MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – For the second year in a row, the Nebraska volleyball team won a five-set thriller in the NCAA Semifinals, this time rallying from an 0-2 hole for a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Illinois Thursday Night at the Target Center. With the win, the Huskers advanced to Saturday’s NCAA Final, where Nebraska will take on Stanford in an attempt to win back-to-back national titles.

Nebraska (29-6) lost the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-16, and set three was tied at 23 before Mikaele Foecke delivered consecutive kills to send the match to the fourth set. The Huskers then won set four, 25-20, to send it to a decisive fifth set. The fifth set was tied at 11 before Nebraska scored the final four points, with Foecke closing out the match with her 19th kill on match point.

Foecke and Lexi Sun each had 19 kills to lead Nebraska, and each player produced a double-double with Sun recording 12 digs and Foecke tallying 11 digs. Nicklin Hames also had a double-double with 46 assists and 19 digs, while running a Husker offense that hit .251 for the match. Jazz Sweet had nine kills on only 20 swings and Lauren Stivrins produced eight kills on 16 error-free swings for a match-high .500 attack percentage. Kenzie Maloney led Nebraska with 20 digs, while Megan Miller had 19 digs. Maloney also added a career-high 10 assists to post her first career double-double. The Huskers had nine more kills than Illinois and out-dug the Illini, but Illinois out-blocked Nebraska and served up nine aces.

Jacqueline Quade had a match-high 28 kills for Illinois (32-4), the most by a Husker opposing player this season. Beth Prince added 10 kills for an Illinois offense that hit .237. Morgan O’Brien had a match-high 27 digs, while Quade added 10 digs to produce a double-double.

Set 1: The Huskers had kills on their first three swings to take a 4-1 lead. Foecke had a block with Schwarzenbach and back-to-back kills to keep the Huskers up three, 7-4. But Illinois answered with a 3-0 run to tie the score at 7-7. Illinois tied the set at 9-9 and 10-10, but Hames dumped a kill after each point to not allow Illinois to go in front. Sun blasted a pair of kills and served an ace to give NU a 14-11 lead, but the Illini wouldn’t go away, scoring three in a row to tie the set once again. Sweet and Schwarzenbach blocked an Illinois attack to give the Huskers a 15-14 advantage at the media timeout. Illinois took its first lead at 16-15 after a kill and ace by Quade on consecutive rallies, and Ali Bastianelli and Ashlyn Fleming added kills to take the Illini to an 18-16 lead. Foecke and Sun answered with kills for the Huskers out of a timeout, and the score was tied once again, 18-18. Hames dumped her third kill of the set, and Nebraska regained a 19-18 lead. After an Illinois timeout, Foecke served the Huskers’ second ace of the set to make it 20-18. Illinois scored the next two to tie it 20-20, and the Illini went back in front, 22-21, on Quade’s eighth kill. A pair of Husker hitting errors gave Illinois set point at 24-21. The Huskers fought off one point before the Illini won 25-22 on Quade’s ninth kill. There were nine ties and three lead changes in the opening set.

Set 2: Illinois setter Jordyn Poulter served a 6-0 run to begin the set for the Illini, including three aces, and Nebraska used both of its timeouts during the run. The Illini led 12-4 after kills by Megan Cooney and Quade and a block by Bastianelli. Stivrins, Sun and Foecke strung together four straight kills for the Big Red to trim the deficit to 13-9, but Illinois went right back to Quade for two more kills and a 16-9 lead. Illinois led 19-12 when Sweet had three kills in a row to pull the Huskers within 19-15. The Huskers could get no closer than four, however, as Illinois scored a 6-1 run to win the set, 25-16.

Set 3: Stivrins had three early kills and Nebraska led 7-5 after an ace by Foecke. With the score tied 9-9, the Huskers scored four straight points after Illinois made its first service error of the match, and Sun added an ace that was followed by an Illinois error and a Sweet kill to make it 13-9. After Illinois pulled within one at 14-13, the Huskers put together another 4-0 run, this one with two kills by Foecke and one each by Sweet and Hames. Foecke and Sun added kills to make it a six-point lead at 20-14, but a Husker service error followed by a receiving error on Illinois’ next serve made it 20-16, and the Huskers took a timeout. Nebraska led 21-16 when Illinois went on a 5-0 run to tie the score at 21-21. Foecke earned an important sideout for the Huskers with her 13th kill, but Nebraska’s 10th service error knotted the score at 22-22. Illinois took a 23-22 lead, but Schwarzenbach and Foecke terminated for set point for the Huskers at 24-23. An Illinois net violation gave the Huskers the 25-23 win to extend the match.

