Nebraska is coming off of their first loss to an unranked team since 2017 and Husker nation didn’t know what to do with themselves. Some said we had to sacrifice volleyball to be good at football again, but I think this just might be a slight overreaction.
John Cook said this after their loss: “They’re going to have to step up,” Cook said. “Part of it is we think we’re Nebraska and we’re going to roll out here and smoke teams. This team (SMU) played very inspired tonight. They played great. They won all the long rallies, let’s put it that way. That’s attitude and effort right there.”
SMU played an amazing match last night and deserved the win 100%. The Huskers might’ve thought they were going to go in and take it to them, like Coach Cook mentioned above, but SMU was ready for them and pulled off one hell of a win.
Something seemed off when they played TCU, but it didn’t seem like it would be an issue and it would be fixed. Sadly this wasn’t the case as SMU poked holes in Nebraska’s offense and defense just like TCU had started to do.
The Huskers will need to put this loss behind them and move onto their next match which is tonight. It’s a long season and it is only week 2, but so much has happened already.
Multiple top teams have lost this week so the Huskers aren’t the only ones losing which could be a good thing ranking wise.
The Citadel plays in the Southern Conference. Other teams in this conference include: Mercer, Samford, Chattanooga, ETSU, UNC Greensboro, Furman, Wofford, and Western Carolina.
This team went undefeated up until October 28th last season and was one of the only remaining undefeated teams with Nebraska.
The Bulldogs return one of their best outside hitters from last season in Senior Ali Ruffin. She had 529 kills last season and a .215 hitting percentage. She is second on the team right now with 38 kills.
OH Mackenzie Martin is a grad student transfer from Tulane University. She joined The Citadel last season and has proved that she is one of their top players. She had 243 kills and a .161 hitting percentage. She is first in kills on the team right now with 48. She also has 31 digs so far in 2024.
Another transfer for the Bulldogs is Junior Aaliyah Byers who has come in and taken over the starting middle blocker position. She leads the team in blocks with 12 and will be a big force at the net.
Senior Belle Hogan is the starting setter for The Citadel and looks to add even more accomplishments to her long list. She was 13th in the NCAA with total assists last season and finished 7th with 10.73 assists per set. She also leads the conference in total assists with 3,093.
Grad Student Jaelynn Elgert will most likely be their starting Libero tonight. Last season, she had 609 digs. That is a crazy number. I compared this to Lexi Rodriguez’s number and Lexi only 436 digs last season. Elgert had 173 more digs and played only 3 less sets. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are long rallies in this match.
Nebraska looks to get back on track tonight against The Citadel as their toughest matches are yet to come. Every match should be looked at as a challenge and no opponent should be taken lightly after what happened at SMU.
First serve for this match is set for tonight, September 5th, at 6:00 PM CT. The match will not be on TV, but will be streamed on B1G+.
#2 Nebraska (3-1)
#2 Bergen Reilly 6’1” SO Setter
#5 Rebekah Allick 6’4” JR MB
#6 Laney Choboy 5’3” SO DS/L
#7 Maisie Boesiger 5’6” JR DS/L
#8 Lexi Rodriguez 5’5” SR DS/L
#9 Kennedi Orr 6’0” SR Setter
#10 Olivia Mauch 5’6” FR DS/L
#11 Leyla Blackwell 6’4” SR MB
#12 Taylor Landfair 6’5” SR OH
#13 Merritt Beason 6’4” SR OH
#15 Andi Jackson 6’3” SO MB
#21 Skyler Pierce 6’2” FR OH
#22 Lindsay Krause 6’4” SR OH
#27 Harper Murray 6’2” SO OH
The Citadel (2-1)
#1 Belle Hogan 5’11” SR Setter
#2 Lydia Larson 5’9” JR Setter
#3 Mia Watson 5’3” SO Libero
#4 Peri Hoshock 6’1” SO MB
#5 Mackenzie Martin 5’10” Grad Student OH
#6 Greta Pleuss 5’9” FR Setter
#7 Rachel Reininger 5’10” FR OH
#8 Jaelynn Elgert 5’8” Grad Student Libero
#9 Megan Stone 5’8” FR Libero
#10 Jess Martin 5’6” FR Libero
#13 Sam Barnes 6’1” JR MB
#14 Ainsley Dowling 5’8” JR Libero
#15 Sadie Gomez 6’4” SR MB
#16 Karlie Vogelheim 6’1” FR MB
#18 Ali Ruffin 5’11” SR OH
#22 Sophie Childs 6’3” Grad Student OH
#23 Aaliyah Byers 6’0” JR MB
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