Nebraska Women’s Roundup: Volleyball focused on leveling up, Final Four sets record, Throwers dominate
Nebraska Volleyball’s magical and record breaking 2023 season ended with tears as the Huskers were swept by Texas in the National Championship. NU won the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2017 and took down Wisconsin on their way to the title. They smashed the Women’s Athletics attendance record with 92,003 fans inside Memorial Stadium for Volleyball Day in Nebraska.
After an unforgettable season, how does Nebraska continue to improve to claim their sixth national title? They didn’t have any players graduate and return all of their starters and major contributors. NU added two transfers – three-time First Team All-Big Ten outside hitter Taylor Landfair from Minnesota and three-time All-WCC First Team middle Leyla Blackwell from San Diego. The duo doesn’t arrive until late spring.
Husker Head Coach John Cook said their priorities for spring practice is to improve the timing, rhythm and attack of their offense, along with their out-of-system offense. As always, serving and passing is at the top of the list.
Nebraska Volleyball freshmen “highlight of spring”, Allick, Krause return from injury
“We won the Big Ten and got all the way to the National Championship,” Cook said on Friday. “How do we get better? what’s our mindset to come in and get better? I used Merritt (Beason) and Lexi (Rodriguez) as examples. They are first-team All-Americans, how much more room can they grow? If those two can get better and take everybody with them, we’re getting better as a team because they have the biggest challenge on improvement because they are already at such a high level.”
Losing the National Championship left a sting for each player. However, they are trying to balance the hurt with motivation to come out on top.
The first glimpse of the 2024 Huskers will be on May 4 during their spring exhibition match against Denver. The match is at Nebraska-Kearney’s Health and Sports Center in Kearney, Nebraska at 2:00 p.m. CT. It will be streamed on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.
Now let’s dive into this week’s Nebraska Women’s Roundup.
Stats of the Week:
4.06: Nebraska softball’s pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.06, which ranks No. 9 in the Big Ten. Freshman Caitlin Olensky leads the Huskers with a 3.30 ERA in 46.2 innings. She ranks No. 16 in the conference.
Senior Kaylin Kinney, who has pitched a team-high 113.2 innings, has a 3.94 ERA. She ranks No. 23 in the Big Ten, while senior Sarah Harness is at No. 26 with a 4.71 ERA.
13 Big Ten teams have at least one pitcher and their ERA in the top 15. Michigan and Indiana have two pitchers in the top 15. Penn State ace Bridget Nemeth has a 1.17 ERA while pitching the same number of innings as Kinney.
The Huskers’ pitching staff suffered a huge loss with two-time National Champion Jordy Bahl going down. Their pitching staff has not been what many anticipated.
Nebraska went 2-2 this last week at Bowlin Stadium. They took down Kansas 4-0 on Tuesday, April 2. The Huskers lost the series to Penn State 2-1. They lost game one 2-1 and then claimed the second 10-2 after seven runs in the fifth inning.
Unfortunately for NU, they lost 6-5 in the series finale in 10 innings. Nebraska led 4-2 but Penn State scored two in the top of the seventh. The score held at 4-4 until two Nittany Lion home runs in the 10th gave PSU a 6-4 lead. Peyton Cody hit her third Husker homer to lose 6-5.
15-13: Nebraska Women’s Gymnastics ended their season in the NCAA Championships. They posted a 196.600 team score in Session I of the second round of the championships in Arkansas. NU finished third after No. 10 Arkansas (197.325), No. 7 Kentucky (197.100) and beat Arizona (195.600).
Kinsey Davis won the bars title with a 9.925 score. Emma Spence tied for third place on floor after scoring 9.900. Csenge Bacskay finished third and Spence finished fourth out of the five in the all-around competition.
The Huskers finished the 2023-24 season with a 15-13 record and 7-7 in the Big Ten. They earned an NCAA bid for the second consecutive season. Three Huskers garnered All-Big Ten honors. Spence is a first-team pick and Davis and Sophia McClelland made the second team.
Eight Huskers selected on USA U21 Training Team, “wonderful” international volleyball experience
7: Seven current and future Huskers were selected for the U.S. Women’s U21 National Training Team. 12 of the 20 players will compete in the 2024 U21 Women’s NORCECA Continental Championship in Toronto, Canada from June 23 to July 1.
The five current Huskers include sophomores Bergen Reilly, Andi Jackson, Laney Choboy, Harper Murray and freshman Olivia Mauch. 2025 Husker commits setter Campbell Flynn and outside hitter Teraya Sigler also made the team. Nebraska Assistant Coach Jaylen Reyes will help coach the team.
Player of the Week: Rhema Otabor and Axelina Johansson
Junior Rhema Otabor and junior Axelina Johansson were key pieces to Nebraska Track and Field winning the Jim Click Shootout Team Title.
Otabor posted an NCAA-leading 191-10 (58.47m) javelin mark to claim the title. With Otabor leading the way, Nebraska swept the top four placements in the women’s javelin. Mirta Kulisic threw 175-2 (53.41m) to finish in second, Emmanuela Casadei claimed third with a 175-0 (53.35m) and Eniko Sara notched a 156-10 (47.80m) for fourth.
In the javelin, Otabor is the 2023 NCAA Champion and the Big Ten Champion. She also claimed the Bahamian National Title. She did not compete in the 2023 indoor and 2024 indoor seasons. But she started the 2024 season with a bang.
