Nebraska Volleyball wins in three sets over Colgate

Nebraska 3, Colgate 0 - 25-13, 25-16, 25-11

Let me start the list of parts and pieces that went well tonight:

• Serving: Aggressive.
• Lindsay Krause: She had 6 kills on 16 attempts. She made 3 errors (too many but I think we can give a hall pass for her first college match). 5 blocks and 8 digs. Contributions everywhere.
• Devaney: Full (well, almost).
• Anni Evans: She was absolutely great defensively and in the rotations while she was in the match, Nebraska sided out very well.

We could make this list a lot longer, but I think we get the point; things went well for Nebraska volleyball tonight. Colgate wasn’t the type of opponent that Nebraska will face through the B1G season but sometimes it is just fun to watch them play the work through the process as a team.

Coach Cook used a few line up combinations and ended up playing 12 of available 13 players tonight. Ally Batenhorst didn’t get the nod at all tonight at the outside hitter position. I suspect this decision rests in the week of practice that each player just had, as well as coach working to get Lexi Sun and Madi Kubik in a hitting grove at the start of the season.

Kubik had 5 kills on 20 attempts and Sun had 10 kills on 26 attempts. Sun was impressive as an attacker. The sets were more variable, with two younger and less experienced setters dishing the ball. But she adjusted well and earned her kills with the opportunities she had. To put it another, she got kills off of some poorly set balls tonight. That is what good outside hitters do.

Colgate showed a few quality outside hitters tonight. At times they gave the Nebraska block some trouble. I am sure Coach has a few blocking drills ready to go for practice tomorrow. Colgate also passed well. The match ended on an ace but that was only the third of the match for the Huskers. Nebraska is a great serving team, so high five to Colgate passing.

The Red Raiders of Colgate are picked to win the Patriot League this season. I know a bit about Colgate and the Patriot League as my Alma Mater, Army, plays in that conference too. In fact, Army beat Colgate in the league tournament to earn an NCAA birth last season.

All right, enough about me and back to the Nebraska stuff you came here to read about!

The Nebraska volleyball program will honor former Husker All-American and 2020 Olympic gold medalist Justine Wong-Orantes on Saturday, August 28th during the final match of the Husker Invitational.

Wong-Orantes joined former Huskers Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson on the Team USA roster this summer as the Americans made history at the Tokyo Games by claiming their first gold medal. The Cypress, CA native was named Best Libero and earned a spot on the Tokyo 2020 Dream Team following her Olympic debut.

Wong-Orantes was a four-year letter winner at Nebraska from 2013-16 and earned both All-America and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year recognition in 2015 and 2016. She was an All-Big Ten pick as a senior and finished her career as NU’s all-time career digs leader.

The tournament concludes on Saturday, August 28th with Kansas State-Nebraska at 4 pm. Saturday’s match will be televised on BTN. John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will have the radio call on the Huskers Radio Network.