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Huskers Announce 2019 Volleyball Schedule


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The Nebraska volleyball team announced its 2019 schedule on Thursday. The Huskers will play 15 matches against 2018 NCAA Tournament teams, including a national championship rematch against Stanford at the Devaney Center in September. Seventeen of Nebraska's 29 scheduled regular-season matches will be held at the Devaney Center. 

 

The Huskers will open the regular season on Friday, Aug. 30 against Creighton at the Devaney Center and will play UCLA the following night. NU's only non-conference road trip will be the second weekend of the season when it goes to San Diego to play the Toreros and Arizona. San Diego was a Sweet 16 team last season, and Arizona also made the NCAA Tournament and played its first-round match in Lincoln.

 

The Ameritas Players Challenge will feature matches against High Point, Denver and Loyola Marymount - all NCAA Tournament teams last season. The Huskers will then play a rare midweek non-conference match against Stanford on Wednesday, Sept. 18 in Lincoln. NU fell three points short of repeating as national champions in 2018 against the Cardinal, who return six starters from that squad. NU's final non-conference match will be at home against Wichita State on Saturday, Sept. 21. 

 

Once again, Nebraska will play seven Big Ten opponents both home and away. The six single-play opponents this season will be: Illinois (away), Michigan (home), Indiana (away), Penn State (home), Minnesota (away) and Ohio State (home). 

 

The annual Red-White Scrimmage will be held on Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Devaney Center. The start time will be determined at a later date. 

 

All Big Ten conference matches are subject to change based on television selections that will be announced this summer. 

 

 

2019 Nebraska Volleyball Schedule

Aug. 24 Red-White Scrimmage Devaney Center
Aug. 30 Creighton Devaney Center
Aug. 31 UCLA Devaney Center
Sept. 6 vs. Arizona San Diego, Calif.
Sept. 7 at San Diego San Diego, Calif.
Sept. 13 High Point Devaney Center
Sept. 13 Denver Devaney Center
Sept. 14 Loyola Marymount Devaney Center
Sept. 18 Stanford Devaney Center
Sept. 21 Wichita State Devaney Center
Sept. 27 at Illinois Champaign, Ill.
Sept. 28 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill.
Oct. 2 at Rutgers New Brunswick, N.J.
Oct. 5 Wisconsin Devaney Center
Oct. 11 Michigan State Devaney Center
Oct. 12 Michigan Devaney Center
Oct. 16 Purdue Devaney Center
Oct. 19 at Maryland College Park, Md.
Oct. 25 at Indiana Bloomington, Ind.
Oct. 26 at Purdue West Lafayette, Ind.
Nov. 1 Rutgers Devaney Center
Nov. 2 Penn State Devaney Center
Nov. 6 Northwestern Devaney Center
Nov. 9 at Iowa Iowa City, Iowa
Nov. 13 at Michigan State East Lansing, Mich.
Nov. 16 Iowa Devaney Center
Nov. 22 at Minnesota Minneapolis, Minn.
Nov. 23 at Wisconsin Madison, Wis.
Nov. 29 Maryland Devaney Center
Nov. 30 Ohio State Devaney Center

 

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Surprisingly, it appears the B1G schedule makers gave Nebraska a break. This is the first time that's happened since the Huskers joined the league at least to my recollection. Usually the B1G schedule targets Penn State and Nebraska and then fills out the remainder of the B1G schedule.

Last year, Nebraska was the only team of the 5 B1G teams in the top 10, that played 7 matches against the four other top 10 teams (Minnesota twice, Penn State twice, Illinois twice, and Wisconsin once). This season, they only play 5 matches against those same teams.  And this is the first season I can remember that they play both perennial bottom dwellers Maryland and Rutgers twice.

The B1G might not be as top heavy this year, but they should be deeper with Michigan State being a year older, Iowa continuing to make steady improvement, and Indiana making upgrades to their talent and their facilities. Nebraska, Minnesota, Penn State, and Wisconsin are probably still in the top ten. Minnesota returns a ton of talent but loses Seliger-Swenson, their All-American setter. They will probably take a minor step back. Penn State loses their setter and an all-conference outside hitter, but had a lot of young talent that got better as the year progressed. Wisconsin returns all their key players and even in 2019, like the Huskers, don't have a lot of seniors.