Set 4: The Huskers trailed 5-3 before rallying to take a 7-5 lead on a 5-0 run served by Miller. A kill by Sun made it 9-6 Huskers, but Illinois scored the next three to tie it at 9-9. Illinois gained a 12-11 lead, but the Huskers clawed their way to a 15-14 lead at the media timeout, aided by kills from Sun and Schwarzenbach. An ace serve by Miller following an Illinois serve into the net put NU ahead 17-15. After Illinois tied the set at 17-17, Stivrins and Foecke blocked a Quade attack, and Stivrins and Sun took the Huskers to a 20-18 lead with back-to-back kills. The Illini hit wide after a timeout, but Poulter and Fleming had kills to cut to the Huskers’ lead to 21-20. But once again an Illinois service error was followed by a Nebraska ace – this one from Hames – and NU led 23-20. After Illinois’ second timeout, Sweet gained set point for the Huskers with her seventh kill, and Sun found the corner to force a fifth set after the 25-20 Husker win.

Set 5: The teams went back and forth early on with Illinois committing three service errors but siding out each time the Huskers served the next rally. Foecke blasted a kill for a 6-5 Husker lead, but Beth Prince answered for Illinois. The Illini won a joust at the net to go ahead 7-6, but Stivrins sided out for the Huskers with her eighth kill. Sun put NU up 8-7 at the crossover. Foecke struck a kill out of the back row to make it 9-7, and another kill by Sun had the Huskers up 10-8. A kill by Quade and an ace by Fleming tied the score at 10-10, and the Huskers took a timeout. Capri Davis sided out for the Huskers, but Quade answered. Sweet came right back with her ninth kill, and the Huskers won a challenge call that Foecke’s shot deflected off an Illinois fingertip before going out, making the score 13-11. Maloney served an ace for match point at 14-11, and Foecke closed out match on the next rally with a kill.

Nebraska Post-Match Notes

With the win, Nebraska (29-6) advanced to the NCAA Final for the ninth time in program history (third-most in NCAA history). The Huskers have made back-to-back NCAA Finals for only the second time in school history (2005 & 2006) and are playing for the national title for the third time in the past four seasons.
The Huskers will go for their sixth national title and second in a row on Saturday. Nebraska has never won back-to-back national championships.
NU rallied from an 0-2 deficit for the first time ever in an NCAA Semifinal or Final. The Huskers had been 0-4 in NCAA Semifinals when losing the first two sets and 0-3 in NCAA Finals when losing the first two sets.
The Huskers became the first team to rally from an 0-2 deficit in an NCAA Semifinal or Final since Penn State came back to defeat Texas in the 2009 NCAA Final. The last time a team rallied from an 0-2 hole in an NCAA Semifinal match was in 2008, when Stanford defeated Texas.
Nebraska set a school record with its 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament victory. The 11-match postseason winning streak ranks sixth in NCAA history.
Nebraska improved its all-time NCAA Tournament record to 113-31. The Huskers’ 113 victories and .785 winning percentage in the postseason rank second in NCAA history to Stanford (124-31).
Nebraska improved to 9-6 all-time in NCAA Semifinal matches, including a 6-3 record under John Cook. Cook moved to 72-14 overall in NCAA Tournament play as Nebraska’s head coach and 80-18 in his career, including his seven seasons at Wisconsin.
John Cook has taken a Husker team to the NCAA Final for the sixth time in his 19 seasons at Nebraska, winning four national championships. Cook’s six finals appearances rank fifth among all coaches in NCAA history.
Cook improved to 8-1 against Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament at Nebraska.
The Huskers extended their winning streak to 13 matches with the win over third-ranked Illinois. Nebraska is 7-0 against ranked opponents during its win streak, including 3-0 vs. top-10 foes.
Illinois won five of the final six rallies in set one to hand Nebraska its first set loss of the NCAA Tournament, 25-22. The Huskers had won all 12 sets in the postseason and 22 straight sets dating back to Nov. 16.
Nebraska was held to 16 points in the second set, its third-fewest points in a set this season.
NU fell behind 0-2 for just the third time this season. The previous two times both occurred in the first six matches of the year. The Huskers are 2-1 when losing the first two sets of a match, with both wins coming over top-15 opponents (Creighton and Illinois).
Nebraska’s two seniors who have been with the program all four years – Mikaela Foecke and Kenzie Maloney – improved to 21-1 in their NCAA Tournament careers. The duo has won more postseason matches than any other players in Husker history.
Foecke and Maloney each played their 22nd NCAA Tournament match on Thursday, setting a school record for the most postseason matches by any player in program history. The duo have also each played 77 career sets in their NCAA Tournament careers, the most by any player in Nebraska history.
Foecke and Maloney are a combined 52-2 all-time in the months of November and December.
Foecke had 19 kills in the match, giving her 102 career kills in the NCAA Semifinals/Finals. She became just the 10th player in NCAA history to have 100 kills in NCAA Semifinals/Finals matches.
Foecke also had two aces, giving her eight in her career in NCAA Semifinals/Finals matches, which ties for the 10th-most in NCAA history. Her two aces also moved her up to seventh on Nebraska’s all-time list.
Maloney had a team-high 20 digs against Illinois to give her 519 digs this season. She became just the fourth Husker to have 500 digs in a season, and her 519 digs rank fifth in school history.
Maloney also had a career-best 10 assists to post the first double-double of her career.
Nicklin Hames produced her 24th double-double of the season, extending her school record.
Hames also tied her career high with five kills.
Illinois’ Jacqueline Quade had 28 kills, the most by Husker opponent on the season. She had at least 22 kills in all three matches against Nebraska in 2018.
Illinois had nine aces in the match, the most the Huskers allowed in 2018. Nebraska had been aced only five times in its first four NCAA Tournament matches combined.

