The Nebraska volleyball team has said they aren’t going to celebrate a great start to the season as an accomplishment. That doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t celebrate what was a dominating opening to the season on the heels of their dominating performance in the Spikes Under the Lights tournament.
On Saturday night, the Huskers officially opened their season against UNLV, and they did exactly what they were supposed to do to an unranked opponent. Coming off two matches against Florida and SMU that were exhibition games, NU might have been forgiven if they came out of the gate looking less than sharp. However, head coach Dani Busboom Kelly and her players all understood the assignment.
Of course, given how good the Nebraska volleyball team is compared to the Running Rebels, winning only the first set 25-18 could be described as letting up a little. If that is what we saw in the first set, then the Huskers made sure there were no other signs in the match that they were anything but dominant.
Nebraska volleyball records 42-23 attack advantage and 10 blocks against UNLV
The Cornhuskers took the second set 25-15 and not only looked very, very good, but their defense especially looked exactly like what the No. 1 team in the country should look like. Andi Jackson and the rest of the Huskers’ front stopped UNLV from ever feeling as though it was finding its footing as the match wore on.
Even when the Rebels did make a bit of a run in the third set of the match, there was never any real doubt that Nebraska was going to take care of business. In fact, that little run in the third set, before the Huskers closed the match 25-16 in the third set, it just felt like Jackson, Bergen Reilly, and Harper Murray were playing with their food.
A look at the stats and a comparison of Big Red to UNLV make it clear the Running Rebels had absolutely no chance of winning. The Huskers led the match in attacks, 42 to 23. NU hit .337 to UNLV’s minuscule .054, and Nebraska posted 10 blocks to its opponent's 2.
Now that the Mountain West school is out of the way, the real challenge is on deck. Nebraska takes on No. 2 Texas on Sunday afternoon. Should the Huskers flex their muscles against the Longhorns, there will be plenty of talk about just how good this iteration of the team could be.
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