Nebraska’s Kayla Caffey (3) hits a shot off the hand of Ohio State’s Gabby Gonzales (8) during a match on March 12.
Winning the Big Ten title in volleyball this season may not have the same cachet as most years, but it’s still a major accomplishment in a league with five top-10 teams.
Wisconsin won the title with a 15-0 record during the pandemic-shortened season. The Badgers were awarded the trophy after clinching the title last week, and the program almost immediately began selling championship T-shirts.
Top-ranked Wisconsin is a great team, but unlike during a normal season, the Badgers didn’t play some of the top teams due to COVID-19 issues for both the Badgers and its opponents. The Badgers’ series against Nebraska and Penn State were canceled, as was one match against Minnesota.
Due to teams not playing an equal amount of matches this season, the Big Ten standings were based on winning percentage. Minnesota (15-2, 88%) finished second, just slightly ahead of third-place Nebraska (14-2, 87%). Ohio State was fourth and Purdue fifth.
Nebraska hasn’t finished lower than third in the Big Ten for six straight seasons, and has won three Big Ten titles, most recently in 2017.
Overall, just 115 of 154 Big Ten matches were played, while four others were originally postponed that were later ruled to be Northwestern forfeits because the postponements were not COVID-19 related. The Big Ten wouldn’t provide more details about that.
Four teams played 20 of their scheduled 22 matches. Michigan only got in 13.
Nebraska had six matches canceled due to COVID-19 issues for its opponents.
This season, the Big Ten schedule was different with teams playing the same team twice during the same week, usually on back-to-back days. That cut down on travel expenses and potential COVID exposure.
Nebraska had two series where it had a win and a loss, against Minnesota and Ohio State. Nebraska’s best win of the season, a sweep against No. 5 Minnesota, came after the Gophers beat Nebraska in four sets two days earlier.
What did Nebraska coach John Cook think of playing the same opponent back-to-back?
“In some ways I like it,” Cook said. “I like it that you have to be really good both nights, and there is definitely psychological things that happen whether you win the first or lose the first night. You saw all of the split weekends. Just (last week Northwestern against Maryland both matches) went five sets, and they split. I like it from that regard.”
Cook also liked that the weeks when you’re on the road you don’t have to travel late Friday after a match, and then play a new team the next day.
“What I don’t like about it is, and what some coaches are worried about, is if we do that full time in the Big Ten it could potentially send a message for the Big Ten and for schools that maybe to not make the biggest commitment to volleyball,” Cook said. “It’s kind of a less expensive way to run the conference."
Cook also thinks a format change could diminish some of the great matches each season, like when Nebraska plays Penn State early in the season, and then again later in the season when both teams have changed.
This season teams were scheduled to only play 11 of the other 13 league teams, but that probably won’t happen again. In a normal 20-match league season, you play each team at least once and several teams twice.
Cook expects playing more back-to-back series during the fall 2021 season will be discussed by the Big Ten after this season.
“I’ll be curious where it goes,” he said. “It’s what hockey does, and baseball and softball as well. For volleyball, though, I just don’t know if it’s the right answer.”
Cook does enjoy coaching in those back-to-back matches. Against Minnesota, the Huskers made a few changes to its rotation and played a lot better in the second match.
“Love that part of it. That’s fun to coach,” Cook said. “It is like a chess match. What adjustments can we make, what are they going to make? That’s actually a fun part of it.”
Huskers stay put in poll: The final regular-season coaches’ poll was released on Monday with the Huskers staying at No. 4.
Each of the top seven teams in the poll remained the same: Wisconsin, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Florida and Washington.
Along with No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Purdue, five of the top-nine teams are from the Big Ten.
Briefly
* The all-Big Team teams will be announced on Thursday.
* Two teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time: North Carolina A&T (the champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and Utah Valley (champion of the Western Athletic Conference).
