The game Nebraska Volleyball has been preparing for all year is here: Texas.
The Longhorns defeated the Huskers 3-1 in the Elite Eight of the 2020 NCAA Tournament in Omaha, Neb. Now, the teams will meet again in the Elite Eight but this time in Texas territory.
Nebraska feels they didn’t play near their best last match and three-time All-American Lauren Stivrins was limited due to her back injury.
“We’ve grown up a lot in this past year,” Stivrins said. “I know that the last time we played them was definitely not our best outing and everyone can say that with full confidence. We’re definitely excited for another matchup with them and to hopefully get some redemption.”
Here is a full breakdown of Nebraska’s match with Texas on Saturday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU:
Scouting Texas:
The Longhorns are 27-1 on the season, having only fallen to No. 5 seeded Baylor at the beginning of November.
Texas rallied to beat No. 15 Washington on Thursday after going down 2-0 on the match. They did this by holding the Huskies to hit .073 in the final three sets. In the fourth set, Texas hit .500 with one error to crush Washington 25-9.
The Longhorns lead the country with a .347 hitting percentage. (The Huskers are not in the top 50). They are also No. 2 in aces per set (2.28) and have served 212 aces this season including seven against Washington.
Texas is ranked No. 2 team in the country and the stats reflect that. Nebraska will have to play lights out to give themselves a chance.
Texas players to watch:
Logan Eggleston:
Against Washington, Eggleston had a team-high 20 kills, five errors and hit .441 as a left-side hitter. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter is averaging a .307 hitting percentage this season and is still has the sixth-highest percentage on the team.
Last season against Nebraska, the two-time Big 12 Player of the Year had 18 kills, hit .226 and came up with five blocks.
Across the net from Eggleston on Saturday will be freshman Lindsay Krause or freshman Whitney Lauenstein. Both have a tall task of blocking and putting pressure on Eggleston.
Skylar Fields:
Nebraska Volleyball fans will remember this name.
Skylar Fields had one of the best games of her career against the Huskers in the 2020 season. She had 18 kills with one error and hit a team-high .630.
This season, 6-foot- 2 junior is hitting .339 including .410 in the tournament while contributing 53 kills. She had six kills in the third set to help Texas stage a comeback.
Asjia O’Neal:
Another Texas player that dominated against Nebraska last season and has continued that streak into this season is Asjia O’Neal. In the 2020 Elite Eight match against the Huskers, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker had 10 kills, two erros and a .471 hitting percentage.
O’Neal is hitting .452 in the tournament with .388 percentage on the season. She is one of Texas’s three players whose hitting percentage ranks among the top 30 in the country. The junior leads Texas with 109 blocks on the season, averaging 1.21 blocks per set.
Stat Attack:
.142:
Nebraska is seventh in the country with a .142 opponent hitting percentage and No. 13 in digs per set (17.19). Texas leads the country in hitting. This match will be a battle of Nebraska’s defense vs. Texas’s offense.
On Thursday, the Huskers held Illinois to hitting .088 but the Illini’s best hitter, Megan Cooney, didn’t play due to an illness. Holding Illinois to such a lot hitting percentage is a good start but they are nowhere near the hitters percentage-wise that Texas is.
Texas hit .336 against Nebraska in their last match-up and didn’t lose any of their biggest contributors.
Nebraska had 51 digs in the three sets against Illinois on Thursday and Texas came up with 55 digs against Washington in five sets.
The Longhorns defense shouldn’t be counted out as libero Nalani Iosia had several great saves and ups against Washington and has 313 digs on the season, averaging 3.37 a set.
2.23:
Nebraska’s back row will also be tested by Texas’s serving. The Longhorns are No. 2 in the country in aces per set with 2.23.
Illinois is ranked No. 13 in the country in service aces and only had seven against Nebraska in nine sets as they were swept all three times.
The Huskers did a good job of passing Illinois serves and attacks but will need to do even better against Texas.
Storylines:
Texas with the home crowd advantage:
Gregory Gym was rocking as Texas came back to defeat Washington. The gymnasium was built in 1930 and has a capacity of 4,000. The walls and stands are cement, causing it to be loud and the cheers to ricochet around the stadium.
If Nebraska and Texas head to a fifth set, the crowd could definitely be a factor. However, there were a few hundred Huskers fans in the stands against Illinois.
Freshman outside hitter Ally Batenhorst is from Houston, Texas, which is less than three hours from Austin. When her name was announced before the match, she received the big applause of all the Huskers.
This will not be Nebraska’s first time playing in a hostile environment. Playing in the Big Ten does have its advantages.
The Elite Four:
Four Big Ten teams will compete in the Elite Eight on Saturday.
No. 6 Purdue beat No. 11 BYU in a five-set comeback victory and will play No. 3 Pittsburgh at 3 p.m.
No. 12 Minnesota shocked No. 5 Baylor in Waco, Texas in five sets. The Golden Gophers will play No. 4 Wisconsin at 7 p.m. in Waco. The Badgers handled No. 13 UCLA in a sweep on Thursday.
Wisconsin swept Minnesota earlier this season. The winner of that match will play the winner of Nebraska and Texas.
Eight Big Ten teams went to the NCAA tournament and four have withheld the test. Not only are these teams talented, but they also have experience playing in a lot of high-pressure games while playing conference opponents.
What Nebraska can control:
Going into big matches, the Huskers also talk about controlling what they can control on their side of the net.
This Texas match is no different.
“We’re just more focused on the things that we can do,” Kubik said, “Like trusting each other and being able to show the things that we can do.”
She said, of course, Nebraska will scout the Longhorns and know the game plan well but they will focus a lot on their side of the net and do all they can to win.
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