Illinois probably lost the most with Poulter (All-American setter) and Bastianelli (All-American middle) gone. They still have the robotic arm of Quade on the outside and have the 2018 Gatorade volleyball player of the year coming in. Because of the drop off in the setter position, they are probably just outside the top ten. They should be followed by Purdue and Michigan.

 

Still easily the best conference in the country with probably 8 to 9 teams making the tourney this year, 5 teams hosting first round matches, and 2 teams (Wisconsin and Nebraska) in the top 4 hosting matches in the 2nd weekend.

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Good analysis, Undertow.  Nebraska's Big Ten run last year showed the difficulty of breaking in a new Setter in a tough conference. With Hames being a year into the system, and essentially a vet now, I think Nebraska has the best shot at taking the conference this year with Minnesota, Illinois and Penn State replacing Setters. Wisconsin will be the toughest out. It just depends on their conference schedule (not released yet) and if either team blinks in a match.

 

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4 hours ago, man eating mastodon said:

Realistic expectations for this year??

 

Just based on talk on the radio between Lauren Cook and John Baylor during the CSU match, it appears both Kubik and Knuckles are going to contribute immediately and at a high level. I was a little surprised that Knuckles  got the libero nod over Miller, but she played well.

Offensively, losing Foecke will hurt in big games and big moments because she was so clutch. Stivrins will have to take up some of the slack to be the go-to person in big situations. Sun would also be a logical choice to step up, and I think she has the mentality to want to do it, but she doesn't have Foecke's physicality to make it happen consistently. Kubik may surprise in this area even though she also isn't as physical as Foecke. However, the offense may be more consistent just because Hames has a season under her belt. The offense struggled last year at times as Hames was adjusting to D1 level ball, but towards the end of the season, her improved play on offense was a major contributor to the late season success and the run in the tournament.

Defensively, it may be hard to improve on 2018 statistically, but the 2019 version will rank somewhere in the top 5 nationally. Losing Maloney isn't desirable, but there doesn't appear to be a huge drop off with Knuckles or Miller. Plus having Hames back there is like having a 2nd libero with all the digs she makes. Sun and Kubik are already six rotation players so Cook will be able to substitute in Miller and Densberger as necessary as defensive specialists. I believe Foecke was 3rd in blocks so that's hard to replace, but look for Stivrins to concentrate on that aspect of her game and improve upon it. Don't be surprised if Schwarzenbach regresses slightly with the block stat wise, but she had a ridiculous year as a freshman. It would be hard to duplicate it.

 

My guess is that Wisconsin and Nebraska will be the favorites in the B1G with Nebraska getting the nod because they've been there done that, Wisconsin has a nasty habit of wetting the bed against an inferior opponent at least once or twice a season, and, as I mentioned previously, Nebraska drew a favorable B1G draw for the first time that I can recall.

 

Nationally, Stanford will be the prohibitive favorites to repeat. Everyone is back except their libero (I think that's right) including POY Plummer on the outside. Nebraska will probably start out number 2. I'm guessing 8-1 non-conference, 18-2 B1G play winning (or at least tying for) 1st place in the conference.  26 - 3 should get Nebraska a top 4 seed (probably 2 or 3) which means home court for the 1st 4 games of the tournament and probably another trip to the Final 4. I'm predicting Stanford vs Nebraska in the finals with Stanford winning again. Not an imaginative pick, but from my perspective a likely one.

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15 hours ago, Undertow said:

 

Just based on talk on the radio between Lauren Cook and John Baylor during the CSU match, it appears both Kubik and Knuckles are going to contribute immediately and at a high level. I was a little surprised that Knuckles  got the libero nod over Miller, but she played well.

