Nebraska’s courting of Merritt Beason last December was a quick process. Coach John Cook knew he had a hole in his lineup to fill and he identified the former Gator as his top target in the transfer portal after two productive years in Gainesville.
Nebraska hosted Beason on a visit, and soon after she announced her commitment. Cook knew the Huskers were getting a good player, but she’s provided a bigger boost to the program than he even expected.
“I didn’t know what she would be off the court,” Cook said. “You really don’t get that in a 24, 36-hour visit, or how she’ll connect or how she’ll fit in. I knew she filled a need that we really had that was left open, but her impact on our team might be bigger off the court than it is on the court.”
It took Beason just a handful of months after arriving in Lincoln to earn her teammates’ respect enough to be named a team captain alongside Lexi Rodriguez. Leadership wasn’t necessarily something that stood out about Beason during the recruiting process, but it didn’t take Cook too long during the spring to see it.
“It was probably a while after she was here, and just seeing how she interacted with the team, how quickly she blended in with the team, because it was pretty fast,” Cook said. “Then we started having our captains meetings and hearing her speak in that, it was ‘wow, this is pretty impressive.’ I don’t even know if we talked about her being a captain at Florida. I don’t even remember bringing that up or talking about it or thinking like ‘Oh, yeah, she can be a captain here.”
Beason’s presence has had a big impact on Nebraska’s large freshman class on and off the court, including its setter.
“Merritt has taught all of us a lot, just kind of about volleyball but also just about being a good person and a good leader on the court,” Bergen Reilly said. “And that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned from her is just how to be a leader out there. As a setter, even as a freshman, you’re going to have some sort of leadership role out there, and so I’ve learned a lot about that from her and just keeping calm in those tough situations.”
Defensive specialist Laney Choboy said Beason brings the same positive energy to the court regardless of how she might be playing individually, a temperament that balances out some of the more fiery personalities on the team.
“I think that’s something that a lot of people can learn,” Choboy said. “Especially being young, we haven’t really been through a season like this and to have to do things emotionally like this, so she does a really good job of setting an example …
“She’s very calm, which I am not, so we kind of like have a lot of different parts on the team and I think they go to go together really well. She’s really calm and if we’re struggling in practice she just talks in the huddle and stuff and just gets us back on track.”
While her leadership has been important, her on-court contributions have been vital to the team’s 21-0 start to the season as well. After averaging 3.35 kills per set on .261 hitting and 1.92 digs per set as a sophomore at Florida, Beason is putting up 3.64 kills per set on .280 hitting and 2.01 digs per set as a Husker.
“I just think embracing how we train and how we teach and embracing those techniques and what we’re trying to do,” Cook said. “She’s very coachable. I told her that the other day, she’s one of the most coachable players I’ve ever coached. She wants feedback and she wants to try to always be making something better, whether it’s her serve, passing, attacking, blocking. Not every player wants to be coached.”
Beason is the first opposite hitter to lead Nebraska in kills per set since Kadie Rolfzen averaged 3.16 kills per set on .295 hitting in 2016. She’s already earned two Big Ten Player of the Week awards and has recorded three double-doubles and two games of 20-plus kills.
“The reason Meritt’s high in that is because she’s she’s a hitter in six rotations,” Cook said about her gaudy numbers. “Again, you’ve got to be able to spread the court and attack from the left side, right side and down the middle. And so the system we’re running allows us to do that. She happens to be in there six rotations, so she’s going to have the most opportunity. But you want to be a great team, they’ve got to be worried about all five hitters and then a setter that is going to throw the ball around. That’s what makes the hardest teams to defend.”
Reilly is currently leading the Big Ten in assists per set at 10.52, and Beason’s presence has helped opened up the left pin for freshman Harper Murray, who isn’t far behind at 3.37 kills per set on .274 hitting.
Nebraska is hitting .288 overall, second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally, with Beason leading the way on and off the court.