Children at Ronald McDonald Houses in six states and a province in Canada will benefit from the generosity of the North Platte Community College Knights Softball Team.

Families with children who are seriously ill or injured can stay at Ronald McDonald Houses for little to no cost while the children are undergoing medical treatments. Because many of those families will be unable to return home for Christmas, the Knights decided to do something special for them.

The team colored pictures and created Christmas cards for Ronald McDonald Houses in Nebraska, Iowa, Utah, California, Colorado and Canada – all the places team members are from.

They also sent a box to a Ronald McDonald House in Seattle, Wash. because their charity was inspired by a little boy who is staying there – Tavish McCosh, a 3-year-old battling leukemia.

The Knights saw McCosh’s story on the Internet. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments, and the one thing that brightens his day is checking the mail – although there usually isn’t any mail for him.

His parents decided to put a request out on Facebook asking for Christmas cards for McCosh, and soon the mail was streaming in.

“That got the team to thinking,” said Janelle Higgins, NPCC head softball coach. “There are probably a lot of other kids just like Tavish whose days could be made a little brighter if someone just sent them mail.”

The Knights created a special card for McCosh thanking him for being an inspiration to others. The boxes they mailed to Seattle will be delivered directly to him so he can hand the gifts out to other children in the Ronald McDonald House.

In addition to the pictures and Christmas cards, the gifts include handmade stocking caps, candy and a team card signed by all of the Knights. There’s enough for every child in the Ronald McDonald House.

“We all have difficult days – with workouts, finals, being away from home,” said Higgins. “I always challenge the team to ask, ‘Is this a hard time, or is it just life?’ Typically, for us, it’s just life, but we all know someone who is struggling with something big. That’s why we want to reach out to those who are suffering. We will probably never know the impact these gift boxes have on the children they are going to, but if they bring one smile, then it’s worth it.”

Two team members, Erika McClung and Sophia Kiss, both of Victoria, British Columbia, will hand-deliver boxes to their local Ronald McDonald House when they return home for the holidays.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Nebraska volleyball team earned a program-record fourth straight trip to the NCAA Semifinals after a 3-0 sweep over the No. 14 Oregon Ducks on Saturday night at Minnesota’s Maturi Pavilion.

The defending national champion Huskers – with eight new players on the roster this season – became the sixth program in NCAA history to reach four consecutive final fours, joining Pacific, Penn State, Stanford, Texas and UCLA.

Nebraska (28-6) won its 12th straight match, stopping a high-flying Oregon squad that had upset No. 2 Minnesota on the Golden Gophers’ home court on Friday in the regional semifinal. The Huskers held the Ducks to a .250 hitting percentage, and offensively Nebraska hit .345 in the 25-22, 25-23, 25-17 win.

Mikaela Foecke, the regional’s most outstanding player, had 16 kills and 13 digs, hitting .400. Lauren Stivrins had 11 kills and hit .526, and Nicklin Hames tallied 41 assists and 15 digs. All three were named to the all-regional team.

Lexi Sun tacked on 10 kills, while Jazz Sweet had five. Kenzie Maloney added 12 digs. Nebraska out-blocked Oregon, 5-2, and had a 53-47 edge in digs.

