Nebraska volleyball has advanced to the Elite Eight round in all six years that it has been the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament and reached the Final Four in four of its five seasons as the top dog in the tournament heading into today.

The No. 1 Huskers (31-1) will get their shot at making it five of six trips to the Final Four in that span – and 17th Final Four overall – as a berth in the national semifinals is on the line today against No. 3 seed Arkansas (28-5) in Lincoln (5 p.m. CT at the Devaney Center).

Below you will find pre-match notes, fast facts and information on how to watch, stream or listen to the game. You will also find full press conference videos and transcripts outlining everything Nebraska coach John Cook and stars Merritt Beason and Lexi Rodriguez said – plus transcripts from Arkansas' coach and players – as they preview the Elite Eight showdown.

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Time: 5:00 p.m. Central Time

TV Channel: ESPNU

Streaming: WatchESPN (Link), YouTube TV (Link to free trial), FuboTV (Link to free trial)

Radio: Huskers Radio Network, Lincoln 107.3 FM and AM 590 Omaha (John Baylor will handle play-by-play duties in his 30th season doing so for Husker volleyball games, and former Nebraska All-American setter Lauren (Cook) West will provide color commentary

Listen online: Huskers.com

App Audio: Official Huskers App

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• Arkansas (28-5, 15-3 SEC) advanced to its first-ever regional final by beating No. 8 Kentucky 3-2 on Thursday.

• Arkansas ranks 33rd nationally in hitting percentage (.264) and 67th in opponent hitting percentage (.182).

• Jillian Gillen leads the Razorbacks with 4.17 kills per set. Taylor Head adds 3.93 kills per set.

• Setter Hannah Hogue ranks sixth nationally in assists per set with 11.18. Hogue, Head and Gillen were All-SEC selections.

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Nebraska is 3-0 all-time against Arkansas. The teams last played on Sept. 9, 2016, a 3-0 Husker win in Albuquerque, N.M. Nebraska and Arkansas played in the second round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament, a 3-1 Husker victory at the NU Coliseum in Lincoln.

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• With Thursday’s win, Nebraska advanced to an NCAA Regional Final for the 32nd time in program history and for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons. The Huskers’ 32 regional final appearances are the most in NCAA history.

• Nebraska improved to 128-36 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers rank second in NCAA history in postseason wins and winning percentage (.780).

• Nebraska improved to 32-7 all-time in Regional Semifinal matches, including a 15-1 record in matches played in Lincoln.

• The win was Nebraska’s 21st consecutive home victory in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 2013. The longest streak in program history is 22 from 1995-2002.

• The Huskers have swept their opponent 17 times in their 21-match home winning streak in the NCAA Tournament, posting a 66-7 set record during the winning streak.

• Nebraska moved to 20-0 at home this season with the win.

• The attendance for Thursday’s match was 8,580. On the season, NU has drawn 255,953 fans for its 20 home matches (including the Memorial Stadium match). Nebraska has become the first female sport in NCAA history to draw 250,000 home fans in a single season.

• John Cook improved to 87-19 in the NCAA Tournament as Nebraska’s head coach. He improved to 95-24 in his NCAA Tournament career. Cook ranks second all-time in career NCAA Tournament victories and NCAA Tournament wins at one school.

• The Huskers won the first two sets against Georgia Tech and are 99-1 in the NCAA Tournament when taking a 2-0 lead. Nebraska has won 98 consecutive postseason matches when winning the first two sets.

• Nebraska did not trail at any point in the first two sets. Through three NCAA Tournament matches this season, the Huskers have never trailed in either set one or set two.

• Nebraska is looking to make its 17th all-time NCAA Semifinals appearance. Only Stanford (23) has made more NCAA Semifinals appearances.

• The Huskers are looking to qualify for the NCAA Semifinals for the sixth time in the last nine years.

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Opening Statement:

“I thought yesterday Arkansas vs. Kentucky was a great match, it could’ve gone either way. Arkansas played great at the end to win that. They’ve got some fierce competitors, they do some things really well, and this is going to be an epic match tomorrow.

