Tag: Head Coach John Cook

Nebraska volleyball opens 2024 season with Red-White Scrimmage

Nebraska finished the 2023 season at 33-2 (19-1 Big Ten) and reached the NCAA Championship match, falling to Texas.

The Nebraska volleyball team returns to the court for the 2024 season this weekend, opening up with the Red-White Scrimmage. Nebraska finished the 2023 season at 33-2 (19-1 Big Ten) and reached the NCAA Championship match, falling 3-0 to Texas.

The Huskers also won the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2017. Head coach John Cook was also named AVCA National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year.

The Huskers, who had no seniors on their roster in 2023, return ten letter-winners, including every starter. With four freshmen in the lineup, the Huskers won their first 27 matches of the 2023 season and held the No. 1 ranking from Oct. 23 through the end of the regular season.

Nebraska now has two new additions via the transfer portal: Minnesota outside hitter Taylor Landfair and San Diego middle blocker Leyla Blackwell. Landfair, a 6-foot-5 outside hitter who won Big Ten Player of the Year in 2022, has two years of eligibility remaining.

Blackwell, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker, was a three-time All-WCC selection at San Diego, guiding the Toreros to the NCAA semifinals in 2022 by shattering the school record for single-season block assists (152), and she finished sixth nationally at 1.50 blocks per set.

Nebraska also brings in two freshmen: Skyler Pierce, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter from Lenexa, Kansas, and Olivia Mauch, a 5-foot-6 libero from Bennington, Nebraska.

The scrimmage is set for Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.  The first serve is set for 6:00 p.m. CT and will be televised on Nebraska Public Media and streamed at B1G+.

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Volleyball Day in Nebraska ends with a new world record for the Huskers

It was perhaps one of the biggest days in volleyball history, Volleyball Day in Nebraska.

It was perhaps one of the biggest days in volleyball history, Volleyball Day in Nebraska. After Wayne State and Nebraska-Kearney played earlier in the day, the Nebraska volleyball team faced off against Omaha in front of a record crowd at Memorial Stadium.

Not only did the Huskers walk away with a win, but they also walked away with the Women’s Sporting Event World Record. Memorial Stadium saw a grand total of 92,003 in attendance to watch Nebraska face down the Mavericks.

This surpassed the previous world record of 91,648, which came in a UEFA Champions League match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg on April 22, 2022, at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain. The previous record for an American women’s sporting event was 90,185 in the USA’s FIFA World Cup Final against China on July 10, 1999, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

The Huskers also shattered a pair of NCAA records with this match – the previous records for any NCAA volleyball match and an NCAA volleyball regular-season match.

Entering Wednesday night, the largest-ever crowd for any NCAA volleyball match was 18,755 when Nebraska played Wisconsin in the NCAA Final in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 18, 2021. The largest NCAA volleyball regular-season attendance was 16,833 when Wisconsin hosted Florida in Madison, Wisconsin., on Sept 16, 2022.

The Huskers are now 4-0 on the season and will hit the road for their first road match of the season against Kansas State. The match is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+.

Nebraska volleyball dominates Lipscomb in 3-0 win

The Nebraska volleyball team continued its opening weekend at the Ameritas Players Challenge, this time facing off against Lipscomb.

The Nebraska volleyball team continued its opening weekend at the Ameritas Players Challenge, this time facing off against Lipscomb. The Huskers completed another sweep to improve to 2-0, taking down the Bisons (25-10, 25-21, 25-16).

Nebraska dominated Lipscomb throughout the match, finishing with 20 more kills than the Bisons. The Huskers finished the night with an attack percentage of .366, landing 42 kills off 82 attacks. The duo of Florida transfer Merritt Beason and freshman Harper Murray once again led Nebraska in the match.

Beason finished the match as Nebraska’s top attacker, delivering 11 kills off 24 attacks. Murray was right behind her, having 10 kills off 18 attacks. Murray also delivered in her serves, landing three service aces in the win.

A notable performance on the night, however, came from freshman middle blocker Andi Jackson. The Brighton, Colorado native earned eight kills off 10 attacks in the match and finished with an attack percentage of .700. She also contributed four blocks on the night.

Other standouts include freshman Bergen Reilly and libero Lexi Rodriguez. Reilly led the team in assists, finishing with 29, while also snatching nine digs. Rodriguez was the top defender for the Huskers, finishing with 10 digs and earning her 1,000th career dig in the process.

Nebraska will conclude the Ameritas Players Challenge on Sunday, where it’ll take on SMU. The match is set for 2 p.m. and can be viewed on B1G+.

Nebraska Volleyball cracks Top Ten of preseason rankings

The preseason ACVA Division I women’s volleyball coaches’ poll was released earlier in the week.

The preseason ACVA Division I women’s volleyball coaches’ poll was released earlier in the week. The Cornhuskers have earned a spot in the Top Ten.

The defending national champion Texas Longhorns are the runaway No. 1 ranked team. The Longhorns earned 44 of 64 first-place votes heading into the season.

Wisconsin and Stanford were No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. The Big Ten had a strong showing, with six teams in the Top 25 and four teams in the Top Ten.

Head coach John Cook has been in charge at Nebraska since 2000. In that time, he has won four National Championships, made seven National Finals, won 13 conference championships, has had 18 Top Ten finishes, and coached 52 All-Americans.

Scroll below to see where Nebraska ranked in the preseason coaches poll.