The extended sweep streak is over for No. 1 Nebraska volleyball after dropping a set to UCLA, but the season rolls on for the undefeated Huskers with less than two weeks remaining before selection Sunday.
While the Cornhuskers are proud of their success this season, they’re perfectly fine with the streak no longer dominating conversation.
“It’s really cool what we did, but at the end of the day, we all knew that wasn’t our goal, and honestly, losing a set was probably going to help us get to our goal more than just winning a bunch of sweeps in a row,” Bergen Reilly said. “I think it was frustrating losing the set because we knew we kind of beat ourselves in that set. We didn’t really work as hard as we normally did, we weren’t making plays we normally would, but it was great to see our response. We came back in that fourth set, and then we played a great game against USC too.
“So I think that was the frustrating part, was that it wasn’t necessarily that we got outplayed. We kind of just got out worked. And that’s not how we want to lose.”
Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said the “outworked” part showed in the defensive play of the two teams. UCLA out-dug Nebraska 59-48 in the four-set Husker victory. Two days later against now-No. 16 USC, the Huskers dominated in that category, 54-29 in three sets.
“I thought we played great on Sunday,” Busboom Kelly said. “There are a lot of excuses we could give ourselves for being flat on Friday, but we still won and ended on a great note in that set four and played great on Sunday. So it was a really good trip and I think everybody was fired up with the way it ended.”
With 26 matches under their belts and the NCAA Tournament still a couple weeks away, these could be considered the dog days of the season. Avoiding burnout is an important part of making a deep postseason run, and it’s something the Huskers have been working to prevent all year.
“It’s been a really fun season, but you always have to find things that you love, and we’ve talked about filling your bucket, whether that’s going shopping or getting your nails done, whatever it is,” Reilly said, answering a question from teammate Laney Choboy, who crashed Tuesday’s press conference. “I think Dani’s also done a good job of helping us with that of enjoy every game and don’t take winning for granted. Winning shouldn’t be a relief, it should be exciting every time you get a win.
“I think kind of changing that mindset a little bit has helped a lot with that, so that every game doesn’t feel like, ‘Oh, we better go in and win.’ It’s like, ‘Hey, we have an opportunity to play in front of sold-out crowds pretty much everywhere we’re going with our best friends.’ So really, it’s just I’m feeling good this year, and I feel just really excited to finish out Big Ten on a high note and go into the tournament just feeling really excited and super confident.”
Nebraska (26-0, 16-0 Big Ten) will look to keep the success rolling on Thursday when the Iowa Hawkeyes visit the Devaney Center.
Iowa has already won more matches overall and in conference than it did last season, heading into Thursday’s meeting 14-14 overall and 5-11 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes are 10th in the league in hitting (.245) and 13th in opponent hitting (.233).
However, that record includes a 1-7 start to Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes are 4-4 in their last eight with six five-set matches and two that have gone four sets. Iowa has taken sets off three ranked teams during that stretch: two from No. 17 Indiana, one from No. 11 Purdue and two from No. 20 Minnesota. Iowa has out-hit its opponents .255 to .248 over the past eight.
After the Iowa match, Nebraska will hit the road for the final time this season, traveling to Bloomington to take on the Hoosiers (21-5, 12-4) on Saturday at Wilkinson Hall.
“They’re great,” Busboom Kelly said. “They have a freshman setter and the fastest offense we’ve played by far all year, so that will be a huge challenge. It’s always tough adjusting to that type of offensive pace. They believe, and when you catch teams that are playing great and believing, it can be magical. It’ll be a very, very tough match for us for a lot of reasons.”
Indiana is fourth in the Big Ten in hitting (.289), fifth in aces (1.67 per set) and eighth in blocks (2.44 per set).
The freshman setter, Teodora Kričković, is second in the league in assists at 10.81 per set. The Hoosiers don’t have a hitter in the conference’s top 10 in kills, but they have two just outside of it. Senior Candela Alonso-Corcelles is 11th at 3.55 kills per set on .258 hitting while freshman Jaidyn Jager is 13th at 3.51 kills per set on .253 hitting.
With Purdue and No. 10 Wisconsin sitting in a tie for second place in the Big Ten with three losses apiece, Nebraska can secure at least a share of the conference title with a win on Thursday, and the Huskers can win it outright on Saturday regardless of what the Boilermakers or Badgers do — in Busboom Kelly’s first season at the helm.
“It’s pretty great,” Busboom Kelly said. “We joined the Big Ten when I was an assistant coach, and it was really tough. It’s always really tough to win the Big Ten … To be able to just continue the tradition — this will be the third in a row if we can clinch it, and I think that’s a huge, huge deal in this conference. I’m pretty proud to not have taken a step back and to deliver on the championship.”
First serve Thursday is set for 7 p.m. CT on FS1. Saturday’s match is set to start at 5 p.m. on Big Ten Plus.
