Nebraska Volleyball: Replacing departing players in 2019

Nebraska volleyball is losing four players from their 2018 roster. How will the Huskers replace these departing players in 2019?

This time last year, Nebraska volleyball had a tough task ahead of them. They were losing five seniors (four of whom were starters) and also lost two younger players who opted to transfer out of the program.

While losing four players doesn’t seem as dramatic as those seven who left a year ago, Nebraska volleyball is losing arguably two of the greatest players (certainly the most decorated) in program history. I’m talking of course about seniors Kenzie Maloney and Mikaela Foecke, both of whom are graduating this spring and on their way out of Lincoln.

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We’ll get to those two in a moment, but the Huskers are also losing senior Brooke Smith to graduation and sophomore Sami Slaughter, who transferred to South Dakota this semester for her final two years of eligibility.

Alright, let’s get into how the Cornhuskers can replace these players.

We’ll start with the G.O.A.T, Mikaela Foecke. I’ll say this, and this can’t be overstated, one simply does not replace Mikaela Foecke. No one is going to come in and replicate what Foecke did over her four years in Lincoln.

She entered the program in 2015 and was an absolute wrecking ball in that 2015 National Championship match. She was so good that she won Most Outstanding Player, an honor which she also won when the team was victorious again in 2017. A case could have easily been made for Foecke to win the award this past season as well, even with Nebraska being on the losing side of things.

So, how will Nebraska attempt to replace Foecke? There’s three options for next year to fill that vacant outside hitter position (their grade in 2019 will be in parenthesis): Capri Davis (sophomore), Madi Kubik (freshman), and Riley Zuhn (freshman).

With Sami Slaughter exiting the program, that puts the competition for this position at three players. Davis beat Slaughter out for playing time last year, coming in for one rotation during postseason play to help out a struggling Jazz Sweet. Davis did well in her role and will definitely be given a chance to win the open outside hitter job in 2019.

The other two options are both going to be freshmen next year, so no one knows too much about them other than what we’ve read. John Cook obviously had high praise for both players when they signed their letters of intent.

Kubik and Zuhn were both All-Americans in high school and can both compete for a starting spot. Cook had been quoted previously (see link above) saying Kubik can play all six rotations, which is pivotal seeing how Lexi Sun and Nicklin Hames will be Nebraska’s only two six-rotation players in 2019.

Zuhn will have a shot to win the job due to her size alone. She’s 6’5″ and that’s tough for anyone to defend. She now matches Callie Schwarzenbach as the team’s tallest player.

Kenzie Maloney is the other starter leaving the program and while she was fantastic, replacing her won’t be as difficult of a task as it will be with Foecke. That’s not to say that Maloney won’t be missed, but Nebraska is set up well at libero moving forward.

Nebraska has relied on its stellar defense during this run and Maloney played a massive role in the back row. Whoever wins the libero gig next year will have their work cut out for them, but we all were saying the same thing when Maloney took over in 2017. Obviously she made the position her own.

Nebraska volleyball has three potential candidates to take the vacant libero job: Megan Miller (sophomore), Hayley Densberger (junior), and Kenzie Knuckles (freshman). Miller played lights out defense during the tournament and is more than likely going to win the job. Densberger is the veteran of the three, but she performs better in a defensive specialist and serving role.

Like the previous freshmen I mentioned, we don’t know a lot about Kenzie Knuckles. She was an All-American in high school, but played outside hitter. That won’t be the case for her, as she’s considered too short for that position (she’s 5’8″… 5’1″ me is crying) and will be playing back row instead.

As I mentioned earlier on in the post, Nebraska had to replace four starters last year. This year they only have to replace two, which is nice, until you realize they’re two of the most successful players in program history. Replacing them isn’t going to be easy, but the Huskers have options for sure.

Volleyball season is still six months away, but Nebraska fans are always ready to start looking ahead to the upcoming season! Go Big Red!