The Week That Was - Sept. 7
The good news: it’s still early.
As shocking as Nebraska’s loss to SMU on Tuesday was, there is no reason to sound the panic alarms, cancel your plans to attend future matches or question John Cook’s horse hobby.
Yes, the Huskers were thoroughly outplayed in Dallas, but it’s the second week of the season. There is plenty of time for the pieces to come together and for Nebraska to figure out its identity.
This is the paradox of high expectations that comes with Nebraska Volleyball. It’s similar to Alabama or Georgia football, the US women’s national soccer team or USA Basketball in the Olympics. A loss is never just a loss. It’s a sign of cracks in the foundation, and there must be a deeper reason for the setback. These programs aren’t allowed the luxury of time to figure out their identity and put the pieces together.
Even though Nebraska returned almost everyone from a team that made the national championship match, it's a different team. The team chemistry is different, and the players are physically and mentally in a different place than in 2023.
Nebraska will more than likely lose again. They have tough matches against Creighton, Stanford and Louisville later this month. Then, the Huskers enter the grinder of the Big Ten. John Cook usually has his teams peaking when it matters. Assistant coach Kelly Hunter says what matters is if they learn from each win and loss.
The Huskers have to clean up their serving and tinker with their attack. They will likely make quick work against Montana State tonight before getting into more big-time matches. Enjoy the ride, and know that the team you saw in Dallas will not be the same one that opens up Big Ten play in a few weeks or will enter the NCAA tournament in December.
The other reason not to panic this week is the news of Skyler Pierce’s potential redshirt. First of all, nothing has been decided yet. However, after last year, the R-word is now taboo around the NU program.
It appears many Husker fans feel burnt by the transfer of Caroline Jurevicius after she left Nebraska after her first year and is now playing well for Penn State. (see below!) As illustrated in an article by Mitch Sherman, the decision to her almost seemed to be made on the fly during the Memorial Stadium match. While they might have talked about it, nothing had been communicated clearly up to that point. So when she didn’t play, it came as a surprise to everyone.
Again, I expect Nebraska to learn from last year and have more frank discussions with Pierce about what this year holds for her. Is it worth burning a year of her college career to get in a few rallies against The Citadel, Montana State or Iowa? Not likely.
Yes, unexpected events like injuries or poor performances can happen, but Pierce sits fourth on the outside hitter depth chart behind Harper Murray, Lindsay Krause and Taylor Landfair. While NU figures out its lineup, Pierce appears to be the odd one out. (It won’t get much easier to find playing time as NU is slated to bring in No. 1 2025 recruit Teraya Sigler next year and Gabby DiVita the following year.)
Nebraska isn’t the only team dealing with losing players who redshirted. Last season, Oregon was loaded with eight fourth- or fifth-year seniors. They elected to sit out five first-year players. Two of those hit the transfer portal, but three stuck around and have appeared in matches this season.
As John Baylor, long a redshirt proponent, says, by sitting out your first year, you are trading your worst year for potentially your best.
Speaking of redshirting, the NCAA is discussing altering the redshirt rule in all sports to resemble football, where players can play up to four games in a year and still preserve a year of eligibility. Currently, if a volleyball, basketball or softball player participates in one rally/second/play, they use a season.
Nothing is final yet, but this would eliminate the all-or-none approach. It would give coaches more leeway to play athletes and learn what they have from them in early nonconference matches. Let’s hope they find a way to make it happen.
Here are some other things that caught my eye this week:
It was a big week for big numbers:
The oddest broken record happened when Dayton hosted Ohio State last Saturday. The 22nd-ranked Flyers drew 4,196 fans to the Frericks Center, smashing the old record by more than 1,500. With a capacity of 5,000, the arena is the fourth-largest volleyball-only facility in college volleyball. It’s received over $3 million in upgrades in the last decade-plus, but it does not have air conditioning. As a result, with a packed arena and hot temperatures, condensation covered the playing surface and made the match unplayable after the second set. Dayton officials tried to mop down the surface, but the administration decided it was too risky to continue play, and the match was ruled a no-contest. University officials apologized the next day. Despite no match result in the record books, I guess the record will stand.
