Husker Corner
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Nebraska Volleyball advances to second consecutive championship game

By Leigh Oleszczak

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - DECEMBER 13: The Nebraska Cornhuskers celebrate after defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini during the Division I Women's Volleyball Semifinals held at the Target Center on December 13, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nebraska defeated Illinois 3-2 to advance to the national title game. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - DECEMBER 13: The Nebraska Cornhuskers celebrate after defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini during the Division I Women's Volleyball Semifinals held at the Target Center on December 13, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nebraska defeated Illinois 3-2 to advance to the national title game. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) /
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Nebraska volleyball has a chance to win their second straight National Championship and third title in four years. The run continues after the Huskers battled back after being down two sets to none against Illinois.

What. A. Match.

I’ll be honest with you. After Nebraska lost the first set by three points and then essentially got blown out in the second set, I figured they’d be getting swept for the first time in 2018. I even texted in our family volleyball thread (yes, we’re a little obsessed with the sport) that “Foecke and Maloney deserved a better ending than this”.

Well, senior co-captains Mikaela Foecke and Kenzie Maloney will get a better ending. A MUCH better ending, because Nebraska volleyball is moving onto their third championship game in the last four years.

As I mentioned previously, it wasn’t pretty early on. The Huskers were incredibly sloppy from the service line while Illinois had zero service errors in the first two sets. That was the difference in those two sets.

Nebraska barely took the third set, but once they got on the board, you could tell their confidence was back. They took the fourth set as well, as the service errors started to pile up for the Illini.

When the Huskers forced a fifth and final set, that’s when I really started to think, “Okay… This could happen now.” That wasn’t how I was feeling earlier on because… Let’s face it… The Illini were playing the style of volleyball that Nebraska usually does. They were dominating the Huskers from the service line and playing good defense.

This now marks 13 straight wins for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and at this point, how can you pick against this team? They were down two sets to none against a VERY good Illinois team that looked like they were on their way to the title game. Instead, the Illini will be heading back home while Nebraska lives to fight another day.

The final match of the season, and the final match for Foecke and Maloney, will come against the number one seeded Stanford Cardinal on Saturday night. Stanford made quick work of BYU in the early game on Thursday, sweeping them and making them look silly in the process.

It won’t be easy for Nebraska volleyball to win their third championship in four years, but NO ONE – and I mean NO ONE – saw this coming.

Even if the Huskers do lose on Saturday, this season exceeded all of our expectations. As I asked earlier though, how can you pick against this team? They’re resilient, and resiliency won this team three sets on Thursday night.

Now… The Huskers need just three more sets to win their second consecutive National Championship.

This we will defend. Go Big Red.

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