On Arkansas hitters:

“They have a good system, they’re trying to go fast and out quick you, and when you’re smaller that’s a great plan to have and they’re very good at it. To be a great attacker it doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short or whatever. It’s your arm speed, your vision, how creative you, those are all the things that allow hitters to be successful.

On the feeling of playing in big matches:

“There's electricity in Devaney, you can feel it, you can sense it. It comes from our crowd, and I think there is going to be a lot of pent up excitement with our crowd to see and witness a regional against two great teams that are going to play their hearts out. This is what sports is all about. There’s a lot on the line for this, and it’s going to be a really really competitive match. That’s what takes this time of year to win a regional, you’re going to have to dig down deep.

On not feeling a lot of pressure:

“I don’t know, I talked to my therapist. The beginning of the year with this group, and captain Merrit (Beason) here can verify this, but we talked about what mindset I needed for this group. I needed to be patient, and just enjoy the ride with them because we do have six new players, we’re playing freshman, so I’ve just really bought into that. They’re a lot of fun to be around, so I don’t feel pressure because I know we’re going to compete really hard every night.”

On Lexi Rodriguez and Merritt Beason:

“They’re natural born leaders. Lexi has been through this program, Merritt is new to it, but she embraced it, she worked hard on leadership this spring. These guys emerged from that work, and they’ve done an amazing job. They have tremendous respect from their coaches, their players, and one of the things of being a great servant leader is they can take care of people and people feel comfortable coming to them and working through things. This year this team has mastered that as well as any team I’ve ever coached. It comes from Lexi and Merritt understanding what it takes and being able to execute that. They’ve done a tremendous job and that’s one of the reasons we’ve had so much success this year.

On Andi Jackson overall:

“She is tall, fast, quick. She jumps so those are some good qualities to have as a volleyball player and she works really hard. She’s got really good competitive fire in her. She just needs reps and experience to help her really blossom to being a premier middle blocker in this country.”

On the best athlete on the team:

“Andi (Jackson) tests the best, but if I need a heptathlete it would be Caroline (Jurevicius). She can do it all. She has to be second in that testing.”

On what he respects and appreciates about his coaching staff:

“We are a staff now that’s been together for awhile, which is great. Jordan (Larson) is obviously new, but Jordan is a Husker so it was an easy transition for her. Jaylen (Reyes) has a lot of responsibility with our block and defense and how we prepare for teams. I trust him a ton. Kelly (Hunter) works with the setters and makes our offensive game plans. I trust her a ton. It’s a group effort that we do. Our GAs are involved in all of that so try and build a great team around these guys whether it’s training them, preparing them. Brian (Kmitta) and Jolene (Emricson), those guys, getting them ready to play. Brian does some things with them mentally, breathing and visualization. I figured this out about 10 years ago. You’ve got to get a great team to surround them with to help them to be the best that they can be. That way you limit the margin of not being as successful or maxing out and that is what we are trying to do with our program and our team. My job is to make sure everyone is working hard at that and trying to make them better and encourage them to push. It’s a team effort, definitely.”

On preparing for Arkansas:

“When we have three days to prepare for somebody, we can dial them in really well. Today is a little bit different because we didn’t spend any time on Kentucky or Arkansas because when you look at their stats, I thought it would be a 5 game or a coin flip, and that’s what it turned out to be. We just put everything into Georgia Tech. One of the good things about playing in the Big Ten is you have to prepare for two teams or you have to play a match then 20 hours later, you’re playing another team. You have to be able to flip it to a different mode, and a different gameplan, and that’s something we’re training all the time, train it practice, and train it during the Big Ten season so these guys are used to it.

On having a day off:

“I think it’s just good for the athletes. You look at No. 10 on Arkansas, she played a hard match last night. To turn around and play at 3 o’clock today or 5 o’clock today would be a pretty quick turnaround for her. I just think this is the right thing to do for the athletes and again Amie (Just), you asked me yesterday, I don’t know how many people stayed up to watch Stanford, it was going into the next day. They have to split that up, it’s just too much in one day. I mean I was thinking how long Purdue had to wait and then how long Stanford and Arizona State had to wait I mean I can’t imagine having to wait all that time, all day long into the night to play. That has to be tough. I probably would have given them all gift cards and we would’ve gone to Lululemon.”