Speaking of records, SMU blew away its previous home attendance record against No. 2 Nebraska. In fact, Tuesday was the first time that SMU even charged admission for a volleyball match. They drew 6,773 people to the match, blowing away its previous mark. The Mustangs rarely draw four figures for most volleyball matches but had 1,455 in the stands of Moody Coliseum when they defeated Texas in 2000. (The Longhorns went 10–18 and hired Jerritt Elliott the following season). SMU also attracted 1,440 people for a match against Hawaii in 2004 and 1,344 fans when they hosted LSU last season.
Let’s keep rolling with crowd sizes. Attendance for the Sunday matches at the State Farm Volleyball Showcase at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee is 14,035, which is the fifth-largest crowd to watch regular-season volleyball. That day saw No. 3 Wisconsin fall to No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Stanford take out No. 18 Minnesota.
It was also the fourth most-watched regular season match, attracting 584,000 viewers on Sunday.
Attendance for Monday's matches (Wisconsin-Stanford; Minnesota-Texas) was 8,213 and had an audience of 487,000 people. Here are the top five regular-season crowds. You’ll notice a theme of lots of Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Omaha at Nebraska, 92,003, Aug. 30, 2023, Memorial Stadium (1st overall)
Wisconsin at Marquette, 17,037, Sept. 13, 2023, Fiserv Forum (14th overall)
Florida at Wisconsin, 16,833, Sept. 16, 2022, Kohl Center (16th overall)
Nebraska at Creighton, 15,797, Sept. 7, 2022, CHI Health Center (21st overall)
Texas at Wisconsin/Stanford vs Minnesota, 14,035, Sept. 1, 2024, Fiserv Forum (28th overall)
Team(s) of the Week: Stanford and Penn State. Both have three wins over ranked opponents this season. Those two teams and Pitt have an excellent case to be No. 1 when the new polls come out on Monday.
Stanford enjoyed its week-long stay in Milwaukee, earning wins against No. 18 Minnesota, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 24 Marquette. (It also defeated UW-Milwakuee last Friday.) The Cardinal is taking full advantage of not being in class with an extended Midwest stay. It returns home to California this week before taking on Texas and Nebraska the following week.
Penn State started its season with victories over Tennessee, Louisville and Kentucky. The Nittany Lions looked dominant against the No. 4 Cardinals with an easy sweep. Then, right when it appeared that PSU was coming back down to earth, it pulled off a reverse sweep at No. 9 Kentucky. Jess Mruzik and Camryn Hannah might be one of the country's best 1-2 attacking duos so far.
After Minnesota was riding high from knocking off Texas on Monday, Baylor took the Gophers down with a victory on Friday in Waco. Minnesota had a match point in the fifth set, but the Bears scored the final three points to earn the win.
South Florida took down No. 10 Florida in a wild match 15-25, 25-22, 12-25, 25-23, 15-10 in Gainesville. Isabel Martin paced UF with 19 kills. Still no Kennedy Martin or Alexis Stucky for the Gators.
After falling to Louisville in the AVCA First Service and going 0-2 in the State Farm Showcase, Wisconsin finally got a win Friday night, but it wasn’t easy. The Badgers won the final two sets to down TCU in five.
On the Radio
Kelly Hunter appeared on this week’s episode of The Dig. She talked with HRN before the SMU match about how they are trying to figure everything out – lineup, system, and how they will work to integrate the new players into the system.
“It’s a lot of trial and error and figuring out what’s in front of you and how we’re going to respond,” she said.
She talked about the team’s struggles against TCU, and her remarks could have just as easily applied to the loss at SMU. She said they had a couple of players struggle, and no one stepped up.
She also talked about the development of setter Bergen Reilly. She said she hasn’t had much time to make adjustments yet because NU has played so many matches and hasn’t had a three-hour training session yet. They review a lot of film and talk about decision making and what they want to do next time on the court.
Hunter said sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson improved her athleticism this offseason, evident from her winning lifter of the year. Jackson posted the fifth-best athletic performance index score. She only trails Kenzie Maloney, Bri Holman, Kadie Rolfzen and Amber Rolfzen. Who did Jackson knock from the fifth spot? Kelly Hunter.
