Momentum turned hard against Nebraska last December in Tampa. Point by painful point for the Huskers, Texas marched to the national championship in women’s volleyball.
There stood the Nebraska players, seemingly a team of destiny, fueled by milestones unseen in their sport.
Time did not stop. The four-month season, written like a script, with ESPN cameras alongside to document the achievements, ended in devastation.
If only they could have hit pause on the avalanche as Texas aced Nebraska 12 times en route to a lopsided, three-set win, the Huskers might have found a way to regroup. Alas, they were left to face a long offseason, their 33-2 final record serving as a hollow reminder of how close they came to greatness.
Thursday night in Louisville, Ky., Nebraska returns to the Final Four. Again, it is 33-2. Big Ten rival Penn State awaits in the national semifinals — with a clash looming for the winner Sunday against Pittsburgh or Louisville.
All of them were No. 1 seeds. And Nebraska is the heaviest of heavyweights in attendance, seeking a spot in the national championship match for the fourth time since its most recent of five championships in 2017.
“If you don’t get to the Final Four,” senior opposite hitter Merritt Beason said, “it feels like a failure.”
For many, the Huskers’ loss a year ago in the final match felt like the end of a failed journey. But what if that quest, which began last season when Nebraska volleyball sold out a football stadium, did not end in defeat?
What if the loss against Texas was the end of the first chapter in a two-year chronicle? What if the Huskers did not need to stop time to avoid the bitter taste of reality?
What if this was their destiny? To win in Louisville.
Nebraska players and coaches gathered after Tampa to discuss their goals for 2024.
“We had to kind of challenge ourselves,” senior libero Lexi Rodriguez said, “finding a way to let go of last year and let go of all the pressures and just have a clean slate.”
With every starting piece back from last season, they chose to dream big.
“The expectation here is to make it to a national championship,” sophomore outside hitter Harper Murray said.
So the Huskers created a theme for 2024: “race for the roses,” a nod to the host city this week, its famed Churchill Downs racetrack and the Kentucky Derby, which adorns the winners annually with red roses.
Nebraska placed the motto on T-shirts, posters and backpacks. Adidas, the school’s apparel partner, jumped on the theme and produced merchandise. Fans bought in. Coach John Cook scheduled a pair of early season matches at the KFC Yum! Center, the site of the Final Four.
The race for the roses begins today.
🆚: Kentucky
🕕: 6pm CT
📺: ESPN2
📍: KFC Yum! Center
📻: @HuskersRadio pic.twitter.com/2g8GW3rUXe— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) August 27, 2024
Nebraska beat Kentucky in four sets to open the season in Louisville. Three weeks later, the Huskers swept Louisville on its home floor. While there the second time, Cook visited Churchill Downs and toured the stable of famed trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He made plans to return and attend the Derby in May of next year.
On senior day in Lincoln last month, Cook presented roses to Rodriguez, Beason, Lindsay Krause, Kennedi Orr and Leyla Blackwell. He gave roses, too, to the Wisconsin seniors before the Huskers swept the Badgers for the second of three times this year.
On the Nebraska side, they all knew the meaning.
“We have high expectations,” Cook said.
It’s a lot to put on a team, championship or bust. The pressure might have broken another group. Cook invited it.
This Nebraska roster features an embarrassment of riches. On Wednesday, Nebraska’s Rodriguez and middle blocker Andi Jackson earned first-team All-America recognition; Murray and setter Bergen Reilly were named to the second team.
For Rodriguez, among four finalists for the AVCA national player of the year — because of moments like this — the All-America honor is her fourth in four seasons.
Beason was a first-team All-American last year. Outside hitter Taylor Landfair was a first-team pick at Minnesota in 2022. Middle blocker Rebekah Allick is a three-time All-Big Ten honoree. Defensive specialists Olivia Mauch and Laney Choboy, with Rodriguez, form the best trio nationally of floor protectors.
So, yes, they’re OK with pressure.
“You’re always going to have pressure when you play in a program like this,” Murray said. “But I think it’s about just playing for each other and not listening to outside noise. It’s an expectation here, and we know that.”
Nebraska volleyball lives in the spotlight. The Huskers sell out venues from coast to coast and regularly break viewership records. Their sweep against Wisconsin on Sunday averaged 798,000 viewers on ABC, the most-watched NCAA regional match ever, pacing TV coverage last weekend that jumped 98 percent over a year ago.
Still, it’s not all bright lights and big stages for this team. When the Huskers opened practice in August, focused on their race for the roses, Cook and his coaching staff upped the intensity level.
Even the captains, Rodriguez and Beason, broke down emotionally.
“This ain’t easy, what we’re doing,” Cook said at the time. “We push them.”
It required every push to get Nebraska to this place, on the cusp of bridging the work from two seasons into one.
(Photo: Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