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On Arkansas:

“I just remember they always played fearless, whether they were the underdog, they were the smaller team, no matter what, they always just gave it their best shot. They gave their best effort and I know they always gave us a run for our money and a lot of players on that team can go off when they need to. We just have to be prepared for that tomorrow, but I would say ‘fearless’ is a very good word to describe that team.”

On how the freshmen have grown:

“I think, throughout the whole season, they’ve done a really good job of remaining calm and learning as they go and taking each experience, each game, each set, each point and just learning from it the best that they can. I think they’ve done a very good job of that all year, but specifically the last few weeks, we started things they had never done again. I think they’ve all done a really good job, I think they’ve all handled finals and the tournament and all that really, really well. They also moved into apartments, so they had another thing thrown on top of them, but I think they’ve done a really good job of managing what they have to do and making sure they show up each and every day and give their best effort. I think the entire year, they’ve done a really good job of learning from whatever is thrown at them.”

On Coach John Cook saying the players handle big-stage games better:

“I think, the team as a whole, we’re just all competitors, and so we live for those games. Personally, I would rather have a team that shows up really well in the big games and I would rather struggle in the smaller games, if we’re going to struggle in one of them. I think we’re all just really, really competitive, so we live for those moments. We live for the teams that are going to make really good plays and that are going to push us. We want teams to bring a lot of energy right back at us. We want them to test us. I think that just brings out the best in all of us and I think it comes from all of us being super competitive.”

On Coach Cook not feeling pressure for big games:

“Definitely I think a lot of times coaches don’t realize what kind of impact they have on teams and I think that was one thing we talked about a lot at the beginning of the season was they do have a big influence on us and what we needed to be successful and they really bought into that which has helped us a ton this entire year. They understood and they listened to what we needed and they’ve done a really good job of, all of them have and the entire staff has done a really good job of understanding that even when they probably don’t want to be super patient with us. They’ve done a really good job of that and that’s helped us as well obviously stay patient with ourselves and stay patient with this season and things like that but I think at the end of the day, coaches do have influences on teams so them being able to not only listen to us but respect that we know what we need as a team and be able to do their best to do that for us has been huge and that builds trust between us and the coaching staff and I think that’s huge and you have to have that in a program.”

On having Lindsay Krause back on the bench in uniform:

“I know she’s super excited about it and we’re glad to have her back. Obviously, she never left the team, but in a way, I know she was kind of struggling with that, just wanting to be back out there, wanting to feel as if she was still giving to the team. I’m just super happy for her to be able to be back and be warming up and dressing out and things like that. Every day, she’s getting closer to being back, and I’m just really excited for her because I know she’s been waiting for this and she’s been working really, really hard to be in that position, so I’m just super excited for her.”

On what it would mean to make it to Tampa:

“It’s so special and this is the program that I would want to be doing it with. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be here and to be in this position. I’m super excited to see how far we can go and to see what we can do next. It’s kind of crazy when you think about a year ago today, it was a completely different scene that I was in. I’m just super grateful for the opportunity to be here.”

On Arkansas playing Wisconsin earlier in the year:

“Obviously, they put up a really, really good fight, but that was also very early in the year. Both teams have progressed and grown a lot. Like I mentioned earlier, Arkansas is a very fearless team. They’re going to give it their best shot, give it all that they have. I think that’s a lot of what you saw in that Wisconsin match. They don’t let anything stop them, whether it’s what people say about their height or if they’re undersized, things like that. They don’t let that get in the way. They’re going to give it their best shot and they’re going to do that for us tomorrow.”

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On playing in front of the Devaney crowd:

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s just a sense of support and love and that they’re on the court there with you. They’re always very loud and I think they just have a good understanding of volleyball that they know when they should get louder and when they should cheer extra. I think that’s a special thing is they know good volleyball and they know when we kind of need a little pick me up.”

