Scott Bruhn, Nebraska Athletic Communications
Wisconsin Blocks Nebraska’s Title Hopes
Nebraska volleyball ends the 2021 campaign one win short of a sixth national championship.
The No. 10 seed Huskers fell to No. 4 seed Wisconsin in five sets (25-22, 29-31, 23-25, 25-23, 12-15) Saturday night. The result hands Nebraska its fifth runner-up and Wisconsin their first national title.
"It was a great match with two great teams and not a lot of separation in points like it has been all year," Nebraska coach John Cook said. "And I told our team that this might be the most proud I've been of a Nebraska team, how they handled the season, the setbacks, the losses to get to this match and play like that and even get way down in the fifth and fight our way back."
After going up a set, Nebraska had a chance to take complete control in the second. The Huskers had four set points but couldn't close the deal, eventually falling in a grueling set that saw 60 total points scored before Wisconsin won 31-29.
Nebraska had another chance in the third set, tying things up at 23. But Wisconsin ran off the next two points to take a 2-1 advantage.
With no lead safe, the Huskers had to use four set points to win the fourth and force a decisive fifth set.
In the final set, Wisconsin jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Nebraska struck back with an 8-4 run, but the deficit proved too much as the Badgers celebrated the 15-12 set victory.
"Gotta give Wisconsin credit," Cook said. "They touched us. They blocked us. We were in system all the time and they just turned some plays. That was a big hole to get into to start the fifth game.
"But we inched our way back and almost got a deuce game"
Wisconsin's block gave Nebraska fits all night. The Badgers put together 24 blocks, a record in the NCAA championship match since the change to 25-point sets in 2008.
Leading the way for the Badgers was five-time first-team All-America Dana Rettke. The 6-foot-8 middle blocker had the kill to end the match and ended with a double-double of kills and blocks.
Five Huskers ended with double-digit kills, but none hit better than Kayla Caffey's .267.
Caffey was nearly unstoppable for portions of the match, .750 and .636 in the first two sets respectively. But the Badger block keyed in on her, holding Caffey to -.143 in the third and .200 in the fourth. Caffey hit .667 in the fifth but took only three swings.
The other Huskers with double-digit kills were Madi Kubik (19), Lindsay Krause (12), Ally Batenhorst (11), and Lauren Stivrins (10).
Wisconsin out-hit Nebraska .183 to .141, though the Huskers won the kills battle 68-60.
Hames handed out 56 assists, tying her season high.
Saturday's match was the final time Stivrins and Lexi Sun will suit up for Nebraska after having exhausted their extra season of eligibility.
"The last few weeks have been really exciting," Stivrins said. "It's been a lot of fun to compete with this team. And I think that's what, that's obviously what got us here, how much we love each other and how much we love playing.
"It's been a joy to play with them. And I'm obviously not happy the way it ended, but I'm happy that we got to this point."
Others with decisions to make on using an extra year are Caffey, Hames, and Callie Schwarzenbach.