Nebraska Volleyball Preview vs Utah State

Nebraska volleyball plays Utah State in the Devaney Center on Friday August 25th at 6 pm CT. You can watch on BIG+ and listen on Husker Radio Networks. Utah State won the Mountain West Conference last year and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They lost to Arkansas in the first round in three sets.

While we’ll preview the opponent below, the most interesting part of the weekend is going to be seeing who is in the starting line up for Nebraska. It is very likely to change over the course of the weekend as the Huskers play three matches in three days. In the opening match vs Utah State expect to see:

#1 Bergen Reilly 6’1’’ FR Setter
#5 Bekka Allick 6’4’’ SO MB
#44 Maggie Mendelson 6’5’’ SO MB
#27 Harper Murray 6’2’’ FR OH
#22 Lindsay Krause 6’4’’ JR OH
#13 Merritt Beason 6’4’’ JR RS
#8 Lexi Rodriguez 5’5’’JR L
#6 Laney Choboy 5’3’’ FR DS sub for Krause in the backrow
#7 Maisie Boesiger 5’6’’ SO DS sub for one middle to serve

The Utah State Aggies are led by their 5’8’’ outside hitter, Shelby Capllonch from Hawaii. She has a plethora of shots which she can place all around the court. She will give the Nebraska defense a pop quiz about how to run balls down but all indications are Husker defense will pass this quiz with high marks.

Capllonch is accompanied by 6’2’’ middle Kennedi Boyd, 6’0’’ outside Tatum Stall and 6’1’’ opposite Adna Mehmedovic. These four players receive the majority of the sets in the two setter offense. The setter for Utah State will always be backrow which is wise as sophomore setter, Leah Wilton-LaBoy is 5’8’’ and junior setter Beatriz Rodrigues is 5’11’’.

Nebraska has a distinct advantage at the net with their height alone and should block a great deal of balls. The Husker serve will also cause problems for the Aggies. Nebraska will target Stall with their serves especially when she is front row forcing her to pass and then prepare to attack from the outside. She is likely to commit passing errors.

Nebraska’s freshmen setter, Bergen Reilly, set the middles frequently in the Red-White Scrimmage. She will continue to set them this weekend both as a long term strategy for the offense but also as a specific offensive advantage against Utah State. The height and speed of the Husker middles will beat both the block and the floor defense of the Aggies.

Nebraska wins this match in three sets then returns to the court Saturday night to face Lipscomb.