Nebraska volleyball loses to unranked team for first time in over 6 years (2024)

Unranked SMU stunned the second-ranked Nebraska volleyball team with a 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 win on Tuesday in Dallas, the Huskers’ first loss of the season.

Needing to win the third set to extend the match, the match slipped away from Nebraska late in the third set when SMU had a stretch when it won 10 of 11 rallies.

“We got punched in the mouth, and we let them keep punching us,” coach John Cook said on the Huskers Radio Network. “So I’m pretty disappointed in how we responded tonight.”

SMU picked on the Huskers with its serving, much like Texas did against Nebraska last December in the national championship match.

The loss ends a streak of 128 consecutive wins in matches against unranked teams dating to the 2017 national championship season (against Northern Iowa in Omaha).

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That means on back-to-back nights the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the sport lost. No. 18 Minnesota beat No. 1 and back-to-back national champion Texas in five sets on Monday.

The historic win for SMU came in front of 6,773 spectators — a program attendance record by a margin of several thousand.

SMU outplayed the Huskers in the areas of serve and serve receive. Nebraska had 12 serving errors and just one ace. SMU had seven aces.

Naya Shime and Maya Tabron led the Mustangs with nine kills apiece. Middle blocker Natalie Foster had eight kills, hit .462 and served five aces.

Numerous errors you don’t see often from Nebraska piled up and cost the Huskers — getting aced down the line, blockers not being lined up, etc.

SMU had a .242 hitting percentage, and Nebraska hit just .171. Nebraska’s offense rarely had sustained success.

“We tipped way too many balls,” Cook said. “I’m over there telling them, ‘You guys, you got to hit the ball.’”

Transfer outside hitter Taylor Landfair started for the first time at outside hitter in place of Lindsay Krause, but by the second set, Krause was back in. Landfair finished with two kills with a .000 hitting percentage.

Merritt Beason led NU with nine kills but hit just .107. Krause had five kills and hit .250.

While not playing its best, Nebraska was sitting just fine to win the first set with a 20-15 lead. Then SMU ripped off a 6-0 run to get back in the set. After a tie at 23, SMU won the final two points on kills by Nnedi Okammor and Foster.

For SMU, it was game on.

“I don’t know what the match looks like if we don’t take that first set,” third-year SMU head coach Sam Erger said on the ACC Network. “That’s when you get in their head a little bit and now it’s a match. That stretch was huge.”

In the second set, Nebraska never led and any progress was halted by numerous serving errors, including twice near the end of a close set.

SMU had five ace serves in the second set and led the match 2-0.

Cook was already worried about Nebraska’s offense prior to Tuesday, and now the players felt that too.

SMU had the edge in kills (39-36), blocks (10-9) and digs (43-36).

“They’re going to have to step up,” Cook said. “Part of it is we think we’re Nebraska and we’re going to roll out here and smoke teams. (SMU) played very inspired tonight. They played great. They won all the long rallies, so that’s attitude and effort right there.”

SMU wanted a good showing in front of a large crowd. It did even better and got the win.

“We wanted to take advantage of that and show them what it’s all about and how fun it can be, and I think we did that,” Erger said. “It was a really cool environment. Everyone is chanting, ‘SMU’ and then ‘Go, Big Red.’ It was just really fun.

“I will remember this night for the rest of my life.”

-- Brent C. Wagner

Reach the writer at 402-473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSSportsWagner.

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Nebraska volleyball loses to unranked team for first time in over 6 years (2024)

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Nebraska volleyball loses to unranked team for first time in over 6 years? ›

2 Nebraska

Nebraska
The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference. Nebraska has played its home games at Memorial Stadium since 1923 and sold out every game at the venue since 1962.
https://en.wikipedia.org › Nebraska_Cornhuskers_football
Swept by SMU, Loses First Match to Unranked Opponent Since 2017. Plagued by sloppy passing and an inconsistent offense, the Huskers
Huskers
A Cornhusker is a person or machine that removes the husk from a corncob. It may refer to: Cornhusker state, the nickname of the U.S. state of Nebraska. Nebraska Cornhuskers, the name given to the athletic teams of the University of Nebraska.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cornhusker
were swept by SMU 25-23, 25-21, 25-18
Tuesday night in front of 6,773 at Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

How long has Nebraska been good at volleyball? ›

Nebraska has been ranked in every weekly poll since the introduction of the AVCA National Poll in 1982 and has spent more weeks ranked number one than any other program. The Cornhuskers' 102 All-Americans are the most in the country.

Has Nebraska volleyball ever been undefeated? ›

Head coach John Cook has done it before, looking back 23 years to the year 2000. Undoubtedly one of the most dominant teams of all time, the 2000 Huskers went undefeated and won the national championship.

Why is Nebraska volleyball a big deal? ›

The Nebraska volleyball team has led the sport in average attendance — more than 8,000 — every season since 2013, when it moved to a new, larger arena, not counting the pandemic-affected 2020 season. Many of its athletes have also benefited from loosened rules on endorsements.

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