• last year
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles, the people show, checking the pulse of a very happy volleyball
00:13 Husker Nation.
00:14 Brought to you by DPS Concrete Constructions.
00:16 My gut reaction to Nebraska volleyball dominating.
00:20 Remember, this was a #1 seeded Pitt team, one of the top teams out of the ACC.
00:27 This was a team that was down 0-2 to Louisville and came back and did the reverse sweep the
00:30 second time they did that this tournament.
00:33 This was a battle-tested team, a battle-hardened team, a #1 seeded.
00:37 Okay, Nebraska #1 overall seed, but Nebraska swept them, pretty much dominated them.
00:42 So if you're like me, and you're as excited as I am, that Nebraska is going to go play
00:48 in their 11th all-time national championship match with the potential to win their 6th
00:54 national title in program history, and you haven't already done so, then hit that subscribe
01:00 button.
01:01 Now, here's the thing that's cool about that national championship match on Sunday.
01:04 For the first time ever, and obviously it's because I put this out on Facebook and Twitter
01:10 yesterday, or earlier this year, I should say, I've obviously got this kind of poll,
01:15 it's on network television for the first time ever.
01:17 ABC, that's frickin' awesome.
01:19 Okay, so if you're excited about that, that the women are finally starting to get some
01:24 love, smash the like button, and/or if you're just excited, I love this, the Nebraska volleyball,
01:29 they really build their program around defense.
01:31 They are the #1 defensive team in the country, #blackshorts, #blockparty.
01:35 I think by my last count they had 15 blocks in the match.
01:39 If any of that makes you enthusiastic, smash the like button.
01:42 Alright, real quick, so Pitt was the only team in the Final Four that was in their third
01:48 consecutive Final Four, and they had six players that were playing in their third straight
01:52 national semifinal.
01:53 Now, John Cook, here's some background info going into this match if you didn't already
01:57 know John Cook was the ABCA Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
02:01 No seniors on this team, okay?
02:02 In fact, they had six new players, five of them were freshmen, and they only had one
02:07 loss all year.
02:09 Now it helps when you've got the two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Alexey
02:12 Rodriguez, on the team.
02:14 And this is the sixth time in program history that Nebraska volleyball has been the #1 overall
02:18 seed going into the tournament.
02:20 Now, Nebraska had 32 wins this year, tied for the most by a Nebraska team since 2006.
02:26 Now the Huskers led the nation in defense, holding their opponents hitting percentage
02:30 to 134.
02:31 Now the Huskers have four, four, one, two, three, four, first team All-Big Ten selections,
02:36 two additional All-Big Ten second team selections, the most in program history, okay?
02:42 And six AVCA All-Region honorees, tied for the most in program history.
02:47 Nebraska has ranked in the top 10 557 times the most in NCAA history.
02:55 And at the end of this video, I've got some more unique facts.
02:58 I did a lot of digging.
02:59 I actually put it out on social media, but if you didn't see it, there's some pretty
03:02 cool unique facts about Husker volleyball.
03:04 Stay tuned at the end of this video for that.
03:06 Now this match featured the nation's two top defenses.
03:10 Alright, Pitt was number two in opponents hitting percentage at 138.
03:13 Alright, Pitt and Nebraska, the only two teams who were holding their opponents under a 100
03:19 hitting percentage in the tournament.
03:20 Okay, and the Huskers have only lost one set in the entire tournament, and now that includes
03:25 tonight.
03:26 And they're the only team in the tournament with fewer than two set losses.
03:30 Now, shout out to a few of the players.
03:32 Becca Alec, the nation's leading blocker during the postseason, having 2.4 blocks per set.
03:37 Alright, Merritt Beeson leads the Huskers with 444 kills that was coming in to tonight,
03:42 so I'm sure she exceeded that.
03:44 But she led the Huskers with basically 450 kills on the season.
03:48 Alright, so that's pretty awesome.
03:50 And that's one of the top six all-time in Husker volleyball history.
03:53 Huskers are second in the NCAA history in postseason wins with 129, now 130 total postseason
03:59 wins and a winning percentage of 782, which after tonight is going to be even higher.
04:03 Harper Murray, Big Ten freshman of the year.
04:05 Merritt Beeson, ABCA Region Player of the Year.
04:08 Bergen Reilly, Big Ten Setter of the Year.
04:10 The first ever freshman to do so.
