Pitchin' with Pritch: Husker Volleyball team defeated in National Championship

This past weekend, the University of Nebraska Women’s volleyball team defeated Illinois to put them in position to win another National Volleyball Championship for the school. Their opponent in the finals was also a Blue Blood volleyball program in the NCAA in the Stanford Cardinal girls. 

To say the game was a classic or a clinic or any other superlative would just be a gross understatement. It was the end of the season for both teams that had different kinds of seasons, but both had great seasons. 

Stanford and Nebraska played a five-set championship game and it was the first five-set final in nearly a decade. It featured two great players Kathryn Plummer for Stanford and Mikaela Foecke for Nebraska and both of the players put in outstanding efforts with the Cardinal team winning in the fifth-set 15-12. 

Stanford finished the season at 34-1 and it was their 32nd win in a row. It was the longest such streak in the program’s storied volleyball program. The Huskers finished at 29-7 and had at one time lost four games in a row in Big 10 play. The Big 10 probably is the best volleyball conference in the nation and had seven teams ranked in the top 10 most of the season. 

The Huskers were in a rebuilding year. At times they had four freshmen on the court and I would say no one would have expected them to get to the finals even after the regular season was over and the playoffs began. 

The Huskers did get the first round at home and that doesn’t hurt anything, but then they moved to Minnesota where they were in the final 16 with the Minnesota Gophers and the Minnesota team had defeated the Huskers twice in the regular season. 

But as it sometimes happens, the Huskers got a break when Minnesota was upset by Oregon and all of a sudden the Huskers continue to play well and end up back in Minnesota for the final four. They get to the finals and have a chance to defend their title from a year ago. It didn’t happen, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort. 

Stanford needed every one of the 19 kills from Plummer, who was the National Player of the Year this year, to get by the battling Huskers. Both teams have a lot to look forward to next year as Stanford played only one senior. 

It is very hard for a while for a team, fans and a coach to get over losing in a championship at almost any level but a few years from now they will all realize how great of a season the 2017-18 Nebraska Volleyball season was and what was accomplished.

Husker Men’s Basketball

Also on the weekend, the Husker men went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Sunday and played in the Sanford Pentagon before a much smaller facility than PBA, but filled mostly with Nebraska fans and played an old Big 12 conference foe Oklahoma State. 

Okie State was 4-5 going into the game but had played one of the strongest schedules in the nation. I think the Huskers have a chance to be a pretty decent team this year and they have improved their non-conference schedule with the addition of teams like Seton Hall and Clemson earlier and always have Creighton and now Okie State. 

Earlier after beating Seton Hall, Clemson, Creighton but losing a big one to a Big 10 opponent Minnesota, the Huskers needed a win over OSU to impress the NCAA tournament people. Well they got it. I really wasn’t sure how they would do and after the first half it looked like it was going to be a nail biter as the Huskers took a 2-point lead in at the break. 

The second half, however, was gangbusters for Nebraska and they ended up winning big at 79-56. James Palmer Jr hit for 29 points and had help from his teammates. The Huskers even looked like they could play a little bit of good defense and they forced a lot of turnovers and turned some of those into points. 

I was impressed at times with what they did but still worry about what will happen in the Big 10 when the other teams will come in with big post people who can move. 

This is the best start that Coach Miles has had at Nebraska and I hope they can continue improving and make a good showing in the Big 10 and get a bid to the NCAA tournament and then do something they have never done and that is win a game in the tournament. Maybe this is the year! GBR