Nebraska Defeats Illinois in Five Sets to Head to Back to the National Championship Match

For the second consecutive year, the Huskers are through to the national championship match, after defeating Illinois in five sets Thursday night. The Illini jumped out to a two game to none lead over the Big Red, as the Huskers had no answer for All-American, Jacqueline Quade.

Quade had 28 kills on 76 attempts on the night, the most kills between both teams. The Huskers racked up a dozen service errors in the match, which didn’t help their cause. Nebraska also only had a total of four blocks, a low total for the team that led the Big 10 in blocking in 2018. Illinois had Nebraska dead to rights but it was the veteran leadership and conditioning that gave the Huskers the edge over the Illini.

Last season, Nebraska defeated Penn State in the semifinal, before going on to defeat Florida in the national championship match. As Nebraska head coach John Cook reminded the media in his post game press conference, “We (Nebraska) were here a year ago.”

The competitive nature of the match didn’t catch Cook and his squad off guard, given the nature of the league and the fact that Illinois was the last team to beat Nebraska back in October. “This is what it was like every week in the Big 10,” Cook said. “They brought out the best in us, and we brought out the best in them.”

The Husker’s were led by Senior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke, who was the co-leader in kills, with 19. Foecke also hit .300 on the night and had 11 total digs. In her fourth straight final four, Foecke didn’t disappoint, leading her team to yet another victory in the postseason.

“Obviously we didn’t play our best in the first two sets by any means,” Foecke said. “We really made an uphill improvement.” For Foecke, it was the Husker friendly crowd of 17,808 strong in Minneapolis’s Target Center which helped fuel the team to victory.

“I think that in the fifth set, there was a lot of energy from both teams and from the crowd, which is really fun to play in.” What was also a game changer for Nebraska in game five, was Cook’s decision to use a green card after Foecke’s swing to extend the Husker’s lead to 13-11 was ruled that Foecke hit the ball wide, tying the match at 12.Replays appeared to be inconclusive; however Cook’s challenge was successful as the officials ruled that the ball had grazed the Illinois blockers’ fingertips., giving Nebraska the two point lead, 13-11.

“I definitely didn’t think I had a touch,” Foecke said. “If it wasn’t for Lauren (Stivrens), I probably would have told Coach Cook not to challenge it.” Kenzie Maloney and Foecke got the next pair of points for Nebraska, to send them through to the next and final round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Huskers will take on the Stanford Cardinal in the national championship match, the number one overall seed in the tournament. That match is set to begin at 8 o’clock.

(Photo by Kenny Larabee)