The win was Nebraska’s 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament win dating back to an NCAA Semifinal loss to Texas in 2016. The 10-match postseason win streak is tied for the longest NCAA Tournament winning streak in program history (NU also won 10 straight matches from 2000-01 and 2015-16).

The Huskers will play No. 3 Illinois, led by former Husker assistant coach Chris Tamas, in an NCAA Semifinal match next Thursday. The 2018 NCAA Championships will be played at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Tickets can be purchased at NCAA.com/tickets. The semifinals will be played on Thursday, Dec. 13 at 6 and 8 p.m. (Central). The final is set for Saturday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. Both NCAA Semifinals and the NCAA Final will air on ESPN2.

Set 1: Back-to-back kills by Stivrins and an Oregon tip wide gave the Huskers their first lead of the set at 6-5, but Oregon regained a 10-8 lead after a 4-1 spurt. The Ducks increased their lead to 13-10 after three straight kills. Foecke posted a sideout kill for the Huskers, and Stivrins and Sweet blocked an Oregon attack to cut the deficit to one. Sun and Stivrins tipped home kills on consecutive rallies to put the Huskers up 16-15. After four sideouts, Hames served an ace to give the Huskers a two-point lead for the first time in the set, 19-17, and Oregon called timeout. The Huskers committed a pair of service errors, and an Oregon kill knotted the score at 20-20. But Oregon committed three unforced hitting errors on the next three rallies to put Nebraska back in front, 23-20. The Huskers earned set point at 24-21 via an Oregon service error, and Foecke tipped home the winner at 25-22. NU hit .400 in the set, while Oregon hit .294.

Set 2: Oregon held the early advantage again, taking a 6-3 lead after six kills from five different players. The Ducks went ahead 10-6 with their eighth kill on their 17th swing, and Nebraska took a timeout. The Huskers trailed 12-7 when Sun, Schwarzenbach and Sweet put down kills to trim the deficit to two. The Ducks continued their efficient attack, however, and regained a four-point lead at 16-12. Nebraska was down 18-14 when Foecke and Sun connected on kills as part of a spurt that cut it to 18-17. Nebraska then won a challenge that Oregon had four hits before a kill that would have made it 19-17 Ducks. Instead, it became 18-18. The score remained tied at 19-19 before Oregon mishandled a serve by Sun, and Nebraska took a 20-19 lead, its first of the set. The Ducks responded with a kill by Lauren Page and one by Taylor Borup for a 21-20 lead. Foecke put the Huskers back on top, 22-21, with a kill and a block with Stivrins. With the score tied 23-23, Foecke terminated for the 10th time for set point for the Big Red. Stivrins found the floor with a tip on the slide to win the set for the Huskers, 25-23.

Set 3: The Huskers scored four in a row to take a 5-2 lead, capped by a block by Schwarzenbach and Sweet. The Ducks charged back to take a 7-6 lead after a 5-1 run. Nebraska answered with a 4-0 run, keyed by a block by Foecke and Stivrins and an ace by Megan Miller. Hames and Sweet notched back-to-back kills to make it 14-10. Foecke added another kill and an Oregon hitting error and a kill by Sweet put the Huskers up by five, 18-13. Nebraska scored seven of the final 10 points down the stretch to clinch their fourth straight final four bid with a 25-17 win.