Meet the 2021 Nebraska volleyball team
Kaylei Akana
Freshman /// Defensive specialist
Hometown: Hauula, Hawaii
About Kaylei: The Hawaii high school player of the year as a senior was a great late addition to this season’s squad. Akana had signed to play at Southern California, but she got her scholarship release after the coach left. She committed to Nebraska last April without having ever visited Lincoln, due to COVID-19. She leads Nebraska in ace serves with 20, and also has 143 digs and 23 set assists.
Did you know: The headband she wears when she plays is to cover the scar after having surgery twice to remove a brain tumor twice while in high school.
Kayla Caffey
Junior /// Middle blocker
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
About Kayla: She’s the latest example of the transfer portal being good to Nebraska, after she joined the Huskers from Missouri where she ranked ninth nationally in hitting percentage last season. “(Caffey) has a very fast arm and she can hit it all directions and in different body positions. So that’s a great arm,” John Cook says. Her most recent match was her best, when she had 10 kills on 13 error-free attempts for a .769 attack percentage against Michigan.
Did you know: Nebraska’s starter middle blockers, Lauren Stivrins and Caffey, are combining to average 5.2 kills per set. That’s up from last year when Callie Schwarzenbach and Stivrins combined to average 3.84 kills per set — a difference that can help decide some close sets.
Hayley Densberger
Senior /// Defensive specialist, libero
Hometown: Malcolm, Nebraska
About Hayley: The walk-on from the small town of Malcolm has had a nice college career, appearing in 103 matches, including 13 of 16 this season. She has 36 career aces, including eight during NCAA Tournament matches. She’s had several long serving runs this season.
Did you know: She’s believed to be the first player from Malcolm to play volleyball at Nebraska.
Anni Evans
Freshman /// Setter
Hometown: Waverly, Nebraska
About Anni: Evans is the backup setter and one of just two setters on the roster, along with Nicklin Hames. Evans has appeared in nine matches, mostly as part of a double substitution where Evans serves. She served an ace on the very first point she played during Nebraska’s four-set win against Maryland.
Did you know: She turned down scholarship offers to walk-on at Nebraska, where brothers Tyler and Erik were on the football team.
Emma Gabel
Redshirt freshman /// Defensive specialist, libero
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
About Emma: The Lincoln Pius X graduate played for the first time this season, after missing all of last season due to a knee injury. When Nebraska was struggling in serve-receive during a match against Rutgers Gabel came in and helped steady the Huskers in that area. She’s appeared in two matches.
Did you know: She’s one of four players on the team that’s a product of Volleyball Club Nebraska, the club founded by former Nebraska setter Maggie Griffin about 10 years ago. Hayley Densberger, Anni Evans and Kalynn Meyer also played there.
Nicklin Hames
Junior /// Setter
Hometown: Maryville, Tennessee
About Nicklin: Hames has been Nebraska’s starting setter since Day 1 of her freshman season, and Nebraska has never been ranked lower than ninth with her running the show. This season she’s taking a few more risks with where she sets the ball, and at times that has made Nebraska’s offense really tough to stop. She earned first-team all-Big Ten honors after leading the league in assists per set (10.93).
Did you know: Her sister, Kayleigh, is a defensive specialist for 20th-ranked Pepperdine. Three Nebraska players have sisters playing college volleyball – Lauren Stivrins and Kaylei Akana are the others – but only the Hames sisters are each in the tournament this season.
Kenzie Knuckles
Sophomore /// Defensive specialist, libero
Hometown: Yorktown, Indiana
About Kenzie: The former outside hitter has been Nebraska’s starting libero since the first of her freshman season. She’s improved her serving from her freshman season, and her ace-to-error ratio of 13 to nine is one of the best on the team.
Did you know: Three players from her central Indiana club team (Munciana) were starting liberos for Big Ten teams this season – Ohio State’s Kylie Murr, Northwestern’s Megan Miller and Knuckles. Murr and Knuckles are close friends who were on the same teams for about six years, winning two high school state titles together for Yorktown and two club national championships (12 and 14 years) together.
Madi Kubik
Sophomore /// Outside hitter
Hometown: West Des Moines, Iowa
About Madi: She was the Big Ten freshman of the year in 2019. This season she ranks second on the team in kills with 151, trailing Lexi Sun (214) and Lauren Stivrins (181). Kubik’s hitting stats are similar to last season, and she’s improved her serving.
