Husker Volleyball Team Takes Big Hit

Head Nebraska Volleyball Coach John Cook announced on Tuesday that 3 Huskers have left the team. Now before you panic, the Huskers are still in good shape with their starting players, but it certainly hurts when someone leaves the team, especially three at one time. We may not ever find out why they left but we can always speculate.

Volleyball Huskers warm up for the game (Photo by Elaine Menzel)

Alexa Ethridge announced she was leaving.  She is a sophomore Libero for the Huskers who played in 33 matches in her career. Her 2 year role as a Husker was that of a serving and defensive specialist.  One thing that could have led to her departure from the team is the fact that that Huskers already have a Libero with the potential to be one of the best in the country, junior Justine Wong-Ortanes. Perhaps this was a playing time issue, but Alexa Ethridge has potential as well to be great. If you recall, Ethridge received the Best Defense award at the Queen of the Beach Challenge in Hawaii. The Huskers will miss Ethridge’s serves as she had 15 service aces last season.

The second is 6’2″ redshirt freshman Kira Larson.  Larson’s Husker resume consisted of her seeing action in 15 matches last season with her personal high of 4 kills in a match, which she reached twice.  Once again this could be a playing time issue but eventually Larson could have made her way into a starting role after next season with the graduation of Cecilia Hall and Meghan Haggarty, but then again, LSU transfer Briana Holman will be on campus, and she is spectacular! We wish you all the luck Kira.

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The third Husker leaving is the sister of Meghan Haggarty, Maddie. Haggarty was a 6’2″ freshman outside hitter who sat out this year as a redshirt. We only got to see her potential in the Husker Red-White scrimmage last August, but she could have been a rising star for the Huskers. Of the three, her departure is the most puzzling to me as most of the outside hitters ahead of her are seniors and juniors so after this next season she could have seen a lot of playing time. A bigger question I have is will Maddie’s leaving the program affect her younger sister Molly who is part of the 2016 Husker recruiting class? I hope not. All the luck to you as well Maddie.

We may never know why they left the program, and we may even here rumors, but until they come out and tell us why, all we can do is speculate. Either way, the Huskers have lost players before, and they probably will again, but it hurts when three potentials leave all at one time. This certainly opens up three scholarships for future Huskers.  Out with the old and in with the new, I guess. We will them all well.