Nebraska NCAA Volleyball National Champs!
(MATT MILLER/THE WORLD-HERALD)
In 2006, the NCAA Volleyball National Championship was held in Omaha Nebraska. The Nebraska Cornhuskers, from just 55 miles South of Omaha on Interstate 80, defeated Stanford for their 3rd National Championship in program history. To start this year, Nebraska knew the National Title game would once again be held in Omaha at the end of the season. Throughout the season, the Cornhuskers would break their team huddles by saying “Omaha” with the dream of once again playing for a National Championship close to home. Nebraska did not win the Big Ten, they lost to Texas on September 4th (3-2), and they lost during the regular season to Minnesota, a team who Texas defeated in the Semi-Finals. However, Nebraska hadn’t lost since October 24th and Saturday the season long dream was realized with a 3-0 sweep of the Texas Longhorns.
In the Semi-Finals on Thursday the Longhorns looked unstoppable, defeating the Big Ten Champion Minnesota Gophers 3-1. Texas took advantage of Minnesota errors and a career day from Amy Neal with 25 kills from the Big 12 Player of the Year. Paulina Prieto-Cerame also had 19 kills for the Longhorns. Minnesota’s star Daly Santana had 21 kills in the losing effort. Nebraska also punched their ticket Thursday with a 3-1 win over the Cinderella story Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks had knocked off the top seeded USC Trojans in the previous round, but the Cornhuskers defense was just too strong. Nebraska was led by Kadie Rolfzen with 14 kills, but the difference in the game was the Cornhusker defense with 23 blocks.
Saturday pitted the #3 ranked Texas Longhorns against the #4 Nebraska Cornhuskers in Omaha. Texas’ offense has been on fire in the tournament and Nebraska’s defense is the best in the country. This was a matchup of two teams who knew what it took to win, Texas had won 11 straight games and Nebraska had won 14 straight. Nebraska had won 3 previous titles with the last coming in 2006 and Texas had won two titles with the last in 2012. A record setting crowd for the most fans to ever watch an American volleyball match was ready to see a great National Championship game in Omaha Nebraska.
The Texas Longhorns had gotten great offensive attacks from Neal, Prieto-Cerame, and Ogbogu throughout the tournament. Saturday however, it was the defense of the Cornhuskers and a Freshmen attacker who were the story of the game. Mikaela Foecke put together her second best effort of her season, with 19 kills. The Cornhuskers also led the blocking totals with great defense from the Rolfzen twins and Cecilia Hall. Nebraska took over the first set when Amber Rolfzen tied the score with a kill then Foecke scored kills on the next 3 Nebraska points. Foecke was the star of the second set as well. Leading 19-17, Foecke subbed into the front row of the Cornhuskers. Again, she put away the next 3 Nebraska points, then blocked a ball for the 23rd point, then killed the 24th point. An attack error by Prieto-Cerame gave Nebraska the 2-0 set lead. The third set was filled with Texas miscues and Nebraska took advantage with 7 kills from the Rolfzen twins. Nebraska finished their National Championship win with a kill by Senior Kelsey Fien. Nebraska won their 4th National Championship and finished with a 32-4 record. The four Senior Cornhuskers who will finish their careers with a win are Kelsey Fien, Cecilia Hall, Alicia Ostrander, and Meghan Haggerty.
Follow Kyle Wescott on twitter: @MHSWescott