Johansson, the 2023 outdoor NCAA Champion and 2023 indoor runner-up, is back. She redshirted during the 2024 indoor season. The junior won the Jim Click Shootout Shot Put title with an NCAA-leading 18.57m throw.
Mine De Klerk, the 2024 outdoor shot put Big Ten Champion and First Team All-American, finished second. She threw a 17.49m for the sixth-best in the NCAA and fourth all-time at Nebraska. Amelia Flynt (17.06m) and former Husker volleyball middle Kalynn Meyer (16.36m) finished third and fourth to sweep the event.
National and recruiting news:
Final Four smashes more records: The Women’s Basketball Final Four crushed viewership records. The Iowa-UConn semifinal game averaged 14.2 million viewers and peaked at 17 million. It became the most-watched college basketball game in ESPN history. The Hawkeyes set the previous record during their win over LSU in the Elite Eight.
The National Championship, which ended with South Carolina completing their undefeated season, has yet to announce its viewership numbers. However, the Gamecocks’ third national championship is likely to surpass the Iowa-UConn record.
Nebraska Bowling ends season in NCAA Regional: Husker Bowling ended its 2023-24 season as the NCAA Lansing Regional Runnerups. They dropped their first match to Maryville on Friday. NU fought back from the contenders bracket to advance to the Regional Championship match.
Nebraska beat Marian and took down Maryville in their second matchup in a best-of-seven baker. The Huskers won games two, three and five.
However, they fell to No. 3 Youngstown State in the Regional Finals. But, NU won the first five-game baker to hand YSU their first loss in the double-elimination regional. Nebraska took a 2-0 lead in the five-game baker match and cinched the win for a 138-117 in the fifth and tiebreaker game. In the second matchup between the two teams, Youngstown State won 3-2.
Former softball standout Mya Felder earns NCAA Ethnic Minority Graduate Scholarship: Former Husker first-baseman Mya Felder was awarded the NCAA Ethnic Minority Graduate Scholarship. She is one of 13 national student-athletes to earn the scholarship to pursue further education. Felder begins her Ph.D. program in educational administration at Nebraska this fall.
Felder played for the Huskers for the 2022 and 2023 seasons after transferring from Oregon. She hit .350 and had 20 doubles, 15 homers and 78 RBIs in her two seasons. The Fresno, California native was a two-time Big Ten All-Defensive Team honoree and was recognized twice on the NFCA All-Midwest Regional team. She was a key part of Nebraska’s 2022 Big Ten Championship team.
Former Husker Lauren Stivrins signs with LOVB: Former Nebraska middle blocker Lauren Strivins has signed with League One Volleyball, also known as LOVB. Her team and location are currently unknown. After being a three-time AVCA All-American at Nebraska, Strivins played professionally with Athletes Unlimited and Bisonte Volley Firenze in Italy.
LOVB has teams in Omaha, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison and Salt Lake. Former Husker Justine Wong-Orantes is the founding athlete on Omaha’s team. The inaugural season begins in November 2024 with training camp and then the first matches start in January 2025.
Three Husker swimmers compete at British Championships: Two current Huskers and one former Husker swam at the British Championships on April 2-7. 2023 Husker grad Shannon Stott competed in the 200m butterfly Paris Final. She had a personal best time of 2:11.87 for a fourth-place finish. The St. Albans, Great Britain native finished seventh in the 100m butterfly Paris Final (1:00.45) and third in the 400m freestyle B final (4:17.45).
Husker junior Maia Hall logged a personal-best 2:31.38 200 breaststroke time to finish second. The Whitby, England native finished fifth in the 200 IM with a 2:19.20 score and swam a 1:10.91 to place fifth in the 100m breaststroke.
Freshman Amelia Riggott, who is from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK, competed in the 100m breaststroke as well.
On the horizon:
Track and Field: Nebraska Track and Field is competing in the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California on April 11-13. The meet is streamed on FloSports and starts at 11:00 a.m. CT on Thursday, 9:00 a.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday.
Softball: Husker softball (23-15, 6-2) continues the Big Ten season with Rutgers (23-16, 5-4). The series starts on April 12 in Piscataway, N.J. at 2:00 p.m. CT. The face again on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday at noon. All three games are on B1G+.
Women’s Tennis: NU Women’s Tennis (10-8, 1-6) hosts Penn State at the Dillon Tennis Center at 4:00 p.m. on April 12. In their last outing, the Huskers fell to No. 66 Purdue 4-1 despite earning the doubles points. Raphaelle Lacasse/Maja Pietrowicz took down Tara Katarina Milic/Carmen Gallardo Guevara 6-3 and Lucy Loy/Isabel Adrover Gallego defeated Ashlie Wilson/Juana Larranaga 6-1 to win the doubles.
Soccer: Husker soccer welcomes Kansas to Hibner Stadium for a 2:05 p.m. start time on April 13. NU tied Kansas State 2-2 on April 6 in Manhattan, Kansas. Florence Belzile and Abbey Schwarz scored the two goals for NU.
Women’s Golf: Nebraska Women’s Golf is back on the road to Columbus, Ohio, for the Lady Buckeye Invitational. They compete on April 13 and 14 at 8:00 a.m. on both days. In NU’s last meet on March 15-16, they finished eighth out of the 14 teams at the Florida State Match Up in Tallahassee, Florida.
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