On getting to the Elite Eight after losing to Oregon in the Sweet 16 last year:

“Every game that you win, I think, is an accomplishment, but every single year at the start of the year, we have really big goals. Our goal this year is to win a national championship and to get to Tampa. I feel like every game we win, it’s a good accomplishment, but the job that we want to get done isn’t nearly over yet.”

On keeping the “one game at a time” mentality:

“I think, honestly, it’s kind of easier to take it one game at a time when you get farther along, just because you’re so locked into what the game plan is and that ‘we win this game and we advance.’ That’s all that matters. There’s not a Big Ten Championship in the way or anything like that. It’s one game at a time. It can be a little bit easier just to focus on that and to give it all you have into that one game. I feel like that’s what we’ve been doing.”

On Laney Choboy’s dive yesterday:

“It’s not new. Everyone on our team, I’m pretty sure, everyone in Devaney and everyone in the country knows that she’s going to hustle and do whatever she can. I think, even when we all heard Coach (Cook) and Jaylen (Reyes) telling her to stop, we all knew she wasn’t going to stop. I think even Coach knew she wasn’t going to stop. It’s not a surprise, but it just shows how much she’s willing to do and that she’s going to do whatever it takes.”

On Andi Jackson’s growth:

“I would say just confidence and how comfortable she looks now. In the beginning of the season, if she was struggling, it might have taken her a little while to get out of it, but I feel like now, she’s very confident in herself and her abilities and knows that she might make an error, but she can bounce right back. Especially as a freshman, and in this conference and here at Nebraska, that’s kind of a hard thing to establish and I feel like she’s been able to do that very well, especially in the past few weeks.”

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Opening statement:

“I appreciate you being here, It’s good for our sport that this many people are interested in a matchup like this. It’s a pretty big stage for us, as we shared yesterday we were able to get our first win over a Kentucky team that in my opinion at the tip of the spear in the SEC, have been good, and won a national championship a number of years ago. Now we get to go and face what I think is the marquee college women’s volleyball program in the country, Nebraska at Nebraska. We have to go ride some big waves, and so that’s kind of exciting for us. We started our prep last night. We're thankful we got a day in between, for our team that’s something we need, it’s tough for us to go back-to-back so the day in between is nice for us. We’ll get some rest and give it a good crack on Saturday and see what happens.

On the accomplishments of the group:

“There’s a lot of firsts here for us as a program for me personally, and it’s been said that perhaps we’ve taken a chance on these athletes, but I think for me personally that they certainly took a chance on me when they decided to come to Arkansas. This was still a dream, so I feel very fortunate that they believed in me enough to come to a school that doesn’t have a rich history in our sport. It’s a wonderful thing to see what I hoped would come to fruition come to fruition with these athletes. It’s been an incredibly enjoyable ride, and we’re pretty fortunate actually.”

On playing Wisconsin earlier in the year and how that could help them prepare:

“August seems like ten years ago. The Big Ten is the marquee volleyball conference in the country without question. The level of physicality in the conference top to bottom is just remarkable. I think Wisconsin is this incredibly physical team as is Nebraska. There’s some similarities there, I think the style of play is different, but there‘s some similarities there. I don’t know if we can draw any parallels between what happened in August to what’s happening in December, that’s forever ago, it’s forever ago.

On Nebraska:

“When I look at Nebraska, they’re one of the really elite first ball defensive teams. That block is probably the most disciplined block that I’ve seen, and that certainly leads to their ability to counterattack in transition in that serving phase at a really remarkable rate. I think that transition phase is what sets teams apart, the ability to score when you’re serving of course sets teams apart, but they can do it at a clip that is pretty remarkable actually. Not only that, when it does get by that block, the quality of their first ball contact is pretty good too, so that’s a handful for us, so we’re going to have to try to negate it in some other ways that we’re probably not going to share with you, but that’s the matchup, that’s the thing for us.

