There are only two high-major volleyball teams in the country who have made it to this point without a blemish on their record. On Saturday night, that total will drop to one as No. 1 Wisconsin visits No. 2 Nebraska.
Both teams are 18-0 and at or near the top of the Big Ten in many statistical categories. Nebraska is the best defensive team in the Big Ten (and the country) and the second-best offensive team in the league (eighth nationally). Wisconsin is the best offensive team in the conference (and third-best nationally) as well as the second-best defensive team in the Big Ten (fourth in the NCAA).
It’s the first mach between undefeated top-two teams since 1998.
“I told the team this is why you come to Nebraska,” Coach John Cook said. “You’re going to play in matches that have a lot of attention like this. We’ve worked hard to get in this position and it’s part of being part of Nebraska volleyball. This isn’t the first time this has happened; there have been a lot of matches like this and this is what makes it fun.”
Cook said the volleyball office has been inundated with ticket requests, but otherwise he’s tried to keep his team insulated from the outside noise and focused on the task at hand, something the players have done very well so far this year with the outdoor match at Memorial Stadium standing as the most notable example.
“That’s what I told them, I said you guys already played in the biggest match in the history of volleyball, so we’ve been there, done that,” Cook said. “There is the Big Ten standings riding on this as well. As you go later in the season, you start playing matches where results matter in regards to winning a Big Ten championship. But, again, we don’t really talk about that with them; they know that and that’s why we’re just focused on winning the next point.”
Nebraska v.s. Wisconsin volleyball may be the highest-priced ticket in regular season history 🤯#Huskers | #GBR pic.twitter.com/w8DfCifzub
— Hurrdat Sports (@HurrdatSports) October 18, 2023
Wisconsin has won 10 straight against the Huskers. Nebraska’s last victory over their conference rival was on Sept. 3, 2017. Most of Nebraska’s roster was still in middle school at that time, and six of the 14 players haven’t experienced defeat against Wisconsin. With all the fresh faces, the series history hasn’t been a major topic of discussion leading up to this year’s first meeting.
“I think the years before it was just kind of more like the rivalry and we’ve never beat them before, but I feel like we haven’t really talked about this year,” junior captain Lexi Rodriguez said. “Every single game it’s like a new, fresh start, a clean slate for the team, and so I think that’s been a really good approach.”
There is one player on the roster who has a win over the Badgers — junior captain Merritt Beason. The transfer opposite hitter played for Florida last year when the Gators went to the Kohl Center and beat Wisconsin in five in front of a record-setting crowd (at least until Nebraska and Omaha surpassed it in Memorial Stadium). Beason finished with a match-high 21 kills on .245 hitting, eight digs, three aces and two blocks in that match.
Cook said he wasn’t relying on Beason’s experience to guide the rest of the Huskers, though she did share her perspective with the media after practice Thursday.
“Playing like an underdog was what worked for us,” Beason said. “We went in there knowing that we had nothing to lose and we were like, ‘We’re the team that’s not supposed to win, so we’re going to play like it, we’re going to give it our all, we’re going to try and do everything to our best ability and at the end of the day if we fail, we fail.’ But we’re going to go in there and give it our best shot. That was what helped us last year and this is the only game that we can play that we’re technically the underdog. So I think it’s kind of a cool experience for us where we’re normally the team that’s being chased, we kind of get to do the chasing this week.”
Beason said she’s looking forward to having the first meeting between the two conference powers in Lincoln; the Huskers will make the return trip to Madison on Nov. 24, during the final week of the regular season.
“They’re physical,” Cook said. “They’ve run a different lineup last few matches, so I’ll see what they come out with, but they’ve got some players that nobody else has. So we’ve got to deal with those guys and figure out a way to slow them down. They do a lot of really good things.”
The first player that comes to mind is 6-foot-9 middle blocker/opposite hitter Anna Smrek, who is averaging 2.66 kills per set on .418 hitting. Sophomore middle blocker Carter Booth, a 6-foot-7 transfer from Minnesota, is chipping in 1.73 kills per set on .454 hitting with a Big Ten-leading 1.45 blocks per set. Senior opposite hitter/middle blocker Devyn Robinson isn’t as tall as the other two at 6-foot-2, but she’s been an impact player for a long time for the Badgers and is averaging 2.91 kills per set on .338 hitting.
“Anna is 6-9; not really anybody has somebody like that,” Cook said. “They have a lot of good players from other programs that were their best players. Carter Booth’s a tall, physical middle. So they’ve got some physicality to them that make it a little harder.”
Their top two outside hitters joined the team from other programs in the last two years. Former Michigan State standout Sarah Franklin is in her second season in Madison and is leading the team with 3.85 kills per set on .292 hitting. Temi Thomas-Ailara is spending her fifth season at Wisconsin after a prolific career at Northwestern, averaging 2.78 kills per set on .222 hitting this year.
Outside hitter Ally Batenhorst swings over the Wisconsin block during the team’s 2022 meeting in Lincoln. With Lindsay Krause injured, Nebraska will need Batenhorst to step up on Saturday.
Photo by Eric Francis
Sophomore Julia Orzol made the move from outside hitter to libero this season and is averaging 3.47 digs and 0.44 aces per set. Wisconsin is running 6-2 with setters Izzy Ashburn (6.84 assists per set) and MJ Hammill (4.92).
The Badgers were without Hammill and Robinson in their last three matches, but both suited up and went through warm-ups ahead of the Badgers’ sweep over Ohio State on Wednesday, which could point to a return to the lineup for both in Lincoln on Saturday.
The injury news isn’t as positive for Nebraska, as the Huskers will likely be without outside hitter Lindsay Krause who injured her ankle in practice on Tuesday and was in a boot and on crutches when Nebraska swept Northwestern on Wednesday. Cook said X-rays showed no broken bones, though he had not yet spoken with the doctors about Krause’s status when he met with the media after practice Thursday. Ally Batenhorst will likely fill the L2 spot again on Saturday.
With all the firepower and physicality Wisconsin has, the Huskers aren’t expecting to shut them down completely. Cook said the key for playing against someone like Smrek is to move on quickly after she makes a play and answer with a big play of their own.
“They’re going to have amazing plays,” Beason said. “They’re going to get kills, they’re going to get aces, they’re going to get blocks and you just have to understand that you have to move on. You can’t dwell on those, you can’t let them go on super long runs, you just have to move on to that next play. We’ve done a really good job of that this year of like, ‘OK, they stuffed you, but oh well, move on.’ I think that’ll be a really big key for us on Saturday night is how fast can we move on from those big plays because at the end of the day, they’re going to make them.”
First serve on Saturday is set for 7 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network with Larry Punteney and Emily Ehman on the call.
