Nebraska volleyball announces home and away 2024 opponents
Nebraska Volleyball and the Big Ten Conference have announced all 18 teams’ home and away opponents for the 2024 season. Each team has seven home games, seven away games and three opponents they play twice.
Of the four new Big Ten teams, the Huskers host USC and UCLA and will play at Oregon and Washington.
Additionally, NU will host Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Purdue and Rutgers at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Nebraska will also travel to Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State and Penn State.
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The conference only announced each team’s 2024 season. The entire schedule, including dates and order of each match-up, is typically announced around June.
Here are a few quick thoughts on Nebraska’s home and away opponents.
Quick takes:
Batenhorst returns: With USC visiting Nebraska, former Husker outside hitter Ally Batenhorst will get to return to Lincoln and the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
After the 2023 season, Batenhorst announced she would be transferring for her final season of college volleyball. The graduate transfer will enroll at USC in May after finishing her bachelor’s degree at UNL.
It’s certain that Husker fans will give Batenhorst a very warm welcome back to Lincoln.
Several tough road matches: Playing Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Washington on the road is a tough draw for NU. Ohio State and Penn State are historically some of the most difficult places to play.
In 2023, Penn State gave the Huskers their first scare of the season. However, Nebraska came back to win a reverse sweep.
Oregon finished 29-6 in 2023 and advanced to the Sweet 16. They fell to Wisconsin in four close sets. The two teams will have a rematch in Madison in 2024.
Washington went 16-15 in 2023 and finished 7-13 in the PAC-12 after their head coach, Keegan Cook moved on to Minnesota.
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Good balance: The Big Ten did a nice job of balancing the strength of Nebraska’s road and home matches. They have four potentially tough games on the road in a couple of new environments. But the Huskers will host Minnesota, Purdue, UCLA and USC.
Purdue and Minnesota are historically difficult places to play. Additionally, USC is a very strong team but lost to Pittsburgh in the round of 32 in the 2023 NCAA tournament. They lost AVCA First Team All-American outside hitter Skyler Pierce but added Batenhorst.
Playing Wisconsin twice: The Big Ten knows what its fans want. And that has become as many rematches of Nebraska vs. Wisconsin as possible. They were one win away from getting a third in the 2023 National Finals. The Badgers fell to Texas, the eventual champion over Nebraska volleyball.
The Huskers defeated Wisconsin to win the Big Ten for the first time since 2017 last season. They won in five thrilling sets in Lincoln. However, the Badgers swept NU in Madison to end their undefeated run.
Again, these two matches could decide the winner of the conference. It is only far to give each team a chance to play at home.
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West Coast teams play twice: UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon will all play each other twice in 2024. Due to the time and coast of travel across the country, the Big Ten made a smart decision.
Additionally, each returning Big Ten team will either host and travel to Oregon and Washington or UCLA and USC. For example, Nebraska hosts both UCLA and USC but will travel to Oregon and Washington. Wisconsin hosts Oregon and Washington and plays at UCLA and USC.
