It’s finally here.
While the college volleyball season started for four teams in the AVCA on Tuesday night, the rest of the nation gets going today.
The wait is over! We no longer have to guess what teams will look like on the court, how conference realignment will impact the landscape or speculate about the impact of transfers and freshmen.
It’s go time. Enjoy the ride over the next 17 weeks.
While the road ahead is wide open, let’s look back, as we often do in the newsletter.
Burning the Midnight Oil
Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer were exhausted.
The two Louisville outside hitters sat at the table in front of the assembled media just after midnight after their match against No. 3 Wisconsin ended. They were physically wiped out after claiming the victory in four sets.
Luper said it was challenging to stay focused and keep her energy up in the later stages of the match.
“It was very hard, but I try not to let people see that,” she said. “I try to stay mentally tough. I try to talk to Anna and let her know that we're going to get through this together. It's me and you. It definitely was a challenge, but it just really shows how mentally tough we are.”
It was unfortunate that the match ended so late on a weeknight. The event drew 9,280 fans, but most had cleared long before the fourth set began.
Overall, the night was a success for the sport. ESPN2 drew over 344,000 viewers for the Nebraska-Kentucky match, the second-largest regular season on an ESPN-affiliated channel. Expect that to be eclipsed several times this year.
Several issues will be fixed next year when AVCA has much more time to plan the event. This year, the showcase came together in several months. They hope to move it to the Saturday before the regular season starts and invite more teams.
On the court, AVCA tried several things to enhance the match experience for fans and teams.
The most noticeable was the use of Bolt6 high-definition cameras, eliminating the need for line judges. The system worked as intended, but the one thing that needed to be added was showing the calls on the in-house video screen. The Pro Volleyball Federation used the same cameras but showed the crowd close calls to help everyone with what they had seen. Instead, everyone had to trust the up official and her tablet.
Being an in-arena host is a tough gig, and I don’t want anything to do with it. The one used on Tuesday tried hard but started the evening with a few unforced errors by mispronouncing Bergen Reilly’s first name (Bur-zen instead of bur-gen) and Jaylen Reyes’s last name.
Getting fans hyped between points can be challenging, but I hope the game advances where we don’t need gimmick chants after most points. Most of all, please let the monster block chant die. (Along with the wave.)
They did many cool things, which were helped by a partnership with League One Volleyball. The nascent professional league had several players in attendance to celebrate their silver medals and the upcoming season.
Several other behind-the-scenes could have improved, but probably didn’t enhance the experience of others. For example, recording and transcribing the post-game press conferences, throwing out more than one shirt as a giveaway and having more signage for the event around the arena. These are nitpicking, but it was a good test run for Louisville for when they host the national semifinals and championship match in less than four months.
Here is other news to know for the week:
Around the Country
Bergen Reilly signed an NIL deal with Red Bull to be one of their athletes. She is one of the first college volleyball players to sign an agreement with the energy drink company, joining Texas’s Madisen Skinner and Pitt’s Olivia Babco*ck.
It’s not just the big schools in Nebraska that are volleyball powers. Concordia started its season strong last weekend. The fourth-ranked Bulldogs outlasted No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan, the defending national champions, in five sets in Columbia, Missouri. They also topped the seventh-ranked hosts, Columbia College, in five sets before finishing the weekend up with a sweep over MidAmerica Nazarene. The path doesn’t get much easier. Concordia (5-0) faces No. 14 Bellevue University on Friday afternoon and No. 5 Viterbo on Saturday at the College of St. Mary’s tournament in Omaha.
Of the three teams in the AVCA First Serve Showcase, only Wisconsin took advantage of the rule change and suited up and used two liberos. Saige Darrow and Gulce Guctekin wore alternate jerseys and served different functions. Darrow was in on serve receive and passed 25 of her 27 attempts, adding nine digs and two assists. Guctekin recorded 10 digs and attempted 15 serves.
“We talked to them after the scrimmage, and neither one of them thought that broke their rhythm,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said. “They felt good and comfortable in that, so we went with it.”
Emily Ehman wrapped up her preseason list of Top 20 returners for the Big Ten. The list is chock-full of Huskers, including four in the Top Ten. You can see her complete list here, but this is the top half.
Sarah Franklin, Wisconsin
Lexi Rodriguez, Nebraska
Carter Booth, Wisconsin
Merritt Beason, Nebraska
Jess Mruzik, Penn State
Emily Londot, Ohio State
Eva Hudson, Purdue
Anna Smrek, Wisconsin
Bergen Reilly, Nebraska
Harper Murray, Nebraska
Commit Corner
Darren Tipton of VBAdrenaline hosted a discussion with several Nebraska recruits on Monday night. He chatted with 2025 commits Ryan Hunter and Keri Leimbach and 2026 prospects Jayden Robinson, Gaby DiVita and Keoni Williams.
They chatted about what they sign on to when they commit to Nebraska and how to deal with the competition level and expectations that come with playing for the Huskers.
“You’re not just signing up for Nebraska; you’re signing up for the entire state,” Robinson said.
They also talked about group chats and the Dream Team camp experience.
The Podcast
Jeff and I welcomed Ana Bellinghausen to talk about the Red-White Scrimmage. We also looked at the other two Division I teams in the state: Creighton and Omaha. We also previewed each of the three matches for the Huskers this week.
This Week’s Stories
Here’s what I wrote this week for Huskers Illustrated:
Reading List
Here are some of the best stories I read this week:
Volleyball: Nebraska volleyball star Harper Murray focuses on healing. Liz Merrill is usually a must-read no matter the subject, but here she delivers a masterpiece with the subject we’re all most interested in. (I assume you are very interested in Husker volleyball if you’re reading this). The story picks up from the E:60 documentary about the 2023 season and shines a light on everything Harper Murray has dealt with since the national championship match. Make time for this one.
Non-Volleyball: Erin Matson has carved her place in women’s sports. Can field hockey capitalize? Field hockey is more niche than volleyball and doesn’t capture the public imagination, so when they qualify for the Olympics, they’d want to include a three-time national player of the year and one of the best players ever? Not so much. Matson wrapped up her collegiate playing days in 2022 and led North Carolina to another national championship the following year, but didn’t make the national team.
Bonus story: Return to the court: Taylor De Boer's health journey. The Illinois pin hitter was slated to have a big impact during her freshman year, but she started to suffer medical issues and was diagnosed with Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) Vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease that can attack many systems, like the lungs, kidneys, joints and sinuses, all at the same time. Read about her journey back to the court from OSF Healthcare.
Looking ahead:
Top matches this week
Pitt at Oregon, Aug. 30, BTN
Penn State at Tennessee, Aug. 30, ESPNU
Texas vs Wisconsin*, Sept. 1, FOX
Minnesota vs Stanford*, Sept., 1, FS1
Tennessee at Louisville, Sept. 1, ESPN2
Minnesota vs Texas*, Sept. 2, FS1
Stanford vs Wisconsin*, Sept. 2, FOX
Stanford at Marquette, Sept. 4, FloSports
* State Farm Women's College Volleyball Showcase in Milwaukee
Thanks for reading. Until next week…
