Nebraska Volleyball: Regular season comes to a close for Huskers

Nebraska Volleyball wrapped up the 2018 regular season on Saturday night with a sweep over Maryland. Next up, tournament time for the Huskers!

It seems just like yesterday that we were locked into our televisions for a rematch of last year’s National Championship game, as the Huskers hosted Florida in the VERT Challenge. While Nebraska would go on to lose that match in four sets, the rest of the season was much of the same for one of the best programs in the nation.

While it could be argued that this season was actually a disappointment compared to years past, Nebraska volleyball settled down and rattled off eight straight wins to end the season. While we still have the tournament to look forward to, this weekend’s matches could have been the final games at Bob Devaney Sports Center for seniors Mikaela Foecke, Kenzie Maloney, and Brooke Smith.

I remember watching the 2015 National Championship with my mom (a Nebraska graduate) and when Foecke completely took over that game, my mom and I both thought the same thing: “We get this kid for three more years!” Foecke has been as good as advertised ever since and won the Most Outstanding Player in both championship games she appeared in.

Maloney has become one of my favorite Nebraska volleyball players ever with the insane plays she makes on the ball. Of course, we all remember that play she made against Penn State that got on the SportsCenter Top 10 the following day.

Maloney was a voice of reason for this team this season and is always right wherever the ball is. She had a tough task in having to take over the libero position for Justine Wong-Orantes last season, but she’s been a magician and Husker fans are going to miss her.

Foecke and Maloney were co-captains this year and had the difficult job of having eight newcomers to the team. Getting those newcomers accustomed to what Nebraska volleyball truly is about wasn’t easy, as we saw that October skid for the program, but they’ve looked much better as soon as the calendar hit November. A lot of thanks go to the captains for that.

Brooke Smith was one of those newcomers (well, kinda), having played at Nebraska for her first two seasons and then transferring to Kansas State in 2017. She returned to Lincoln for her senior season and spent most of the year on the sidelines.

With the regular season over with, the next step is to watch the selection show on Sunday and see where Nebraska is seeded in the tournament. Last year, even after their hot streak to end the season, the Huskers received a five-seed in the NCAA Tournament. That was after winning the Big Ten and losing just one game in conference play, so I can’t imagine the Huskers get that high of a seed this year.

The broadcast showed a graphic with the highest RPI among teams and Nebraska sat 11th in those standings. One of the commentators mentioned the committee tends to go off that list more so than the overall national rankings.

Hopefully, Nebraska gets a much higher seed than that because the hope is they get to host the first and second round of the tournament next weekend. Obviously, we should take things one match at a time, but after that, it’ll be the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. Then, of course, the end game, which is in Minneapolis for the Final Four and Championship game.

If Nebraska can get to the Final Four, it’d mean Foecke and Maloney made it to that mark all four years of their career. That once again shows how important these two were to the program during their collegiate careers.

Even if Nebraska doesn’t get to host the first two rounds, I have faith that the Huskers will make it to AT LEAST the Elite Eight this year. The team has been on a roll in the month of November and this is the perfect time for them to get hot. It’s a similar story as to what we saw last year and we all know how that ended… On the best possible note.

I’ve learned to never doubt John Cook and Nebraska volleyball and anyone who has watched them over the last few years will understand why. Go Big Red!