The race for the Big Ten championship in volleyball may be a 10-week, 20-match marathon, but the thin margin of error makes for a pressure-packed run.
Consider that, in each of the past three seasons, just a second league loss eliminated a team from Big Ten title contention. So if you have thoughts of winning it all, you have to both win the big matches — for Nebraska this year, that’s two matches against Penn State and one against Wisconsin — and avoid a bad loss, which in the Big Ten could still be against a top 25 team.
“I think it’s going to be really hard, and we’re going to have to win really big matches and be consistent,” Nebraska senior Taylor Landfair said.
Top-ranked Nebraska gets started on Wednesday by hosting Michigan (9-1). Last year, the Wolverines were 10th in the league.
Last year, Nebraska made it all the way to the final week of the Big Ten season before losing against Penn State. Penn State and Nebraska were co-champions at 19-1 in the league.
Nebraska’s roster is full of players who have already celebrated a Big Ten title, and they’re focused on doing that again.
“It’s starting to get real, and you know we want to win three Big Ten championships in a row,” junior Harper Murray said. “So we have to take that seriously. Big Ten is fun, but it can be a lot.”
While Nebraska (10-0) is still undefeated, coach Dani Busboom Kelly knows Nebraska will have to continue to improve to achieve its goals.
“I think we have to be on a mission to continue to get better and to understand that each game is really important for who we want to be in December,” she said.
Busboom Kelly is back in the Big Ten after spending the previous eight years in the ACC while at Louisville. She was an assistant at Nebraska from 2012 to 2016, a stretch that included one Big Ten title in 2016.
She’s looking forward to playing a Big Ten schedule again and traveling to some of the cities in the Big Ten.
“I’m also looking forward to seeing some of the gyms,” she said. “I’ve never played at USC or UCLA, and there’s some places that I have great memories of that we get to go back to that I haven’t been to in a long time. So I’m excited for some of those road trips.”
It’s one of the smallest arenas, at Purdue, that Busboom Kelly is most excited for. Nebraska goes to West Lafayette on Oct. 12.
“I think it’s really loud and small and their student section is one of the best,” Busboom Kelly said. “So I’m excited to go back there. And I’m not sure I ever won at Wisconsin as an assistant, so I’m looking forward to going to Wisconsin.”
After Nebraska’s last match, Busboom Kelly was disappointed with Nebraska’s defense, with Arizona hitting .250 against the Huskers’ No. 1-ranked defense. But overall, she’s proud that Nebraska has gotten this far without a loss.
“It’s really hard to win,” she said. “We’ve been saying that all year. I don’t care who you are, it’s hard to win. There are so many great teams now, and great players all over the country.”
When Nebraska is getting kills at every spot at the net, and from the back row, it’s difficult for the defense to have an answer.
The Huskers’ offense ranks sixth nationally with a .308 hitting percentage.
“I can imagine it’s really hard for other teams,” Nebraska middle blocker Andi Jackson said. “When you’re playing a team and all of their hitters are clicking, it’s really, really tough because you have to honor every single one of them.”
Reach the writer at 402-473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSSportsWagner.
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