Go Big Red

When Nebraska volleyball star Merritt Beason sets up for a back row attack, it is like watching a bird of prey preparing to take flight. The six foot four inch All-American stretches her body to meet the ball nine, nine-and-a-half feet in the air, coiling her right arm back and then driving it through the ball with such force and velocity it is a wonder a small dent does not appear in the court where the ball either lands out of the reach of a defender or ricochets harmlessly out of bounds off an attempted return. Point Nebraska.

Of the many ways my life changed during the pandemic, becoming a fan of women’s college volleyball might be the most surprising. I do not even remember when I started watching it, likely sometime in 2021, aimlessly scrolling the dial and landing on the BIG 10 network. I do not have a rooting interest in one team or the other, and since the BIG 10 is to women’s volleyball what the SEC is to men’s football, there is talent across the board, which allows me to experience the sport being played at the highest level for the pure sake of enjoyment and appreciation of athletic ability. And nowhere is that truer than in Lincoln, where volleyball is practically a religion.

If the Brazilians play a version of soccer called the beautiful game, Nebraska plays the volleyball version of it. When the team is “in system” as they say, watching the six players on the court move with a level of fluidity and grace that is a sight to behold. It all starts with sophomore setter Bergen Reilly. The setter is the on-the-court quarterback (or point guard if you prefer a basketball analogy), moving as the return of service dictates and then deciding where to distribute the ball. Reilly is a savant, subtly shifting as the serve crosses the net so she is in position to set one of her outside hitters or middle blockers. Like a pitching ace whose release point is identical regardless of the pitch he throws, so too is Reilly’s set, making it hell on the other team to line up their block. She might send her set to one of the two pins, where Beason or Harper Murray, a sophomore who was the BIG 10’s freshman of the year last year, send thunderbolt kills across the net, or opt for a slide attack from fellow sophomore Andi Jackson, whose vertical has to be close to three feet and whips her right arm around the ball with such torque that if it misses a defender’s arm, the ball bounces off the court and toward the stands. And just to keep the opponents honest, Reilly can show off her sky high volleyball IQ with the occasional (and admittedly awkwardly named) setter dump, dropping the ball herself over the tape for a point.

While Reilly apportions out sets that make the Big Red Machine hum, the team’s calling card is defense. On a squad littered with All-Americans and blue chip recruits, it would be easy for them to rely on their dominating offense to win, but for a team with so much talent, the Huskers are a gritty lot. While Reilly leads the offense, it is senior libero and All-American Lexi Rodriguez who sets the tempo on defense. Rodriguez is a marvel on the court, routinely digging out missiles sent by the opposing team’s best hitters, flinging her body across the court with abandon, and rarely failing to reach a ball. Her intensity is matched in the front court where Jackson, along with Rebekah Allick, lead the team’s middle block, but they are far from alone. Beason, Reilly, Murray, Lindsey Krause, along with star transfers Taylor Landfair and Leyla Blackwell are all willing defenders who use their height and physicality to stymie even the most potent line-ups.

When all three phases are clicking, as they usually are, it is a wonder to behold. Leading it all is head coach John Cook. He is not one to prowl the sidelines, rather, he sits on a chair with a slightly annoyed look you might refer to as “Resting Cook Face.” A Wyoming cowboy who comes across as irascible, Cook has 5 national titles and more than 700 wins under his belt at Nebraska, but if you burrow deep enough down the rabbit hole that is Husker social media, you can find him hamming it up with his players in a way that suggests his bark is probably worse than his bite.  

The results speak for themselves. The team has been volleyball royalty for three decades. Over the past two seasons, the Huskers are 51-3, their only losses coming last year against another powerhouse BIG 10 team (Wisconsin) in the regular season and in the national championship game to Texas. This season’s 18-1 mark is marred only by an uncharacteristic sweep at SMU early on, but the team has rolled to 15 straight wins since then. The Devaney Center, where the team plays its home matches, has been sold out for more than 300 matches in a row, a streak rivaled only by the Green Bay Packers at historic Lambeau Field. In the summer of 2023, Nebraska volleyball played a home match at the university’s football stadium, drawing a crowd of 92,003, which not only shattered the record for the largest crowd at a women’s volleyball match, but was the biggest crowd to attend any women’s sporting event in history. With the sport starting to garner more national attention via nationally broadcast matches on ESPN and now NBC, its popularity will grow as more people are drawn to the athleticism and skill these women display, and leading the charge will be Big Red.