Category: Volleyball

Reilly named Big Ten Setter of the Week

This is the eighth time the Sioux Falls native has been named Big Ten Setter of the Week.

A Nebraska volleyball has won a weekly conference award. Sophomore setter Bergen Reilly was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week on Monday afternoon.

Reilly helped the Huskers defeat the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Indiana Hoosiers last week. She averaged 10.71 assists per set and 3.86 digs per set.

In a 3-1 victory against No. 16 Minnesota, Reilly had 40 assists and a career-high 20 digs. She is the first Husker to record at least 40 assists, 20 digs, and five kills in the rally-scoring era (2001).

This is the eighth time that Reilly has been named the Big Ten Setter of the Week. Other weekly award winners were Sarah Franklin (Wisconsin Badgers) as the Player of the Week, Nalani Iosia (Michigan State Spartans) as Defensive Player of the Week and Charlie Fuerbringer (Wisconsin Badgers) Freshman of the Week.

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Wisconsin Badgers volleyball rises in latest AVCA rankings

Wisconsin Badgers volleyball rockets up in latest AVCA rankings

This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccurate headline.

Wisconsin’s volleyball team jumped to No. 6 in the latest release of the AVCA rankings.

The Badgers are back near the top after overcoming a disappointing 0-3 start.

Pittsburgh earned the No. 1 spot in the latest ranking. It is followed by 2023 runner-up Nebraska, 2022 runner-up Louisville, No. 4 Penn State and 2022 and 2023 national champion Texas in the top five. The Badgers landed just above 2018 and 2019 national champion Stanford and No. 8 Purdue.

The Badgers were ranked third in the 2024 Preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association in late August. The team is 18-5 with losses to preseason No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Louisville and No. 18 Minnesota.

One week earlier, the Badgers were No. 7. Their rise to No. 6 comes after Kelly Sheffield’s team swept both Iowa and No. 3 Penn State in back-to-back matches at the UW Field House.

Against the Nittany Lions, Wisconsin dominated with 25-23, 25-12 and 25-13 finishes in the 3-0 win.

The Badgers registered a .465 hitting percentage with 50 kills on 101 attempts. Superstar Sarah Franklin and middle blocker/right side hitter Anna Smrek accounted for 13 kills apiece.

UW looks to build off its recent win against No. 20 USC on Nov. 14.

Rodriguez named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

This is Lexi Rodriguez’s seventh career conference defensive player of the week and the second of the season.

A Nebraska volleyball player earned a conference award on Monday. Libero Lexi Rodriguez was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

This is Rodriguez’s seventh career conference defensive player of the week and the second of the season. The two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year recently passed Kayla Banwarth for second all-time in Nebraska in career digs with 1,731.

Olympian Justine Wong-Orantes is the school’s all-time leader in digs with 1,890. Rodriguez and Nebraska lead all Big Ten teams with a .162 opponent-hitting percentage on the season.

Other award winners this week were Eva Hudson of the Purdue Boilermakers and Sarah Franklin of the Wisconsin Badgers as Big Ten Co-Player of the Week. Charlie Fuerbringer of Wisconsin was named Big Ten Setter of the Week and Ashlyn Philpot of the Illinois Fighting Illini was awarded the conference Freshman of the Week

Nebraska is 24-1 on the year and 14-0 in the conference. They will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 8:00 p.m. CT, when they host the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

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Jackson named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

The Nebraska volleyball team is 20-1 overall on the season and 10-0 in the Big Ten Conference.

A Nebraska volleyball player won a Big Ten award on Monday. Sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson was named the conference’s defensive player of the week for the first time in her career.

Jackson averaged 1.57 blocks per set in wins over the Illinois Fighting Illini and Michigan Wolverines. She also had 3.00 kills per set on .417 hitting.

In the win on Friday over Illinois, Jackson had six blocks and 11 kills on .667 hitting. She then had five blocks and ten kills in Saturday’s victory over Michigan.

