Nebraska Volleyball named No. 10 overall seed in NCAA Tournament

Nebraska Volleyball (22-7, 16-3) is the No. 10 overall seed in the 2021 NCAA volleyball tournament as was announced on the NCAA Women's Volleyball Selection Special on ESPNU on Sunday.

The Huskers are in No. 2 Texas's regional with No. 7 Kentucky and No. 15 Washington. In the 2020 tournament, Kentucky won the 2020 National Championship and No. 5 Texas defeated No. 4 Nebraska 3-1 in the Elite Eight round.

"I think we have grown up a lot in this past year," middle blocker Lauren Stivrins said. "I know that the last time we played (Texas) was definitely not our best outing and everyone can say that with full confidence. We're definitely excited for another matchup with them and to hopefully get some redemption."

Nebraska will host the first and second rounds at the Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers play Campbell in the first round on Friday, Dec. 3 at 7:00 p.m. Florida State and Kansas State will play at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 3. The two winners will battle on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m.

NU defeated Kansas State 3-1 earlier this season on August 28 in the Husker Invitational.

Head Coach John Cook said he remembers in 2011 when Kansas State shocked the second-ranked Huskers in the second round of the tournament.

"You just got to take it one point at a time and one team at a time, can't start thinking ahead," Cook said.

Eight Big Ten teams will play in the NCAA tournament and four other teams Nebraska played in the 2021 regular season are in the tournament.

Cook said the strength of the Huskers' regular-season schedule will help them a lot in the tournament.

"We're battle-tested, we know what it's like to go in every night and have to play great," he said.

After the 2020 tournament was in a bubble in Omaha, setter Nicklin Hames said she is happy the tournament is back to normal.

"That was definitely a different experience," Hames said. "I'm excited that it's finally back to normal and we can actually have fans and it's not going to feel like a high school game."

Stivrins, a six-year senior, has been to the most NCAA tournament of any other player on the team. She said her message to the team is to focus on what is on Nebraska's side of the net.

"This tournament is all about focusing on us and the things that we can control," Stivrins said. "When our team does that and we focus on the controllables, and focus on us versus them, and not playing as individuals, we're pretty much unstoppable."