04:12 Alright, Nebraska, 618 consecutive weeks of being ranked the longest active streak in
04:20 Division I for any sport.
04:22 Think about Connecticut women's basketball, how dominant they've been.
04:26 Think about, if you know anything about women's soccer, North Carolina women's soccer, even
04:30 longer than them.
04:31 Now let's get to the actual match itself.
04:33 The first set, the Huskers take a 15-12 lead.
04:35 When Nebraska led 19-15 in this set, the Huskers, okay, had six kills, only six kills, but they
04:42 had six blocks and they were already setting the tone for the match.
04:45 You could see the blocks was intimidating, where they were trying to do their kills,
04:50 their spikes, they were trying to set up their offense, they were intimidated.
04:52 Then what the ball smashed back in their face, talking about Pitt, who can blame them?
04:56 Okay, they had six blocks and Pitt, in that first set, had ten errors.
05:00 Okay, with their kills, along with three missed serves, the Huskers won the first set 25-20.
05:05 Nebraska hit just 152, but dominated with eight blocks by the end of that set.
05:09 Now, during the season, they averaged 2.6 blocks per set, which helped contribute to
05:14 13 hitting errors in the first set for Pitt, who actually hit .000.
05:20 I had to like triple check that.
05:22 Alright, Alec led Nebraska with four blocks, while Murray and Beeson had four kills apiece.
05:28 Nebraska's season high in blocks is 17 versus Arkansas in their previous match in the Elite
05:33 Eight.
05:34 I believe we ended with 15, I'd have to double check the final on that total.
05:38 Alright, underclassmen production this year.
05:41 Nebraska's, they got no seniors, mostly underclassmen.
05:44 Here's some of the production they've gotten this year from their underclassmen.
05:47 55% of their kills, 52% of their digs, 44% of their blocks have come from underclassmen,
05:53 and here's a big reason as to why.
05:56 All five freshmen who joined the team this year graduated early and arrived on campus
06:01 last January, and that undoubtedly has made a huge difference.
06:05 Now, you fast forward to set two, Nebraska builds a 9-5 early lead, then they lead 15-9.
06:10 Now, the Huskers offense was starting to click better.
06:12 The defense had been dominant, but the Huskers offense at that point, during that set, was
06:16 hitting .333 with four kills.
06:18 Now, John Cook, at this point, he was looking very, very annoyed because he had to throw
06:24 his green challenge card four times already.
06:28 I think he was getting annoyed that they had to keep throwing.
06:30 He was right three of the times.
06:32 Who can blame the guy?
06:33 Alright, now Pitt did make a run.
06:35 They closed it to 17-15, and the Huskers at that point were hitting .179 with six kills
06:40 from Murray.
06:41 Now, the Huskers had 11 blocks at this point.
06:43 Again, I was keeping track of this throughout the match.
06:45 Just intriguing to a defensive guy like me and just fun to watch anyways.
06:49 It's almost like a slam dunk in basketball.
06:50 I'm going to smash the back of your face.
06:51 I just love it.
06:52 Alright, now Pitt was hitting .087, but had four blocks so far in this set.
06:57 Allie Battenhorst, who looked great tonight, played great, six kills, and playing great
07:02 with a huge smile and phenomenal energy is the note I put there.
07:05 Alright, now Pitt, in their first set versus Nebraska, really struggled.
07:09 Thirteen kills, thirteen errors, and two blocks.
07:11 The second set, which was probably the most interesting of the three sets, okay, Pitt
07:16 battled.
07:17 They tried to battle.
07:18 Alright, they had nine kills, four errors, and four blocks at this point in the set.
07:21 Anyways, now, at one point, it was 21-20.
07:23 Alright, Pitt made it interesting.
07:25 The Huskers led, but the battle tested Pitt team.
07:28 This was, as I mentioned earlier, a team that had been down multiple times during the tournament,
07:33 and they even talked about on TV, something that I had heard but I hadn't confirmed, but
07:37 now I know it's true, or at least, you know, they said it on TV, so it must be true, just
07:40 like the internet, right?
07:41 Basically, when they were down .02 to Louisville, some of the girls on the Pitt team basically
07:45 ran to a public bathroom, screamed their heads off, and scared the crap out of all the ladies
07:49 in the bathroom.
07:50 That would have been awesome.
07:51 Unfortunately, I was not there, but apparently that's what happened.
07:55 They came back, and they fought back.
07:56 So, this is a battle-tested team, okay?
