Week eight of Big Ten play is a big one for Nebraska volleyball outside hitter Taylor Landfair. She celebrated her 23rd birthday on Tuesday and will face her former team on Thursday.
The No. 2 Huskers (24-1, 14-0 Big Ten) will host No. 16 Minnesota, the program Landfair spent three years with before transferring to Nebraska during the offseason. Despite lining up across the net from former teammates, Landfair said it will be just another match for her as the Huskers chase a Big Ten title.
“I think it will just be like any other game, honestly,” Landfair said. “I feel like I have no bad blood with any other girls. So I’m just really excited, and I’m eager to kind of do this with my new team and just see how it all goes.”
Landfair has started the last nine matches for Nebraska, and although her play has been somewhat up and down, Coach John Cook has stuck with her in the lineup. She’s averaging 2.81 kills per set on .236 hitting during that stretch and has notched double-digit kills in three of her past four matches.
“I just think she’s getting more and more comfortable,” Cook said. “When you play somewhere for three years and then switch, everybody adjusts at a different time. She’s trying to understand what we’re trying to do, and we’re trying to make her better, and there’s always growth process through that. So I think she’s getting more comfortable with a rhythm with Bergen [Reilly], so all those things. It’s good to see. We see in practice, but you’ve got to see it in games.”
Landfair is coming off her best weekend as a Husker, putting up 13 kills on .407 hitting at No. 12 Oregon before dropping another 10 kills on .471 hitting at Washington.
“I’ve been working on my footwork, trying to just be a little bit slower to faster, and then really working on my second step,” Landfair said. “So just kind of getting that honed in, especially with Jordan [Larson] always helping me, and then just getting that connection with Bergen too.”
Landfair was the Big Ten Player of the Year for the Gophers in 2022, averaging 4.36 kills per set on .257 hitting. However, following a coaching change, her numbers dropped off to 3.20 kills per set on .222 hitting last year, and she chose to enter the transfer portal after the season. After considering multiple powerhouse programs, he chose Nebraska to build her game and confidence back up to where she wanted them to be.
“I feel like I did not come into the program as extremely confident as I wanted to be, so just trying to build that confidence back up, especially since I don’t think I had the best season last year,” Landfair said. “I just wanted to kind of build on what I did my junior year, and then just keep it on going, and not focus too much on my junior year, but just reflect on it, know what I did well and then keep building on that into this year. I think I’ve done a pretty good job, and I also think my teammates have done such a good job pushing me, encouraging me, going for rips, especially Jordan.
“She’s always telling me, ‘Just go for it. You might as well, it’s just practice time.’ And then I feel like, especially the past two games, it’s kind of coming into play, full circle. So that’s good.”
Landfair said that although the community has been very welcoming to her, the adjustment to the way Cook runs his program was challenging. It wasn’t until a month or so ago that she started to feel comfortable, and that comfort has only grown over the past few weeks.
Landfair’s partner on the left side also went off over the weekend as Harper Murray led Nebraska in kills while hitting over .350 in both matches. Between the two pins, Nebraska received 49 kills on .408 hitting from the left side — much-needed production as Nebraska’s middles struggled against the Ducks and Merritt Beason had a tough time in both matches.
“Our middles weren’t great,” Cook said. “I’d like to have everybody up there. But Andi [Jackson] is taking a lot of blockers with her, which is opening things up. Merritt takes a lot of blockers with her, which opens things up. Our left sides haven’t been that good, and they took advantage of it. We’ll see what happens this week when we’re playing our matches, how they defend us.”
The Golden Gophers (16-8, 9-5) went 0-2 at home last week against the same teams Nebraska swept. Washington won 3-1 at Maturi Pavilion while Oregon swept Minnesota. However, the Gophers also have wins over Texas and Wisconsin, two top-15 teams.
“They’ve proven they can beat anybody,” Cook said. “So, like I told them, everybody’s fighting for something right now. It’s a Big Ten match, and they’re very talented. They’ve got some veteran players, fifth-year players. So we’ve got to be ready to compete really hard Thursday night.”
Middle blocker Phoebe Awoleye is second in the Big Ten and seventh in the country in blocks at 1.49 per set, leading the fourth-best blocking team in the conference (2.78 per set). Junior pin Julia Hanson is having a breakout season, leading the team with 3.73 kills per set on .270 hitting while veteran setter Melani Shaffmaster is in her fifth year running the Minnesota offense.
First serve is set for 8 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network with Larry Punteney and Emily Ehman on the call.
Nebraska will get Friday off before returning to the Devaney Center to host Indiana (12-12, 5-9) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Big Ten Network will televise that match as well with Punteney and Lauren Stivrins on the call.
The Hoosiers feature a veteran setter in Cameron Haworth and one of the most productive liberos in the Big Ten in Ramsey Gary (4.20 digs per set). Avry Tatum has been the team’s best weapon, averaging 3.42 kills per set on .290 hitting.
“It’ll be nice to be back to Devaney,” Cook said, after two straight weeks on the road. “It feels like we’ve been gone a month, feels like we were on an international trip. So it’ll be nice to be back in Devaney. I’m sure our fans will be hungry too, because it’s been three weeks since we’ve played here.”