The Nebraska volleyball team is 20-1 overall on the season and 10-0 in the Big Ten Conference. They have won 17 straight matches since their 3-0 defeat to SMU on Sep. 3.

They will take the floor again on Friday, Nov. 1, at the Wisconsin Badgers. The match will start at 8:00 p.m. CT and can be seen on Big Ten Network.

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Badger legend becomes winningest coach in Wisconsin volleyball history

Badger legend becomes winningest coach in Wisconsin volleyball history

Wisconsin legend Kelly Sheffield became the winningest coach in Badgers volleyball history on Thursday.

With the 3-0 victory over the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington, Indiana, Sheffield secured win No. 306 with the program. He surpassed Pete Waite, who served as UW’s coach from 1999-2012.

Superstar outside hitter Sarah Franklin finished with 15 kills and four blocks in the victory, while senior Anna Smrek collected 10 kills and seven blocks and senior Caroline Crawford notched her 600th career block. The Badgers wound up sweeping the Hoosiers 25-23, 25-18, 25-13.

In 11 years under Sheffield’s tutelage, Wisconsin’s volleyball program has experienced unrivaled success on the court. The Muncie, Indiana, native has captained the Badgers to the 2021 NCAA Championship, five NCAA Final Fours and 11 consecutive NCAA Sweet 16-or-better tournament finishes.

Wisconsin has claimed five Big Ten titles, 42 All-America honors and produced superstars including Sarah Franklin and Dana Rettke, two former AVCA National Players of the Year.

The Badgers’ model for success certainly extends into this year. After starting the season 0-3, Wisconsin has rattled off eight wins in a row and a 14-1 mark since Sept. 2. Wisconsin currently holds the No. 8 spot in the AVCA Rankings and will look to improve its national status with a win against No. 10 Purdue on Saturday night.

Nebraska volleyball looks to set attendance record next season

Nebraska volleyball will finally play a game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2025.

Nebraska women’s volleyball coach John Cook told the media two and a half years ago, “At some point, we may have to play in Pinnacle Bank.” Before adding that, then-Husker athletic director Trev Alberts was pushing Cook and the program to do just that. 

Cook told Lauren Cook-West on the “Kicking Back with the Cooks” podcast that the Huskers will finally get their chance next season. 

“Last night, Purdue set a new Big Ten attendance record. They played Indiana in the basketball arena and drew 14,152. So immediately I sent off a text to Troy (Dannen), our athletic director, and said ‘game on, we gotta break this.’ So next year we’ll definitely be going to be PBA, so we can get that record too. We want to hold every record, so I think our fans are fired up. So we’ll have to play a Big Ten match in PBA Arena.”

While Huskers fans can look forward to the program playing at Pinnacle Bank Arena at some point next season, the Huskers are still focused on their 2024-25 season. Currently, John Cook’s program is 18-1 overall, including 8-0 in conference play; they’ve won 15 straight matches since falling to SMU in three sets back in early September. 

The Huskers will host Illinois and Michigan this weekend at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. 

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No. 7 Texas Falls to Rival Texas A&M in Five-Set Heartbreaker

The Texas Longhorns’ 79-match home conference win streak ended in a thrilling five-set loss to Texas A&M, marking their first SEC defeat.

The No. 7 Texas Longhorns saw their nine-match winning streak snapped in dramatic fashion Wednesday night, falling to Texas A&M in a thrilling five-set match at Gregory Gymnasium.

The 27-25, 14-25, 25-23, 21-25, 16-18 loss marked Texas’ first conference defeat of the season and ended their remarkable 79-match home conference win streak. It was also the Aggies’ first victory over the Longhorns since 2010.

Madisen Skinner led the charge for the Longhorns, tallying a season-high 22 kills while hitting .415. Reagan Rutherford added 13 kills and four blocks on a .375 clip, but despite their efforts, the Aggies outlasted Texas in a roller-coaster final set.