Offensively, losing Foecke will hurt in big games and big moments because she was so clutch. Stivrins will have to take up some of the slack to be the go-to person in big situations. Sun would also be a logical choice to step up, and I think she has the mentality to want to do it, but she doesn't have Foecke's physicality to make it happen consistently. Kubik may surprise in this area even though she also isn't as physical as Foecke. However, the offense may be more consistent just because Hames has a season under her belt. The offense struggled last year at times as Hames was adjusting to D1 level ball, but towards the end of the season, her improved play on offense was a major contributor to the late season success and the run in the tournament.

Defensively, it may be hard to improve on 2018 statistically, but the 2019 version will rank somewhere in the top 5 nationally. Losing Maloney isn't desirable, but there doesn't appear to be a huge drop off with Knuckles or Miller. Plus having Hames back there is like having a 2nd libero with all the digs she makes. Sun and Kubik are already six rotation players so Cook will be able to substitute in Miller and Densberger as necessary as defensive specialists. I believe Foecke was 3rd in blocks so that's hard to replace, but look for Stivrins to concentrate on that aspect of her game and improve upon it. Don't be surprised if Schwarzenbach regresses slightly with the block stat wise, but she had a ridiculous year as a freshman. It would be hard to duplicate it.

 

My guess is that Wisconsin and Nebraska will be the favorites in the B1G with Nebraska getting the nod because they've been there done that, Wisconsin has a nasty habit of wetting the bed against an inferior opponent at least once or twice a season, and, as I mentioned previously, Nebraska drew a favorable B1G draw for the first time that I can recall.

 

Nationally, Stanford will be the prohibitive favorites to repeat. Everyone is back except their libero (I think that's right) including POY Plummer on the outside. Nebraska will probably start out number 2. I'm guessing 8-1 non-conference, 18-2 B1G play winning (or at least tying for) 1st place in the conference.  26 - 3 should get Nebraska a top 4 seed (probably 2 or 3) which means home court for the 1st 4 games of the tournament and probably another trip to the Final 4. I'm predicting Stanford vs Nebraska in the finals with Stanford winning again. Not an imaginative pick, but from my perspective a likely one.

 

Losing Foecke and Maloney will be tough to replace but think Kubik and Knuckles are going to be good. Losing Foecke as our hammer will hurt. 

 

Nebraska has a much tougher OOC schedule this year but conference schedule is easier this year with only have Illinois/Minnesota and Penn State once. Conference wise Wisconsin loses the least of the top teams. 

 

Stanford lost one of their middle blockers (Alade) and not their libero. Stanford will be the favorites because they will be loaded once again and have the #1 recruiting class coming in as well. 

 

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12 hours ago, huskersrule95 said:

 

Losing Foecke and Maloney will be tough to replace but think Kubik and Knuckles are going to be good. Losing Foecke as our hammer will hurt. 

 

Nebraska has a much tougher OOC schedule this year but conference schedule is easier this year with only have Illinois/Minnesota and Penn State once. Conference wise Wisconsin loses the least of the top teams. 

 

Stanford lost one of their middle blockers (Alade) and not their libero. Stanford will be the favorites because they will be loaded once again and have the #1 recruiting class coming in as well. 

 

Thanks for the correction on who Stanford was losing. Sometimes I rely on the memory of a 60+ year old brain, and it doesn't quite work out. I WASN'T aware that Stanford had a #1 recruiting class. It appears the Color Cardinal will be a formidable opponent for the foreseeable future.

 

I really didn't concisely answer @man eating mastodon question of what is "realistic expectations" for this year. There is some slight slippage at the top of the B1G, so a conference championship (outright or shared) is realistic in my opinion. I also think a 5th final four in a row is realistic as a B1G championship should put you in the top 4 seeds, which means home court for the 1st two weekends of the tournament.

 
I'll close with this somewhat arbitrary thought. Keep an eye on Madi Kubik. Even though she is only 6'1" (she looks taller when compared with her teammates, but that could be a visual illusion since she ties her hair up above her head), she is singularly focused on advancing her career in volleyball. She did an interview where she flat out stated she came to Nebraska to become an effective six rotational player to help her GO PRO. I doubt she can reach Mikaela Foecke status, but don't be surprised if she becomes a main cog on this team. And sooner rather than later.
 
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