Nebraska Volleyball has to be flawless in their final five games

Despite being the fifth-best team in the country, Nebraska volleyball can’t slip up for the rest of the season. 

After losing a five-set match to the Ohio State Buckeyes over the weekend, the Nebraska Cornhuskers “fell” to 10-2 and dropped one spot in the national rankings, going from No. 4 to No. 5. Minnesota — who Nebraska split a series with earlier in the season — leapfrogged them for the fourth spot in the national rankings.

While being fifth in the country is still obviously very good, it’s not good enough for this team as they inch closer to the tournament. In previous years, the top four seeds at season’s end were hosts throughout the tournament, and that’d leave Nebraska just one spot out of hosting. Fortunately this year, Omaha is hosting the entire tournament, which gives Nebraska a huge advantage.

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There’s still a big advantage to being the No. 4 seed over the No. 5 seed and that’s that the Huskers would have an easier opponent in their first round of the tournament. They also still have a fighting chance to win the Big Ten, but they’re going to have to play perfect volleyball down the stretch while also hoping both Wisconsin (No. 1) and Minnesota (No. 4) slip up.

Wisconsin has yet to lose a match this season, but they’ve only played 10 of them, as several of their matchups have been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns (their series against the Huskers was included in this). Even with just 10 matches on their resumé, the Badgers are definitely the team to beat and they’ve had Nebraska’s number recently, so it’d be good to see them show signs of being human in the final weeks of the season.

Minnesota has lost just one game, which came against Nebraska in a three-set sweep last month. The Gophers took it to Nebraska two days prior, but the Huskers learned from the loss and it showed. They know they can beat Minnesota, but now they’re a game back of the Gophers and two games back of the Badgers.

Nebraska volleyball cannot lose any games for the rest of the season.

The Huskers finish out their spring season with a home match against Iowa on Saturday, hitting the road against Michigan next week, and finishing the season with a home series against ranked Penn State. Even though Penn State is still ranked, they’re not the same powerhouse they normally are, so the Huskers should hopefully be able to go a perfect 5-0 to close out the season.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin hasn’t played a match since Feb. 21. As mentioned above, they’re 10-0, but not playing for so long, and having as much on the line as they do will hopefully get to the Badgers, as they close out the season against Minnesota, Penn State, and Michigan, all ranked teams.

Minnesota has the easiest schedule of the three and benefitted from missing their first matchup against Wisconsin. The two might still play Sunday if the programs feel comfortable doing so. The Gophers wrap up this strange season against Northwestern and Iowa, two teams who aren’t scaring anyone.

At this point, Nebraska has to hope that Wisconsin and Minnesota can play on Sunday so at least one of them will have a loss on their resumé. Both of those teams missing as many games as they have has benefitted them greatly, but Nebraska should also hope that rust occurs for them in the tournament.

There are only five matches to go in the rare spring season for Nebraska volleyball. Let’s hope they can finish strong!