCA All-American.

• Rodriguez leads the Huskers along with fellow junior outside hitter Lindsay Krause, who has 507 career kills. Ally Batenhorst has 339 kills in two years with the Huskers and was on the Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team last season. 

• Middle blocker Bekka Allick will look to build on a strong freshman campaign in which she was an AVCA All-Region and All-Big Ten Freshman selection after 1.89 kills per set and a team-high .326 hitting percentage. 

“VOLLEYBALL DAY IN NEBRASKA” TICKETS SOLD OUT

• The Volleyball Day in Nebraska outdoor event in Memorial Stadium sold out on Thursday morning, the third day tickets were on sale to the public.

• Approximately 82,900 tickets were claimed between the season-ticket holder on-sale on Tuesday and the general public on-sale on Wednesday and Thursday. Approximately 17,900 of the tickets were claimed in the season-ticket holder on-sale on Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday and Thursday. That number does not include field-level seating or indoor club seating.

• Nebraska will host Omaha at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 in a regular-season match in Memorial Stadium. As part of a local doubleheader celebrating the impact of volleyball on the state, Nebraska-Kearney will play Wayne State in an exhibition match at 4:30 p.m.

• The record crowd for any NCAA volleyball match is 18,755 when Nebraska played Wisconsin on Dec. 18, 2021, in the NCAA Championship at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The largest NCAA volleyball regular-season crowd is 16,833 when Wisconsin hosted Florida at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., on Sept. 16, 2022.

• The largest crowd to attend a women’s sporting event in the USA was 90,185 for the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final between USA and China at Rose Bowl Stadium. That remained as a world record until 91,553 surpassed it when Barcelona played Real Madrid in Spain in a UEFA Women’s Champions League match on March 30, 2022.

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE

• Wichita State went 18-13 last year and 13-6 in the American Athletic Conference. 

• Middle blocker Natalie Foster, a junior in 2023, was an AVCA All-Region selection last season. Foster averaged 3.01 kills per set and ranked 30th nationally with a .382 hitting percentage. She was a first-team American Athletic Conference selection. 

• Outside hitter Brylee Kelly was also a first-team all-conference selection, while opposite hitter Sophia Rohling was a second-team pick. Kelly led the Shockers with 3.27 kills per set. Rohling averaged 2.77 kills per set on .277 hitting with 0.85 blocks per set. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Nebraska is 13-0 all-time against Wichita State. The two teams played a spring match in Wichita in 2013 with the Shockers taking a 3-1 win. The Huskers haven’t lost a spring match since that day. 

• The last time the Huskers and Shockers met was Sept. 21, 2019, a 3-0 Husker win. The Huskers have not dropped a set to Wichita State in 13 regular-season matchups.  

HUSKERS HEADED TO BRAZIL IN JUNE

• The Nebraska volleyball team will embark on a 17-day trip to Brazil from May 29-June 14. The Huskers will train and play matches in both Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.

• NCAA programs are allowed to take foreign trips once every four years, and this will be Nebraska’s first-ever trip to Brazil under Head Coach John Cook. The last foreign trip for the Nebraska volleyball program was a 17-day trip to Japan and China in the summer of 2019. The Huskers also went to Asia in 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2014.

• The Huskers’ itinerary for the trip is still being planned, but the Big Red will be playing matches against the U19 and U21 Brazil national teams, as well as the Brazil women’s military team.

• Nebraska has six new players on its roster and no seniors, so the trip will allow NU’s young squad a chance to gel before preseason training begins in August. The Huskers also had six newcomers and no seniors on their 2019 trip to Asia.

SCHEDULE TAKING SHAPE FOR 2023

• Although Nebraska’s 2023 schedule with Big Ten conference matches won’t be announced until later this spring, the non-conference schedule is mostly complete.

• The Huskers will open the season at home with a three-day tournament on Aug. 25-27. NU will host Utah State, Lipscomb and SMU. 

• The second week of the non-conference schedule features the Aug. 30 “Volleyball Day in Nebraska” match against Omaha, as well as a Sept. 3 road match at Kansas State. 

• NU will host Creighton on Wednesday, Sept. 6 and Long Beach State on Saturday, Sept. 9. 

• The Huskers finish the non-conference slate with a midweek match at Stanford and a home match against Kentucky on Sunday, Sept. 17.