Nebraska Volleyball doesn’t rebuild, instead, they reload

Nebraska volleyball is always one of the best teams in the nation and that won’t be changing any time soon.

There might not have been any collegiate program who had a better week last week than Nebraska volleyball. Not only did the Huskers hold their annual red and white scrimmage (a few months later than normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic), which had 200,000 views online, but they were able to lock down the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 ranked players on Signing Day.

This means that not only is Nebraska one of the best teams in the country right now, but they’re only going to get better. The dominant run that Stanford went on from 2016-2019 was because they had a similar success rate when it came to signing premiere talent. That got them three National Championships in four years (the one in 2018 coming against Nebraska in five sets).

Nebraska is going to have a similar run of success with their team in the future. In this Signing Day class, Nebraska not only grabbed the top three players in the country, but got the best player at three different positions (setter, outside hitter, and libero/defensive specialist). This is going to give them a ton of depth down the line.

https://twitter.com/Huskervball/status/1328696690136768514?s=20

It didn’t stop with those three though, as the Huskers had five players in the top 16 with three of them hailing from the state of Nebraska. This is a huge deal for a team that likes to not only bring in top tier talent, but also allow athletes from the state to get a chance to play for their hometown team.

Here are the players who will soon be donning Nebraska volleyball uniforms:

• Ally Batenhorst – Outside Hitter
• Rylee Gray – Middle Blocker*
• Lindsay Krause – Outside Hitter*
• Whitney Lauenstein – Outside Hitter*
• Kennedi Orr – Setter
• Lexi Rodriguez – Defensive Specialist/Libero

* indicates player is from Nebraska

While this year’s team can all redshirt if they so choose, Nebraska could lose at least four seniors to graduation and they typically lose three or four players to the transfer portal every year as well, so having these six incoming freshmen is huge. All offer the ability to come in and play from day one (even if they don’t get that chance) and that’s what keeps Nebraska volleyball as one of the top tier teams in the country.

After Nebraska lost seven players prior to the 2017 season and went on to win the National Championship, I was convinced that this team does not rebuild. It simply reloads and keeps on trucking to the next title.

Obviously the greatest expectation the fans can have with these signings is that Nebraska does exactly what Stanford did while they were in this situation, which is win three titles in four years. It’s not impossible at all and the Huskers won two titles in three years without having anything near this kind of class.

Nebraska volleyball is going to be very good for a very long time.