07:58 All I'm trying to give them is some kudos is what I'm saying.
08:00 Alright, they went on an 11-6 run to make things interesting, and it was 21-20 at that
08:05 point.
08:06 Now, the Huskers ended up winning 25-23 and took a 2-0 match lead.
08:11 Alright, Harper Murray had kills on three of Nebraska's last four points to close out
08:17 that second set.
08:18 She had nine kills and is hitting at a .292 clip.
08:22 In that set, Nebraska hit .211 with three blocks.
08:24 Alright, for Pitt, Olivia Babcock has ten kills to that point.
08:29 Alright, now real quick, as you know, this show is brought to you by DPS Concrete Construction.
08:33 Alright, you can check it out at dpsconstruction.net.
08:35 If you are a diesel mechanic, CDL driver, or concrete finisher looking for work in the
08:41 Omaha metro area, DPS Construction, Jason Armstrong, quality company, quality employer,
08:48 someone you want to work for, someone you want to do business with, alright, check them
08:51 out at dpsconstruction.net.
08:53 They are the employer for you.
08:54 Now, Nebraska, in the third set, took an early lead after a 5-0 run.
08:59 They were up 15-9.
09:01 The Huskers basically kind of dominated the rest of the set.
09:04 They win set three.
09:05 They sweep the Panthers, okay, and I didn't even write down the final score, but of that
09:11 last set, they end up sweeping them in advance to the national championship match on Sunday.
09:15 They're going to play either Wisconsin or Texas.
09:17 Obviously, I don't know at the time I'm recording this.
09:19 I predict they're going to play Wisconsin, and here's why.
09:22 I hate Texas, but I want to play Wisconsin.
09:25 Alright, now, Nebraska, just another interesting note.
09:28 Nebraska actually lost four starters off their team from last year and played the 17th toughest
09:34 strength of schedule in the entire country.
09:36 Congratulations to the ladies on a great regular season, a great tournament run, a great Final
09:40 Four performance.
09:41 Good luck on Sunday in the national championship match against whomever you play.
09:46 Horns down, beat the Badgers, whoever it is.
09:48 Alright, now I did some digging, and this is what I put out on social media, and I thought
09:52 it was just amazing.
09:53 So, here are some of the stats that I found about Nebraska's volleyball program.
09:57 They have more wins than any other program in the country, five national championships,
10:01 soon to be six, ranked in every weekly poll since the induction of the AVCA national poll
10:07 in 1982.
10:08 They've spent more weeks ranked number one than any other program in America.
10:12 They have 99 All-Americans, the most in America, a 9.05 all-time conference winning percentage.
10:17 That's absurd.
10:18 Okay, they have appeared in 11 of the last 12 Elite Eights.
10:21 They've appeared in six of the last nine Final Fours, which, by the way, is the most of any
10:24 team in the country since 2015.
10:27 They've appeared in 17 Final Fours all-time, which is second most all-time.
10:31 They've appeared in four of the last eight national championship matches.
10:34 Uh-uh, let me edit that.
10:36 Five of the last nine national championship matches after earning their spot tonight.
10:40 They've sold out every home match since 2001.
10:43 Nebraska regularly leads the NCAA in average attendance and on August 30th, 2023, the Huskers
10:47 broke the record for the highest attended women's sporting event in history with 92,003
10:51 fans at Memorial Stadium.
10:53 And when I put that out on Twitter and Facebook, the fans so lovingly pointed out to me they're
10:58 also, and reminded me, they're also the only Power Five women's sport in the entire country
11:04 that actually made money.
11:06 Think about all the women's sports there are, from soccer, to gymnastics, to basketball,
11:12 to obviously you got volleyball, to swimming, to every other sport, to every other school,
11:17 to every, it's amazing what they have done and the fan support they've got.
11:21 All right, ladies and gentlemen, here are my questions for you fine folks at home.
11:24 Number one, is this the best coaching job John Cook has ever done?
11:27 Number two, will the Huskers win the national championship?
11:30 Now, little note, the only NCAA champion in history with zero seniors on a squad is 1986
11:36 Pacific.
11:37 And my last question is this, right now at this point in time, are you cool with being
11:40 called a volleyball school?
11:41 All right, ladies and gentlemen, check out CarrikerChronicles.com.
11:45 It's where all your football and volleyball hopes and dreams will come true.
11:49 It's just science.
11:50 Go Big Red, and always remember to throw the bums!
11:53 God.