Three Huskers earn All-American honors, team begins practice in Kansas City

Nebraska senior setter Kelly Hunter was named a first-team AVCA All-American on Wednesday, headlining four Huskers to receive honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Senior outside hitter Annika Albrecht and junior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke were selected as second-team All-Americans. Senior middle blocker Briana Holman received honorable mention honors. These selections improve Nebraska’s nation-leading total of All-Americans to 87 all-time.

Congrats to @Huskervball S Kelly Hunter! pic.twitter.com/JpT2PPETGR

— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) December 13, 2017

The No. 5 Huskers (30-4) were on the court practicing at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on Wednesday as they get set for their Final Four match on Thursday evening against No. 1 Penn State at the Sprint Center. The match will get underway at 6 p.m. and will be carried on 107.3 FM and on KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln.

In addition, KLIN will sync its audio with the TV broadcast on ESPN. KLIN’s signal will be synced with Spectrum in Lincoln, which is Channel 34.

Just found out that in addition to our sister station B1073’s usual coverage, @KLINRadio will also carry the @Huskervball match Thursday & sync @johnbaylorACT & @Lo_Cook‘s call with the ESPN broadcast, so turn your TVs down and radios up! pic.twitter.com/yDBKtUQK9e

— Jack Mitchell (@JackM_KLINRadio) December 11, 2017

Nebraska is appearing in its third straight Final Four, which has never been done before in school history. This is also the Huskers’ 14th-all time trip to the NCAA Semifinals; the second most of any school in NCAA history.

Looking ahead to Thursday’s match, Penn State’s only loss in 2017 was getting swept by Nebraska at home on Sept. 22.

The Nittany Lions have since won 24 straight matches.

The Huskers are currently on a 17-match winning streak. Nebraska and Penn State both finished the regular season as Co-Big Ten Champions with a 19-1 record in conference play. Head coach John Cook said that Thursday’s match could help decide who the true champion of the conference is.

“We’re going to be looking at this as, you know, we tied with Penn State for the Big Ten Championship,” Cook said. “So, we’re going to settle that Thursday night. You’ve got to go down there and go for it.”

The Huskers have won six straight matches against the Nittany Lions.

The #Huskers have hit the court for practice here in KC at the Final Four pic.twitter.com/uORil2vMtU

— Brett Edwards (@brettedklkn) December 13, 2017