On telling his past self about how far this team has come:

“My hair is a lot grayer. I probably would tell myself to get more sleep, and give up diet coke much sooner than I did. Be patient, that’s one of things that I’ve been fortunate at Arkansas that I have an administration that has been incredibly patient with me. In a collegiate environment that doesn’t always value patience when they make decisions about coaches, it wasn’t always rainbows, ponies, and glitter at Arkansas the first couple of years. I’m in charge of that, and I’m responsible for that, and I own that performance clearly, but everything is going to be okay, it’ll work itself out, she’ll be right.

On realizing when it would be rainbows, ponies and glitter:

“Well I don’t think it’s ever rainbows, ponies, and glitter. It’s hard, everyday is hard. Maybe this press conference is a little rainbows, ponies, and glitter, but when we started to get some athletes that valued competition, that weren’t afraid of that competition. There are a lot of good things about being in collegiate athletics, you get a lot of gear, you get your school paid for, you get a lot of really cool stuff. But you have to be about something more than just that. I think the first couple years, not top to bottom, but there were kids that just liked being at Arkansas because of the fact that they could get all this stuff. But these kids like playing, I think that’s when it kind of changed. The worst graphic in the world is the last four out graphics they show. I mean that’s an insanely embarrassing to show off, you may as well put up the last 280 teams. That hurts, that graphic hurts, when they showed that, and we were alphabetically at the top of that list, that hurt, and then to see them get in the gym that spring and to make sure that never happened again, that was pretty cool. We use that graphic to this day like ‘hey do you want to be on that graphic’ because that graphic sucks or do you want to get in the tournament, so that’s been kind of nice.”

On the significance of moving on from the Sweet 16 to the Elite Eight:

“I think so, especially to do it against a team we haven’t beaten in a long time with Kentucky. The margins get slimmer, the less teams that are playing, the margins get slimmer. It’s a pretty significant accomplishment for this group. I don’t say that we’re satisfied of course, we’ve got to play tomorrow, but it’s a pretty significant moment for us, and this may sound somewhat cliche but I think it's a pretty significant moment for volleyball in general in the state of Arkansas. I’m drawing no parallels between myself and Coach Pettit at all, what he did in his tenure here at Nebraska is remarkable. To build up an entire state that is passionate about volleyball is remarkable, but I would like to have some impact in the state of Arkansas on volleyball and help that state get better. It’s cool to get a couple of texts last night from around the state. That’s kind of cool, high school coaches, club coaches, things like that, and that’s pretty cool for me.”

On the growth of the fanbase over the past few seasons:

“I mean the simple answer is winning. But the better answer is these athletes and their willingness to engage in that fanbase. They’re spending 45 minutes to an hour after games on Sundays signing autographs. We play in a facility that can kind of get close to the action here. That’s a really important thing for our sport, and our sport while it’s making all these inroads on TV, It’s a much better sport live. You miss out on some of the athleticism and speed, and things like that on TV. Not unlike this arena here where you can get close, that really plays well to our sport. I don’t know if everybody that comes to our game are volleyball fans, I think they’re razorback fans, but I think a couple of them have turned into volleyball fans so that’s cool for us as well.”

On talking to Suzy Fritz on how to beat Nebraska:

“I had to take a backseat when we walked in because everyone wanted to talk to Suzy, I was like ‘I’m here too you know’. I was her assistant at K-State 22 years ago. She’s a dear friend, and she’s a wonderfully talented volleyball coach, and we’re very fortunate to have her at Arkansas. I’m fortunate because she allows me to be me, and as you can tell there’s a lot to that statement. She’s had some success up here over the years. She’s had some good K-State teams, and we were back-and-forth late into the evening with a series of text messages of what we needed to do, none of which we’re going to share with you. But I’m excited to have her here with us as we’re prepping for this match. She’s been on this stage, she’s been in this arena, so it’s really kind of cool for us to have this friendship that spans 22 years and still coaching. I think we like each other, yeah I think we do,I’ll go with that, I won’t put words into her mouth. You should see some of the text messages, but it’s cool, it’s really cool.”

