Nebraska Volleyball named No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament
Nebraska volleyball is the No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament after finishing 28-1 in the regular season. The Huskers are the Big Ten champions after going 19-1 in the conference.
The Huskers will play Long Island University, the Northeast Conference champions, on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 p.m. CT at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
The winner of NU vs. Long Island University (13-18) will play the winner of Delaware (24-4) and No. 8 Missouri (17-12) on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7:00 p.m. CT. Delaware and Missouri play on Friday, Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m. CT. All matches will be on ESPN+.
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“We played a tough schedule,” Husker Head Coach John Cook said. “We played in big matches, we played in sold-out arenas. I think our players, now they thrive in these matches and they’re used to it, especially our younger players. We’ve been battle-tested. We know what it’s going to take. We know how to win. We can win in a lot of different ways, which we’ve had to do this year.”
Because Nebraska volleyball is a top-four seed, they will have the opportunity to host the regional round if they advance to the regionals.
Cook and the Huskers are happy to have to opportunity to host the regional. The coach said the travel and practice plans can be complicated, so this will make things smoother.
The top four overall seeds are Stanford, Wisconsin and Pittsburgh in that order. The Badgers’ sweep over Nebraska helped boost them into the top four after losing to Penn State and Purdue.
The Badgers are on the opposite side of the bracket as Nebraska. Pitt is on the left side with the Huskers. The No. 2 seed in Pitt’s bottom left part of the bracket is Louisville, the No. 5 overall seed.
In the Huskers’ quarter of the bracket, the top seven seeds are No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Georgia Tech, No. 6 Florida State and No. 7 James Madison.
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Familiar foes
Five Big Ten teams made the NCAA tournament. Penn State is a No. 5 seed in the top right with Wisconsin and Purdue is a 3 seed in the Wisconsin quarter.
Creighton is the No. 3 seed in the bottom left or Pitt quarter of the bracket. They play Colgate on Friday.
Omaha is also in the Wisconsin quarter and takes on No. 4 Kansas. This is the Maverick’s first-ever NCAA tournament after winning the program’s first Summit League Championship.
“This is huge for the state of Nebraska,” Cook said. “All three Division I programs (in Nebraska) are in the NCAA tournament so congrats to those guys. Nebraska does have a lot to be proud of. We are the volleyball state.”
NU swept Kentucky earlier this season, but the Wildcats have improved much since then. Also, Husker opposite hitter Merritt Beason spent her first two seasons at Florida.
“I was excited though,” Beason said. “I love a lot of girls on the team so I’m excited that there’s a chance that I might get to see some of them and I think it’ll be pretty cool to play them again. Definitely wasn’t expecting it. It was kind of a shock but I’m excited.”
SMU, the American Conference winner, are the No. 7 seed in the Texas quarter. Nebraska outside hitter Ally Batenhorst’s younger sister Casey Batenhorst is the backup setter for SMU. NU swept them at the beginning of the season in Lincoln.
“It’s awesome,” Batenhorst said. “They won their conference and they’ve had a really great season. It’s really excited to see my sister in the tournament as well. As for as the season goes, I think we’ve had a lot of great competitors and a lot of teams we have already played are in the tournament. It goes to show how strong our schedule has been this year and how that’s prepared us really well moving into postseason.”
The Bracket 🏐🏆
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