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The Longhorns started strong, pulling off a dramatic 27-25 first set win, thanks in part to five blocks and three aces from Jenna Kahahawai. Texas A&M bounced back in dominant fashion, claiming the second set 25-14 to even the match. Texas responded with a hard-fought 25-23 victory in the third set, but A&M took control in the fourth, winning 25-21 and forcing a decisive fifth set.

The fifth set proved to be a nail-biter, with the teams trading runs in a back-and-forth battle. Texas had three match points but couldn’t close the deal, and the Aggies finished the match on a 3-0 run to pull off the upset.

While many will be quick to rant about the mistakes or blown opportunities—the coaching staff knows what went wrong. I just hope this loss serves as a wake-up call. This team has too much talent to let a setback like this derail their season. It’s tough to see the 79-match home conference win streak come to an end, especially at the hands of the Aggies. But hopefully, this will light a fire under them moving forward.

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With the loss, Texas falls to 12-4 overall and 7-1 in SEC play. The Longhorns will look to regroup quickly as they host Missouri at Gregory Gym on November 1.

Reilly named Big Ten Setter of the Week for third time this season

The Nebraska setter won another conference award!

Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week on Monday afternoon. This is the third time that Reilly won this award this season.

The sophomore helped the Huskers to a 3-2 win over the No. 10 Purdue Boilermakers and a 3-0 win against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights last week. Reilly averaged 11.88 assists and 3.75 digs per set.

In the win against Purdue, the Sioux Falls, SD native set a career-high of 60 assists and 17 kills. In the sweep of Rutgers, she had 35 assists and 13 digs.

Reilly last won the Big Ten Setter of the Week award on Sep. 16, 2024. Oregon’s Mimi Colyer was named the conference Player of the Week, Minnesota’s Phoebe Awoleye was Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, and Penn State’s Izzy Starck was named the Freshman of the Week.

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Nebraska takes down Rutgers in another swift sweep

The Huskers improve to 16-1 on the season and 6-0 in conference play.

After taking down No. 10 Purdue in a five-set battle the night before, the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers hosted the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday night. Nebraska ended the weekend in commanding fashion, sweeping the Scarlet Knights (25-15, 25-16, 25-12).

The Huskers finished with 43 kills off 102 attacks in the win, along with nine blocks and 14 total errors. Rutgers ended the night with just 28 kills off 109 attacks and were held to an attack percentage of .083, the lowest by any team against Nebraska this season.

Harper Murray finished with double-digit kills in the win, the only player on either team to do so. Murray hit 13-of-31 while snatching 11 digs to earn her 10th career double-double.

Bergen Reilly also finished the night with a double-double, pitching in a team-high 35 set assists and a team-high 13 digs. Both Lexi Rodriguez and Laney Choboy finished behind Reilly in digs with nine.

Leyla Blackwell grabbed a team-high seven blocks while hitting 9-of-15 to earn a .600 attack percentage. Lindsay Krause also hit above .600, going 4-of-6 on the night.

The Huskers improve to 16-1 on the season and 6-0 in conference play. Nebraska will hit the road for two days against the Michigan State Spartans and the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Huskers face Michigan State on Friday night. The first serve is set for 7:00 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.

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Lexi Rodriguez named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

This is Rodriguez’s sixth Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award.

This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.

The No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team continues to receive accolades for their 12-1 start to the season. Nebraska senior libero Lexi Rodriguez was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Monday afternoon.

This is Rodriguez’s sixth Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award, finishing the week with 33 digs across two matches.

Rodriguez finished this past week with 33 digs across two matches, delivering a season-high 20 digs in the Huskers’ 3-1 win against UCLA on Friday and 13 digs in the team’s sweep of No. 20 USC on Sunday.

In both matches, the Huskers held their opponents to season-low hitting percentages. Rodriguez helped Nebraska force the Bruins to a hitting percentage of .153 and USC to a hitting percentage of .137.

Rodriguez is a three-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. On the season, she has 164 digs through 13 matches.

She now has 1,588 digs in her career, surpassing Nicklin Haimes for third in school history. Rodriguez needs 303 more digs to set the school record held by Olympian Justine Wong-Orantes.

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