The No. 1-ranked Nebraska volleyball team had not been tested in months. Until Sunday.
No. 3-seeded Texas A&M did what 33 other teams could not ― defeat a proverbial giant. The Aggies did it in the biggest match of their program’s history, the NCAA tournament regional final, and punched a ticket to their first Final Four. The Aggies beat the top-seed Cornhuskers 3-2 (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 35-37, 15-13) at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.
‘I’m not scared of them,’ Aggies head coach Jamie Morrison said before the match. ‘They’re a really good volleyball team, but we’ve talked the entire season and made an identity of making people uncomfortable, leaning in and imparting our will on the people that we’re playing.’
Imposing their will is putting it lightly. The Aggies had an answer for everything the Cornhuskers threw at them.
The Aggies went up 2-0 before Nebraska showed some fight, tying the match 2-2 behind huge pushes from Harper Murray and Rebekah Allick. Middle blocker Andi Jackson, who typically unravels opposing teams, was neutralized for most of the day with six kills and .045 hitting percentage.
After fighting through 10 fourth-set points, Nebraska forced a fifth set. Still, it was no match for the Aggies, who went on to win behind three players with double-digit kills. Kyndal Stowers led the Aggies with 25 kills and 16 digs plus two blocks. Logan Lednicky had 24 kills and six blocks.
‘We’re the grittiest team in the country by far,’ Lednicky said after the win.
‘I mean a lot of us are seniors. We’ve been doing this for a really long time,’ Lednicky added. ‘And I think all the newbies, too, they came in, ready to work, ready to grind, and we’re just such a special group of girls … It’s just amazing.’
Lednicky is one of nine seniors on Texas A&M’s roster. From the top down, Morrison’s team is loaded with talent that helped contribute to the Aggies’ massive upset. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, one of the best middle blockers in the country, started a 10-0 run in the first set to help the Aggies capture the frame and the momentum for the match. She also had six kills on .600 hitting, two aces, six digs and eight blocks. Morgan Perkins, in tandem with Cos-Okpolla, added five kills on .333 hitting and nine blocks. Outside hitter Emily Hellmuth was also critical down the stretch with 13 kills, two aces and four blocks.
After the Aggies’ historic win against Nebraska, Morrison shared that he’s been building up the program for the last three seasons and the victory Sunday is a testament to the players and staff.
‘I’m so proud of these driven human beings,’ Morrison said. ‘This whole group of human beings that we have as a part of our game.’
The Aggies head coach also shared that his group of seniors meant ‘everything to him and that Texas A&M ‘was building something that’s gonna last.’
The last time the Cornhuskers dropped a set was September, and the last time they had been down two sets was Aug. 31 against Kentucky, which has already punched its ticket to the Final Four. The Huskers won 3-2 back then, but could not pull off the reverse sweep on Sunday.
Murray, who had a career high 25 kills on .255 hitting plus three aces and nine digs, didn’t have enough to get the Huskers out of trouble, even with help from Allick. The middle blocker, who was explosive in the fourth set, added 15 kills on .480 hitting plus four blocks.
After the match, Nebraska head coach Dani Busboom Kelly somberly reflected on the Cornhuskers’ undefeated season coming to an end.
‘We played with a ton of joy. I think we maxed out,’ Busboom Kelly said. ‘We didn’t make the Final Four. We’re not winning a national championship.’
Busboom Kelly, who is in her first season as head coach, was still proud of her team and its 33-1 record. They left it all on the floor.
‘We can look back and have no regrets,’ she said.