NU volleyball schedule released: Here’s what stands out, including a potential big finish | Volleyball

If Nebraska’s volleyball team ends up being as good as it looks, a potentially suspenseful final week of the regular season could see a conference champion crowned at the Devaney Sports Center.

That’s what is apparent at first glance after Nebraska announced its full season schedule on Tuesday.

Nebraska was the NCAA finalist last season. And with seven of the nine players who played in the title game likely to return, the Huskers are set to challenge for a Big Ten title in 2022. Nebraska will likely start the season ranked first or second nationally.

The Big Ten conference has once again lined up the schedule for a big end to the conference season. In the final week, Nebraska will host Wisconsin on Friday and Minnesota on Saturday – these three teams are often in the hunt for the league title.

Last season, Nebraska and Wisconsin also played in the final week, with the Badgers winning to clinch the title.

The last two times Nebraska won the Big Ten title, in 2016 and 2017, they picked up a win at Lincoln on the last night of the regular season.

The Nebraska Big Ten’s 20-game schedule includes home and away series against Wisconsin, Ohio State, Purdue, Maryland, Northwest, Michigan State and Iowa. There’s nothing glaring about that – three of those teams were in the top half of the league standings last season, and four were in the bottom half.

The Huskers will have single-game matches against Minnesota, Penn State, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Rutgers.

Here are four other observations from the calendar release:

Tournament Format Change: The Huskers will kick off the season Aug. 26-27 by hosting Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, Tulsa and Pepperdine in a tournament at Devaney Sports Center. Pepperdine’s roster includes Kayleigh Hames, the younger sister of Nebraska super senior Nicklin Hames. The following week, the Huskers will host Loyola Marymount and Mississippi (coached by former Husker Kayla Banwarth) in Lincoln for another home tournament, which expanded to start Thursday and be played over three days with just one game per day. .

Sequence stoppers? It’s probably the year one of the most stunning streaks in Nebraska volleyball history ends – the Huskers’ eight-game losing streak against Wisconsin that dates back to 2017 and includes the Badgers beating Nebraska the last season in the national championship game. The Badgers should be really good, but they could be a work in progress after graduating three All-Americans, including National Player of the Year Dana Rettke. The first chance to end the streak for Nebraska is Oct. 16 in Madison.

Back to Omaha: Just like last season, the Huskers will face Creighton again at CHI Health Center Omaha. It is by design. The NCAA Final Four will be there in December, and Nebraska hopes to be there and already have some experience playing in the big arena. And this game is one of the big things happening in college sports in the state. Attendance for the past three games has topped 8,000 each time, including 14,022 in 2018, still the highest attendance for a regular-season game in NCAA history.

Sunday morning: During the Big Ten season, Nebraska has four of those Sunday games that can wear down a team late in the season because it means you never have a completely free day of volleyball or lessons. It also changes next week’s routine, as Monday changes from the first training day of the week to a rest day for the players. It will be something that coach John Cook will have to deal with in the second half of the season.

(Match times TBA unless otherwise stated)

Aug. 26, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11 a.m.

August 26, Tulsa, 6:30 p.m.

August 27, Pepperdine, 7 p.m.

September 1, Loyola Marymount, 7 p.m.

September 3, Mississippi, 7:30 p.m.

September 7, at Creighton (CHI Health Center Omaha), 5 p.m.

Sept. 10, Long Beach State, 3 p.m.

Sept. 18 at Kentucky, 2 p.m.

October 7, in the State of Michigan