Nebraska volleyball’s Kenzie Knuckles sent over the serve with a thump. On the other side of the net, Wisconsin libero Lauren Barnes popped the ball up to setter Sydney Hilley. Hilley set the ball to her most trusted hitter, Dana Rettke, who crushed the ball into the block and onto Nebraska’s side of the court.

With that point, Wisconsin won their third straight Big Ten championship and beat Nebraska for the seventh straight match.

The No. 10 Huskers are looking to flip the script and take down the No. 4 Badgers in the 2021 National Championship a month after their loss in the Big Ten title game to Wisconsin. The All-Big Ten championship game is at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN2.

Knuckles called that match a turning point in Nebraska’s season and made them realize they needed to get it together in order to go far in the tournament. NU hasn’t lost since, knocking off No. 2 Texas in the regional finals and No. 3 Pitt in the Final Four to get to the NCAA finals.

“We went into the Wisconsin match really confident in what we've been working on and I think that showed the first set when we played them,” the junior defensive specialist said. “It really sucked for us when we played Wisconsin and that's how it went and that's how it ended.”

NU hit .462 in the first set versus the Badgers and sided out at 92 percent to win 25-14. Defensive specialist Keonilei Akana had three aces that set and Knuckles added a fourth.

In the beginning of the season, this high-level volleyball felt out of reach. Nebraska lost three straight matches to ranked opponents, including No. 1 seeded Louisville.

Middle blocker Lauren Stivrins said after Nebraska handled Pitt 3-1 on Thursday that the Huskers have improved since the Badgers defeated them twice in the 2021 regular season.

“This team that just competed tonight is completely different than the team that played them a couple of weeks ago and lightyears different than the one that played them earlier on in the season,” Stivrins said.

Setter Nicklin Hames, who was a 2021 AVCA All-American Honorable Mention, commented on what has changed on the Huskers team.

“We're flowing as a unit a lot better,” the senior captain said. “We just have this belief in each other that I don't think was there the entire season.”

After dropping the first set 25-16 to Pitt, the Huskers got their flow back and hit .440 with two team hitting errors and won set two 25-17. After the middle part of the second set where the Huskers had a 6-0 run, it felt as if Nebraska knew they would win and were playing with that confidence.

Nebraska is hoping to bring that confidence into the Wisconsin match.

“I think we're more prepared and more ready than we've ever been,” Stivrins said. “We're definitely excited for the challenge and we're ready to step up.”

And step up is what Nebraska will have to do in order to take down Wisconsin.

This Badger squad has Rettke, the only five-time first-team All-American and the AVCA Player of the Year. And Hilley, a three-time first-team All-American and the three-time Big Ten Setter of the Year, running the court. The duo has been playing together for five seasons and their connection is spot on.

Along with libero Lauren Barnes, a second-team All-American, this team is desperate to win Wisconsin’s first-ever national title.

The Badgers also have weapons in freshman outside hitter Julia Orzel, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Freshman middle blocker Anna Smrek had 20 kills and hit .704 against the Cardinals on Thursday. Smrek had 12 kills and hit .647 against the Huskers in October.

Outside hitters Grace Loberg, Jade Demps and Devyn Robinson on the right are strong and experienced players on the pins and play low-error volleyball.

The Huskers have struggled against this group as they were swept in Lincoln on Oct. 27 and lost in four on Nov. 26. In 2019, the Badgers swept NU three times in a single season, one including in the Elite Eight.

“In all the times we've played Wisconsin it hasn't been that they were doing anything that was extraordinary or anything that was something that we hadn't seen before,” said six-year senior Stivrins. “It was we were beating ourselves when it came down to the last few points. I think that this team has accepted that and we've grown from that. We're just much better, more gritty.”

Nebraska’s defense has been tested by some of the best offenses and service teams in the country in the NCAA tournament and the Huskers’ grit helped them come out victorious.

On the forefront of that defensive effort is libero Lexi Rodriquez. Rodriguez became the first libero to be named the AVCA National Freshman of the Year on Friday. Rodriguez, or as the team calls her ‘Roddie’, is also an AVCA first-team All-American, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-Big Ten selection.

Rodriguez and NU’s floor and block defense will need to be elite on Saturday against a strong offense with Rettke front and center. This match could potentially be a battle of the Freshman of the Year and the Player of the Year.

Husker volleyball’s social media accounts posted a video of Head Coach John Cook talking to his team in the locker room after the Pitt match. He called Wisconsin “our buddies.” Cook was asked to clarify on Friday.

“Right now Wisconsin set the bar in the Big Ten,” said Cook, who is competing for his sixth national title. “They've won the championship the last three years and everybody's chasing them. It will be an honor to play them. And we feel like, ‘okay, we've gotten to a point now where we've got a chance to win this.’”

After a rough preseason and losing four of the last ten Big Ten matches, it didn’t seem possible the Huskers would make it this deep into the tournament. But they did it anyway.

“We talked all week that no one expected us or believed that we could be at this point right now, that we would be playing for a national championship,” Hames said.

Hames said she feels like Nebraska “hit its stride” at the right time.

“We just have this belief and we're out there playing, as we say, with one heart, which I think is really special,” she said. “We've had a tough season, it's been up and down and I think it's prepared us for those big moments and we're playing great in those big moments. It's not always pretty, but it's our way and we get it done and we have each other's backs.”

The next big moment is on the national stage against Wisconsin, a team with which they have a lot of history and a debt to settle.

The Huskers have made it farther than some could imagine but they aren’t done yet.

“I think that this team is on a mission,” Stivrins said. “We have such a deep belief in each other and ourselves that we can do this and we're capable of winning no matter who we're up against. I think if we carry all those things into (Saturday), it will be a great match. Hopefully, we'll come out on top.”