In addition to her improved physical skills, Hunter said the game is moving slower for Jackson and she’s becoming a smarter player.
“She’s made physical growth, but I think her mental growth has been the biggest determining factor in her success,” she said.
Same Faces, New Places
Ally Batenhorst had a good showing in her first two matches at USC, both of which ended in wins over Pepperdine. She recorded 11 kills at a .280 clip on Friday before putting up 16 kills and 11 digs on Saturday. She still has room for improvement, as she was aced four times on opening night and committed seven errors the next night. Batenhorst took 46 swings in a four-set loss at Creighton and recorded 12 kills. She put up 14 kills, 15 digs and seven blocks against Kansas State. Through four matches, Batenhorst leads USC in kills.
Whitney Lauenstein suited up for Texas, but the junior pin hitter did not appear in the Longhorns’ first three matches.
Hayden Kubik started both matches for Tennessee, but the No. 15 Lady Vols suffered losses to No. 7 Penn State and No. 6 Louisville. Against the Nittany Lions, the junior outside hitter put up 11 kills and nine digs, but also had nine errors. The hitting woes continued against U of L as she recorded nine errors again but only tallied four kills on 27 attacks. She played better against UCLA with 12 kills and 13 digs and hit .296. Then Kubik hit .450 against LIU for nine kills.
Speaking of the Nittany Lions, opposite Caroline Jurevicius and middle blocker got the start against Tennessee and played well. Jurevicuis recorded seven kills on a .200 hitting percentage, while Mendelson put up six kills at a .313 clip with four blocks. In a sweep against Temple on Sunday, Jurevicuis led PSU in kills with nine on 17 attacks. (Jess Mruzik and Camryn Hannah only played one set). Mendelson appeared in two sets and recorded three kills on seven swings.
The duo played their best match against No. 4 Louisville on Tuesday night. Jurevicius put up 11 kills and two blocks, while Mendelson added seven kills on a .462 hitting percentage. Mendelson had six kills and eight blocks against Kentucky, while Jurevicius struggled and only played three sets with just one kill and three errors.
Commit Corner
Nebraska’s 2026 commits (MB Keoni Williams, OH Gabby DiVita, OPP/OH Jayden Robinson) are in town for the weekend. They will take in Saturday’s match against Montana State before checking out the football game against Colorado.
The Podcast
Jeff and I flew guest-free this week as we broke down the first week of matches for the Huskers. We talked about lessons from the first three matches and checked out the college volleyball landscape.
This Week’s Stories
Huskers make quick work of The Citadel
Huskers ‘punched in the mouth’; lose in straight sets at SMU
Huskers look to dial back on ‘dumb hits’ at SMU
Husker win ‘ugly’ in four sets over TCU
Reilly, Huskers too much for Islanders
Reading List
Here are some of the best stories I read this week:
Volleyball: Not to harp on the same point, but one more time. While Husker fans are disappointed with Tuesday’s loss, SMU players, coaches, fans and administration are revealing in the program-defining win. Brent Wagner wrote a great look at the other side of the match and how much the victory meant to third-year coach Sam Erger and her program.
Non-Volleyball: One of my bad habits is having too many tabs open with articles I want to read. On Wednesday, with no volleyball to cover or write about, I finally caught up on a bunch of articles. One of the best reads was a story about the death and legacy of Kenyan marathoner Kelvin Kiptum, who died six months ago. It’s a tragic story that makes you wonder what could have been. Second place was a fun light story about seeing the United States via train.
Bonus: In my search for background noise during the day, I’ve been watching a lot of Paralympics. The highlight for me on Friday was the men’s sitting volleyball gold medal match between Iran and Bosnia Herzegovina. Iran featured one of the more intriguing stories in 8-foot-1 Morteza Mehrzadselakjani. Read about him here, and then go watch a match on Peacock.
Looking ahead:
Top matches this week
Wisconsin at Baylor, 9/7, ESPN+
Georgia Tech at BYU, ESPN+
Creighton at Nebraska, 9/10, BTN
SMU at Baylor, 9/10, ESPN+
Pitt at Southern Cal, 9/11, BTN
That’s all for now. Until next week…