Match Notes

Nebraska improved to 28-6 overall and won its 12th straight match. The win was Nebraska’s 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament win dating back to an NCAA Semifinal loss to Texas in 2016. The 10-match postseason win streak is tied for the longest NCAA Tournament winning streak in program history (NU also won 10 straight matches from 2000-01 and 2015-16).
Nebraska advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the fourth straight year, a first in program history. Nebraska became the sixth program in NCAA history to reach at least four straight final fours, joining Stanford (1982-87, 1994-97), Pacific (1983-86), UCLA (1988-92), Penn State (2007-10) and Texas (2012-16). Only Penn State, Texas and Nebraska have accomplished the feat since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1998.
The Huskers will make their 15th NCAA Semifinals appearance all-time, second-most behind only Stanford (who has 21 entering Saturday’s regional final match against Penn State).
Nebraska’s all-time NCAA Tournament record is now 112-31. Its .783 winning percentage in the NCAA Tournament is second only to Stanford (.797 entering Saturday).
Nebraska improved to 15-13 all-time in NCAA Regional Finals.
John Cook is taking Nebraska to the NCAA Semifinals for the ninth time in his 19 seasons as head coach. Cook’s nine NCAA Semifinal appearances are tied for the sixth-most by any coach in NCAA history.
Cook is just the fifth coach in NCAA history to make nine NCAA Semifinal appearances at one school, joining Andy Banachowski (UCLA, retired), Russ Rose (Penn State), Don Shaw (Stanford, retired) and Dave Shoji (Hawaii, retired).
Cook improved to 71-14 in the NCAA Tournament at Nebraska and 79-18 overall in his NCAA Tournament career, including his time at Wisconsin.
Nebraska’s two seniors who have been with the program all four years – Mikaela Foecke and Kenzie Maloney – are 20-1 in their NCAA Tournament careers, and the duo is a combined 51-2 all-time in the months of November and December. Their 20 postseason victories are the most in a four-year span in Nebraska history.
Foecke and Maloney each played in their 21st NCAA Tournament match at Nebraska, tying for the most postseason matches played by any player in program history. The duo have also each played in 72 career NCAA Tournament sets, trailing only Annika Albrecht (75 sets) and Jordan Larson (73 sets) for most career postseason sets played in Nebraska history.
Freshman setter Nicklin Hames had her 23rd double-double of the season with 41 assists and 15 digs. That broke Jordan Larson’s school record for single-season double-doubles in the rally-scoring era.
Foecke had 16 kills, passing Lisa Reitsma (1,633) for third place on Nebraska’s all-time kills list with 1,638.
Foecke has 263 career kills in the NCAA Tournament, which moved her past Nancy Metcalf (Meendering) to No. 2 on Nebraska’s career postseason kills list.
Maloney has 1,369 career digs, which moved into the top five on Nebraska’s all-time digs list.
Nebraska’s sweep of Oregon marked just the second time the Huskers have made it to the NCAA Semifinal without losing a set (also happened in 1990).

The Mid-Plains Community College Rodeo Team scored its first women’s championship ever during the North Dakota State University Bison Stampede in Fargo, N.D. on Saturday.

Colleges are allowed to put the scores of six of its men and four of its women toward each end-of-rodeo team championship. However, MPCC only has three women on its team – Danielle Wray, of Ord; Sheyenne Hammond, of Valentine and Mykelsi Schnose, of Oelrichs, S.D.

“Because it takes four to make a full women’s team, we are at a disadvantage every time we show up,” said Garrett Nokes, MPCC Rodeo Team timed event coach. “That’s also what makes the win in North Dakota so special. It’s quite an accomplishment to win a team championship with three.”

Wray, Schnose and Hammond contributed a total of 260 points to take the lead at the Bison Stampede. Wray split second and third in the breakaway roping, Hammond placed second in the barrel racing and Schnose finished sixth in the team roping.

“We may only have three, but it’s the best women’s team we’ve ever had,” Nokes said. “They are all really established and know what they are doing. No one works harder than these three girls. They all get along well and support each other, so they were pretty excited that they made it to the short round together.”

MPCC took home two other first place finishes in North Dakota – a win in the team roping by Lane Kennedy, of Orleans, and Reed Murray, of Belvue, Kan. as well as a win by Koby Jacobson, of Haiku, Hawaii, in the steer wrestling.

“Lane is a two-time national qualifier, and Reed qualified for the [College National Finals Rodeo] as a freshman, so I expect big things from them,” said Nokes. “Fargo is the most challenging arena we will face throughout the year because it’s so small that it’s hard to make runs in. Lane and Reed did a great job of getting in there and just taking care of business. I was real happy to see them win, because there’s no doubt in my mind that they should be at the CNFR again. This win will get the ball rolling.”

Jacobson has made it to the Top 10 in every rodeo he has entered this year. In addition to the steer wrestling points, Jacobson earned third in the bull riding in Fargo, helping to secure MPCC’s third place finish in the men’s team standings.

“Initially, Koby was more focused on bull riding,” said Nokes. “He thought that was his main event, but he’s been having a lot of success in the steer wrestling because of his pure try and determination. I was happy to see him win the buckle, and thank goodness he did as well as he did because that held our team out of the water. Several of our other standouts didn’t have the best weekend, but Koby kept us in there.”

MPCC Rodeo Team members Sean Miller, of Callaway, and Seth Pearson, of Valentine, placed fifth in the team roping. JT Bradley, of Brewster, was fifth in the steer wrestling followed by Blake Henry, of Rushville, in sixth place.

The college rodeo previously scheduled for Oct. 10-11 in Sisseton, S.D. was tentatively rescheduled for Nov. 1-2 due to weather. The next competition for the MPCC Rodeo Team will be in Ames, Iowa this Friday and Saturday.