OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Nebraska volleyball team lost in four sets to Texas on Monday in the Elite Eight as the Longhorns advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament in Omaha, 25-22, 19-25, 25-15 & 25-21.
The Huskers finished the season with a 16-3 record.
NU All-American middle blocker Lauren Stivrins returned for the Big Red after sitting out Nebraska's Sweet 16 win over Baylor on Sunday. The senior finished with 7 kills hitting .357. It was the first time all season the Huskers had a chance to play in front of fans with a crowd of about 4,000 in attendance.
Texas took the first set, 25-22, with 7 kills from Big 12 Player of the Year Logan Eggleston. NU evened the match at a set a piece with a 25-19 victory in game two.
In set three, the Horns served the Huskers off the court with five aces as Nebraska hit -.036 in the 3rd falling 25-15.
The Huskers had a 13-8 lead in the 4th set but let it slip as Texas proved to be too much for the Big Red. The Horns hit .336 for the match led by Eggleston & Skylar Fields with 18 kills each. Madi Kubik had a team-high 15 kills for Nebraska.
"It's sad," said NU junior captain Nicklin Hames. "We're upset. It's Omaha, which is kind of a bummer because that would've been so much fun to play in front of all the fans for a national championship but I'm super grateful for this team. Everything we did this year, it's been a really hard year with COVID, starting and stopping, never knowing what it was going to look like. So I'm glad that I got to be teammates with all these girls."
For a brief moment on Thursday, it appeared the match might not happen after the Huskers claimed there were four false positive COVID tests within the team in the morning.
"I don't know what the NCAA did today or the testing people did but we haven't had one positive antigen the entire year & all of a sudden we get four today," head coach John Cook said. "What do you think that does when you go get locked in a room and you're sitting in there for an hour. Just stuff like that. You're playing, you're not playing. So there was a point this morning we weren't even sure if we were going to play or we were going to get canceled. And I know Texas had a (false) positive as well. So it's just mind games."
