2022 Volleyball Thread

[FearlessF]

The NCAA volleyball season got underway Friday, and, as you would have expected, there were some surprises.

That did not include the top five teams in the AVCA preseason poll, as No. 1 Nebraska swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tulsa; No. 2 Texas swept at No. 7 Ohio State as Logan Eggleston had 15 kills and the Longhorns hit .348; No. 3 Wisconsin swept at TCU; No 4 Louisville swept Northern Kentucky and South Dakota at South Dakota; and No. 5 Minnesota beat No. 16 Baylor in four.

But then things got unpredictable.

No. 6 Pittsburgh, playing at Texas A&M, lost in five to No. 25 San Diego. Also at A&M, the Aggies beat Hawai’i in five.

No. 8 Washington lost in four at unranked Arkansas.

No. 11 Kentucky was knocked off by Marquette, losing in five to the visiting Golden Eagles despite 28 kills from Adanna Rollins. Rollins started her career at Minnesota, went to Penn State, and is finishing at Kentucky.

No. 12 UCLA was stunned at Utah State, losing in four as the Bruins hit .076. Utah State, which also beat Cal Poly, defeated a ranked team for the first time in 12 years.

[FearlessF]

[MarqHusker]

Non-conference matches to watch, no doubt this is news to some of the participants.

[utee94]

Texas-Minnesota tonight.  I've got a friend with an extra ticket, I might go downtown and watch it.

[FearlessF]

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky vs. Wisconsin volleyball match on Friday, September 9 has been moved up an hour to a 6 p.m. ET start and will now be televised live on ESPNU, the Southeastern Conference announced Monday.

No changes need to be made to any previously-purchased tickets, as only the time is affected.

The match features the last two NCAA National Champions with Kentucky taking the title in 2020 followed by the Badgers in 2021. Kentucky played in Madison last year, dropping a tight 3-1 match to the Badgers.

Campbell vs. Indiana State, which was scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. ET start in the afternoon match has been moved up 90 minutes to a 3 p.m. ET start to accommodate the television broadcast.

[MarqHusker]

Minnesota had a zillion SE.  

[FearlessF]

Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook continues to utilize the nonconference slate to experiment.

Last season, that meant several losses but ultimately resulted in a national title match appearance. Now through four matches, NU has yet to use the exact same lineup and on Thursday even debuted a new offense.

Nebraska fans have become accustomed to the Huskers running a 5-1, meaning there is just the one setter playing all the way through the rotation. Against Loyola Marymount, Cook unveiled a 6-2.

Cook said his team started working on the new system Monday and started to really like it Tuesday. With a 6-2, you need to have a pair of setters to constantly rotate in. The setters only play in the back row. Once one is set to rotate into the front, a right side subs in with the other setter filling into the back row for the next three rotations.

The two setters getting the nod were Nicklin Hames and Anni Evans. Cook said after the match that he isn't done with the 5-1 or using Kennedi Orr.

As for a big advantage, the 6-2 results in keeping bigger players in the front row. That meant multiple triple blocks for Big Red, with all three players 6'4" or taller.

The No. 2 Huskers stayed perfect at 4-0 on the season by sweeping the Lions 25-17, 16, 17.

It would seem the 6-2 worked for the hitters with six getting at least nine swings.

[MarqHusker]

SD beat Ohio State, Ohio St beat Louisville, Louisville beat SD.

Texas cruised at Stanford 3-0, it wasn't close. First ever win at Maples Pavilion in eight tries.
Minnesota beat Florida in 4.
Nebraska handled LMU and Ole Miss.
Kentucky beat Creighton and USC
Wisconsin beat Marq in 4 and High Point.
Baylor lost to Pepperdine, beat SDSU, uCSB
Purdue beat Utah in 5, and UWM.

[FearlessF]

LINCOLN, Neb. —
Creighton University expects to set a record with the Bluejays host the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a much-anticipated volleyball showdown Wednesday at CHI Health Center Arena.

Creighton, ranked 17th in the nation faces No. 2. Nebraska at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 7th.

As of Monday, more than 14,000 tickets were already out according to Creighton University. So the match likely will set a record for the largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA history.

"For the state, this is a celebration of two nationally-ranked volleyball programs," said Nebraska head coach John Cook. "Volleyball is a state treasure here and it's a great example for all the young kids playing, all the high school teams playing, just to see how important volleyball is here."

Creighton enters the match with a record of 5-1. The Huskers are undefeated and has failed to lose a set so far this season.

[FearlessF]

CHI Health Center Omaha played host to history and a fantastic volleyball match on Wednesday night as 15,797 fans in both red and blue watched No. 2 Nebraska outlast No. 17 Creighton in five sets.

The attendance figure shattered the previous NCAA record for a regular-season volleyball-only match of 14,022 set between the same two teams in the same building back in 2018. That match also went five sets.

The Cornhuskers (6-0) took down the Bluejays (5-2) 25-18, 25-23, 25-27, 17-25, 15-9 to improve to 21-0 in the in-state rivalry.

Running a 6-2 for the third straight match, Nebraska out-hit Creighton .244 to .202 behind a monster match from sophomore opposite hitter Whitney Lauenstein. She finished with a career-high 25 kills on .385 hitting.

[Brutus Buckeye]

The Buckeyes will be in Provo this weekend. GT and BYU. GT knocked OSU out of the Tourney last year. 

[MarqHusker]

fun match.  Lauenstein seems to have emerged out of the 3 sophomores, though Krause no slouch.   Batenhorst has some ab injury.   Still weird watching the 6-2 offense.  I get it, but with any offense, lots of tradeoffs running it.    Think its been 20 years since a team won the title running primarily a 6-2 offense. 

snooty vball guy note:  a six-two is an offense where the setter is always in the back row of the rotation (meaning they cannot attack or dump) and you will always have three hitting options in the front, with two OH and your middle, meaning you're going to play two different setters during the match.  Setter A plays three rotations, subs out for a new OH in the front, and the OH on front right, subs out for Setter B.  You do this when you (seem) to have at least 4 'pin' outside hitters.....or you're not totally sold on your setter.   In this instance, Nebraska has 4+ OHs.    We'll see how it goes.    Cook loves to tinker in Aug/Sept.

[FearlessF]

I like the 6-2

it's interesting for me

the young hitters need to come on strong for it to work

[FearlessF]