On Volleyball Day in Nebraska:

“On that particular night we played Wisconsin and we lost in five and nobody knew about it. Rightfully so. What a magnificent event for our sport. As the season unfolded, the sport picked up even more and more in terms of TVs and fans coming. It’s not just here. Like we said at Arkansas and attendance has gone up all over the place. This sport is in this wonderfully healthy phase. I think in the years to come we are going to see that the talent is going to be evenly distributed across the country. That’s exciting for our sport. There hasn’t been a lot parody involved as you see who is winning National Championships and things like that. That can only improve. The fact that we are seeding this tournament one to 32 is a big upgrade over previous tournaments. It’s all trending. The National Championship match will be on ABC. That’s exciting. There is a lot of positive things. Clearly I think it’s a remarkable sport. I started playing volleyball in the seventh grade in Sydney, Australia and now I’m here in front of you in Lincoln, Nebraska, which as a seventh grader I had no idea where Nebraska was let alone Arkansas, let alone Fayetteville, Arkansas, but at least I’m not fixing to go to the Walmart. Haven’t quite got that into my vernacular. It’s phenomenal. It’s great. It’s just such a great thing for our sport. It’s really exciting.”

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On what it means to be the first Arkansas team in the Elite Eight:

“I think for me personally it means a lot. I’ve never been in the Elite Eight and this team has never been in the Elite Eight. Just to say that we were the Arkansas team to make it is just a joyful moment for every single one of us to be able to be a part of this moment today.”

On the training this season:

“Obviously happy to be with the program and happy that Jason gave me a chance to be on this team and play next to amazing players like Taylor (Head) but just going into this tournament and being a part of this team now, it’s just an amazing experience for myself and I’m glad the team took me in and made me feel welcome and I’m happy they’re playing with me here too.”

On the resiliency of the team:

“I would just say we’re a hard team to knock down. We’re going to fight the whole entire match, it doesn’t matter what set it is or points scored, we’re going to keep fighting so just going in with tomorrow, knowing that it’s going to be a really tough game but it’s also going to be a really fun game as well.”

On when the team knew that had the potential of being good:

“Wisconsin. Even though we lost that game, that being our first match and us just showing up so strong against a team that high of caliber and just seeing how this is how much of our season is going to go and on top of that us beating Florida on their home court. That really showed me that this is a team that is going to shine this season and we are going to push it as far as we can go.”

On what standard they are setting for the future:

“I think as we are always saying as a team, ‘Stay present. Stay resilient and brave.’ So I think that’s a standard that I hope continues for years to come as Jason (Watson) is still the Arkansas coach, but that kind of standard needs to stay for us.”

On how the team mentally prepares:

“The mental side of it is just knowing that we have to have a quick turnover and make all these quick adjustments in just this day technically. All of us as a team has decided to just stay calm, stay content and know what we have to do tomorrow.”

On being underdogs:

“We probably are misfits, but we are the greatest misfits I’ve ever played with and that has probably ever touched a volleyball in their lives. We are just happy to be able to be on this stage and be able to experience this as misfits if that’s what you want to call us. It’s just an amazing experience. Who wouldn’t want to be here right now in our position?”

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On being a lower seed still alive:

“It’s really exciting. I think we all believed that we could be in that bracket of teams. NCAA believed we did too all season long. We were ranked in at least the top 15 all season long. I think knowing what we know about us and what we can do and I think we all know that we deserve to be in that bracket of that caliber of teams.”

On what it means to be the first Arkansas team in the Elite Eight:

“It’s been an unbelievable season and just week after week we’ve been pushing through and breaking these firsts for Arkansas volleyball and it’s just been amazing to be part of really.”

On how the team is preparing for Nebraska and the environment:

“We are excited. It is going to be a huge crowd. We are going to just be really excited to be in that environment and have that opportunity to play our game on that stage. We are just really pumped and excited for the opportunity to play against the number one team. We have had the opportunity to play the number one team previously at the beginning of the season and we are lucky enough we get the second chance to hopefully pull out a win.”