Rylie Lipke ’27, Student Life Editor
At the beginning of the 2023 season, the University of Nebraska’s volleyball team started off with a bang. They won their first game against the New Jersey Rutgers, and that win was just the start to a world record-achieving season. Their season ended with a 33-2 record, and a 99-22 set record. Nebraska had an incredible season, including being named Big Ten Conference champions—but it was not enough to bring home the national championship title.
The beginning of their season started in January; players trained every day, in and out of the gym, and worked on everything that they could in order to prepare themselves for their upcoming games. Their first game was at home, and considering that this was their first game of the season, the players knew that they had to play hard for a strong start. Nebraska defeated Rutgers in three sets, and they were able to begin their season off with a win. Nebraska then had to face Penn State, and the game was a battle through and through. Nebraska was again able to take home a win after a five set game. From there on out, Nebraska beat every team in three sets aside from Northwestern, Illinois, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Texas.
On Aug. 30, Nebraska volleyball hosted Nebraska Omaha, but this game was very special—Nebraska hosted this game on their home football field. On this day, their attendance to the game was 91,648 people. This was able to set the world record for women’s sports attendance. The game not only had fireworks and performances, but was also a really great game to watch as well. This game ended in three sets with Nebraska winning all of them. Omaha fought hard considering that they were surrounded by about 90,000 fans, and most of them were University of Nebraska supporters, but Nebraska was already too far ahead.
However, Nebraska did not always see victories throughout their season. After their seven-game winning streak, they ended up losing to Wisconsin in three sets. The first set was 25-22, the second was 28-26, and the third was 25-16. The first set was close, but Nebraska was not able to catch up to them. The second set was very close with them ending up going over 25, but again, they were not able to finish it up. The last set, however, Nebraska began to give up which got them to lose that set by nine. Nebraska’s only other loss was unfortunately in the national championship game as they were competing for first place overall, but could not take home the gold.
The Nebraska Huskers ended off with another season filled with accomplishments, and they worked very hard to achieve everything they did. Nebraska Coach John Cook said, “The team’s chemistry goes deeper than results on the court.” Even though the team does really well on the court, they have also formed a great bond outside of volleyball t. With the players being able to form such deep connections so well off the court, they are able to know how some of their teammates act, and the types of plays they make on the court. Their two months of preseason work evidently was shown throughout the season. If Nebraska was able to come this far, and this close to winning the national championship, they will have even more to bring to the table as years go on.
Lyon Life 