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Nebraska came back to win the final three games and advance to the Final Four in Omaha. It was the first time that Minnesota lost a match after leading 2-0 since 2001, and the first time that the Huskers won on the road to advance to a Final Four.
Nebraska's hitting percentage for the first two games was a very unHusker-like .089 and .118, compared with Minnesota's .231 and .281. Game three was a complete reversal with the Huskers hitting .265 while the Gophers hit.061. Game four was the Huskers .271 to .118, and in game five, Nebraska dominated the set .522 to .316. Jordan Larson won the regional MVP award, having 21 kills in the Minnesota match, with Sarah Pavan adding 20.
Nebraska will play UCLA, who swept Hawaii earlier tonight. On the other side of the bracket, Stanford beat Texas 3-1 to make it to Omaha, while Washington downed Penn State 3-1.
The Final Four represents the top four teams (in terms of rankings) in the nation, with Nebraska at #1, Stanford #2, Washington #3, and UCLA #4.
Something to think about - Nebraska is advancing to the Final Four after losing last year's NCAA Player of the Year Christina Houghtelling to a preseason injury. We started a freshman setter - Rachel Holloway, who was the first freshman starter ever for Nebraska volleyball. That's saying something about how good we are at volleyball.
Corn Nation is enamored with Husker volleyball. We would love to have some fan pictures to post when the teams are playing in Omaha. If you have any you'd like to send, please contact us through the email link at the upper right on the web site. Thank you, and Go Big Red!