Tag: Nebraska Volleyball 2024 Season

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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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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Big Ten announces 2024 conference volleyball matchups

The Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 volleyball season’s conference matchups on Thursday.

The Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 volleyball season’s conference matchups on Thursday. Even though the conference will be adding four schools to the league in the upcoming campaign, the conference will maintain a 20-game schedule with ten home games and ten away games.

The Cornhuskers will play three opponents, both home and away – Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. According to the Big Ten, the two-play opponents were determined with consideration for competitive balance, geography, and rivalries.

Nebraska will host Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA and USC. They will travel to Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Washington.

The Huskers will enter 2024 as a National Runner-Up, having finished last season with a 33-2 overall record and Big Ten Championship.