No Huskers, but there’s plenty to watch for at the Omaha Final Four

Omaha has become the most frequent host of the NCAA Final Four in college volleyball, but for the first time during a typical season, the show goes on without the Huskers.

This week, Omaha hosts the Final Four for the fifth time overall — including three times in the past eight years. No city has hosted the final week of the season more than Omaha in the 41-year history of the tournament.

Omaha hosted the entire 48-team tournament for the 2020-21 season. Nebraska also came up short of the Final Four that season, but that year was different because of capacity limitations due to the pandemic.

Now the tournament returns in full force — including the coaches convention that comes with the Final Four and brings thousands of high school, club and college coaches to the area.

Omaha has been good to the Huskers, with Nebraska winning two of its five national championships there, in 2006 and 2015.

Even without Nebraska there, Husker coach John Cook expects it to be a great week. And in recent years the Final Four has got large crowds even when played in cities that didn’t include a nearby team in the national semifinals.

And some Nebraskans always buy tickets and attend the Final Four regardless of where it’s at or if the Huskers are in the field.

“I think it will be a great reflection for the sport of volleyball, and how Nebraska presents it,” Cook said. “We’re the epicenter of volleyball in the country and the Final Four being there is just the cherry on top of the cake. You got to remember there is a big convention that goes on with that as well. People love coming to Omaha. It’s a great town, and they’ll have a great time and there will be some great volleyball.”

Cook would have loved for the Huskers to be there, knowing how big of an advantage that can be if Nebraska is there in front of 12,000-plus Nebraska fans. But he expects spectators to still make for a great experience for the players.

“It’s the best college sports town in America,” Cook said. “It’ll be a heck of a Final Four, whether we’re in that playing or not.”

The national semifinals matches are Texas against San Diego in the first match on Thursday, and Pittsburgh against Louisville in the second match.

There will be still plenty of interesting things to watch. At the top of the list is former Nebraska player and assistant coach Dani Busboom Kelly trying to lead Louisville to its first national championship in the sport.

This season, Texas blended a team of returning talent and top transfers, including former Huskers Kayla Caffey and Keonilea Akana. Can that roster produce a title? The Longhorns thought they had teams that could win national titles in 2020 and 2021 but came up short. Now they’ll be in Omaha trying to win for the first time since 2012.

San Diego is coached by Jennifer Petrie and is in the Final Four for the first time. Cook has connection to Petrie, having coached her on a club team in San Diego in the 1980s.

According to ESPN, this is just the second time the Final Four has had two females as head coaches. The other time was in 1993 with Mary Wise (Florida) and Elaine Michaelis (BYU). The volleyball national champion has never had a female as head coach.

Pittsburgh hadn’t made the Final Four before last season but now has in back-to-back seasons after an upset win against Wisconsin on Saturday. Sabrina Starks, a super-senior middle blocker for Pittsburgh, grew up only about 20 miles from the CHI Health Center Omaha in Springfield.