Did you know: She’s from a big-time volleyball family. Her mom, Renae, played in college at Missouri State, and her sister, Hayden, is the No. 1 national recruit in the junior class (committed to Nebraska). They also have two younger sisters who are good players.
Kalynn Meyer
Freshman /// Middle blocker
Hometown: Superior, Nebraska
About Kalynn: She’s appeared in four matches, but hasn’t been in long enough to have a block or hitting attempt. She’s behind a talented group of middle blockers with Lauren Stivrins, Kayla Caffey and Callie Schwarzenbach, but the coaches have liked Meyer’s improvements since joining the team last summer.
Did you know: Her mom, Peggy, played volleyball at Nebraska under Terry Pettit from 1991-94. So Meyer joins Kelly Hunter as Huskers who followed their mom in playing volleyball for the Huskers.
Callie Schwarzenbach
Junior /// Middle blocker
Hometown: Kearney, Missouri
About Callie: She’s appeared in eight of the 16 matches, mostly as a backup middle blocker. But she started during a recent win against Iowa and had one of the best matches of her career with five blocks and four kills with an .800 hitting percentage.
Did you know: Her recruiting story is an all-timer, coming on a tip from a farmer in Roca to assistant coach Dani Busboom Kelly’s father. “I saw that she was 6-foot-4,” Busboom-Kelly said. “I was like, ‘OK, I’ll invite her on a visit,’ and she ends up being one of the top middles in the country.”
Lauren Stivrins
Senior /// Middle blocker
Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona
About Lauren: She’s a once-a-decade athlete at her position due to her combination of athleticism, years of experience playing and competitive fire. During the third match of the season against Maryland she absolutely dominated with 18 kills on 20 attempts. If Stivrins earns All-Americans honors for a third time this season she’ll be just the 13th player in program history to earn All-American honors at least three times.
Did you know: She’s likely to have two of the top three hitting percentage marks in program history. She’s hitting .471 this season, and hit .421 as a sophomore. Tracy Stalls has Nebraska’s record for hitting percentage in a season when she hit .473 in 2007.
Lexi Sun
Senior /// Outside hitter
Hometown: Encinitas, California
About Lexi: She’s probably on her way to a second All-American season with Nebraska, after earning third-team honors last season. Her 3.82 kills per set are a career best, despite not playing nonconference matches that can sometimes inflate stats. And she’s one of the best all-around players in the Big Ten. When combining kills, blocks and ace serves Sun ranks fourth in the league in points per set (4.53).
Did you know: Sun was one of just seven players, and the only outside hitter, who all 14 league coaches voted for first-team all-conference honors.
Jazz Sweet
Senior /// Outside hitter
Hometown: Topeka, Kansas
About Jazz: She’s had some big matches in her career – including 12 kills on .375 hitting against Penn State in the national semifinals as a freshman, and 10 kills in the national championship match as a sophomore. But to start this season she lost the starting job to Riley Zuhn. Now Zuhn is out for the season with a foot injury. “(Sweet) hasn’t had a great year, and I want her to write a great chapter for her career here on how she finishes the season,” John Cook said.
Did you know: In 2015 when Sweet committed to Nebraska she told the Nebraska coaches she was accepting the offer by sending balloons and cookies to the coaches’ offices, which is one of the most unique ways a player has ever committed to the Huskers.
Riley Zuhn
Sophomore /// Middle blocker, outside hitter
Hometown: Fort Collins, Colorado
About Riley: It was a surprise when Zuhn won the starting right-side hitter job to start the season because she’d only played in a few matches as a freshman in 2019. She suffered a season-ending foot injury in March.
Did you know: Her brother, Trey, is a four-star football recruit set to begin his college career at Texas A&M. Like his sister, he had a scholarship offer from Nebraska.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSSportsWagner.
Brent Wagner
Husker volleyball/women's basketball reporter
Brent has worked at the Journal Star for 14 years. His beats include Nebraska volleyball, women's basketball and high school soccer and cross country.
