There are not any trophies or titles on the road Wednesday evening when Nebraska takes on Omaha, however it will likely be the largest volleyball match of the 12 months.
Actually.
Greater than 90,000 tickets have been offered for the match in Memorial Stadium as part of Volleyball Day in Nebraska. The Huskers and Mavericks will play at 7 p.m. tomorrow following an exhibition match between Division II powers Wayne State and Nebraska-Kearney. A live performance from nation musician Scotty McCreery will cap off the evening.
“I don’t suppose actually any of us are in a position to grasp what’s actually taking place and taking place tomorrow, however I believe it’s going to hit us all as soon as we’re strolling out of the tunnel,” Nebraska junior Merritt Beason, a switch from Florida, stated on Tuesday. “93,000 folks is kinda laborious to wrap your head round, and the truth that they’re right here for us and right here supporting us is kinda loopy to consider. It’s laborious to place it into perspective and put together for it truthfully.”
The occasion was a large enterprise for the Nebraska athletic division and college. In-person lessons have been canceled. Departments chipped in with logistics and planning. Alcohol was accredited to be offered within the stadium for the second time following a Garth Brooks live performance in 2021.
Nebraska introduced the sport six months in the past, and directors started determining how one can put a volleyball court docket in the course of a soccer stadium. Due to the crown of the sector, it couldn’t be positioned straight on the turf.
The occasions administration staff started organising the court docket on Thursday evening after the Huskers’ soccer apply. They laid a protecting layer over the turf and constructed a bolstered platform for the Teraflex court docket.
Nebraska coach John Cook dinner has seen rather a lot in his storied teaching profession, however he doesn’t absolutely know what to anticipate for the match. He’s spent the previous couple of weeks making ready his gamers for the occasion by reviewing the schedule and getting in the best way of thinking. Nevertheless, he doesn’t know how one can react to a stadium of followers cheering for volleyball.
“I’m simply making an attempt to personal every second. That is all new to me, too,” he stated. “I did have this thought yesterday that that is as shut as I’m going to be to being the pinnacle soccer coach at Nebraska taking part in down right here. That is going to be superior.”
Whereas the matches will have fun volleyball within the state, it’s going to even be about constructing the longer term and honoring the previous. Round 40 buses full of highschool and youthful volleyball gamers will drive to Lincoln to attend the match.
The occasion will even function the biggest reunion of former volleyball gamers. As a result of tickers within the Devaney Heart are laborious to return by, Nebraska can’t honor greater than a staff or two at a time. On Wednesday evening, they are going to welcome nearly 100 former Huskers and their households.
For sophomore Bekka Allick, she’s grateful for the chance to play in entrance of legends and be fortunate sufficient to be on the court docket.
“We’ve had every kind of athletes come by means of this legacy program,” she stated. “Why didn’t this occur when Jordan Larson and Sarah Pavan have been right here? All of those superb legends and it’s us. We have been chosen to have this, and (Cook dinner) pushes this on us every single day. An ‘angle of gratitude.’ We don’t know when that is going to occur once more, if ever.”
The motion on the court docket shall be not like something a lot of the gamers have skilled. Whereas the Huskers have performed seaside volleyball, they haven’t adhered to the indoor guidelines whereas taking part in exterior.
The most important problem is perhaps the uncontrollable climate – coping with the solar, wind and humidity. Beason stated she can have plenty of towels close by to dry off and so they would possibly change uniforms between the second and third units. Beason stated the one a part of her preparations that she’s altering is placing on sunscreen earlier than the match.
“For essentially the most half, every thing shall be just about the identical,” she stated. “We’re simply taking part in volleyball and so I believe I’m simply going to take a look at it that means. Attempt to not hype it up an excessive amount of. Then, within the second, soak all of it in. However I don’t wish to overthink it an excessive amount of going into the sport. It’s simply one other day taking part in volleyball.”
The Huskers personal a 17-1 report in opposition to Omaha, however they’ve performed simply twice because the Mavericks transitioned to Division I in 2011 — a sweep in 2017 and a five-setter in 2021.
This previous weekend, Nebraska opened the season with with sweeps over Utah State, Lipscomb and SMU.
The large storyline of the weekend was the distinguished roles of the Huskers’ freshmen.
Setter Bergen Reilly began all three matches and regarded comfy operating the offense. Cook dinner stated he went with the product of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, native as a result of she was a couple of factors higher than junior setter Kennedi Orr.
“She’s normally one in all our greatest servers. She’s getting higher as a blocker. She units a very good tempo. She units the center rather well,” Cook dinner stated. “Her again units are world-class. When you actually know volleyball, a few of her again units are elite degree.”
Reilly’s classmate, exterior hitter Harper Murray, was the beneficiary of a lot of these assists, and she or he averaged 3.67 kills per set on a .343 hitting share. Center blocker Andi Jackson began two matches and recorded 2.17 kills per set, hitting .526, and had 1.83 blocks per set. Defensive specialist Laney Choboy additionally supplied stable ground protection and was named to the all-tournament staff.
The Huskers do have a number of considerations regardless of the proper report. Nebraska hit .253 as a staff and juniors Lindsay Krause and Ally Batenhorst struggled at exterior hitter. The duo completed the weekend with a mixed 16 kills on 62 assaults. Sophomore Hayden Kubik noticed restricted time on the place and recorded errors on each swings.
Cook dinner stated the place remains to be up for grabs going into this week.
“They’re getting nice units,” he stated. “Hopefully, anyone’s going to step up and take that spot.”
