Nebraska Volleyball: Notes, quotes, bracket set as Huskers preview Final 4

Nebraska volleyball is on to Tampa.

The Huskers, the No. 1-ranked team in the country for the last seven weeks and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament, have reached another Final Four.

Nebraska (32-1, 19-1 Big Ten champions) will be on its way to Amalie Arena in Florida for this year's Final Four on the back of a dominant run through the Sweet 16 – featuring sweeps over Long Island University, No. 8 seed Missouri and No. 5 seed Georgia Tech – and then outlasting No. 3 Arkansas in four sets in yesterday's Elite Eight battle.

It all sets up the Huskers to take on another No. 1 seed, Pittsburgh (29-4), in the national semifinals on Thursday.

Scroll below for the Nebraska Regional All-Tournament Team, post-match notes, an updated bracket and the Huskers' reaction to winning another Regional championship and reaching another NCAA Semifinal – including full press conference video and transcripts.

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Merritt Beason was named MVP of the Nebraska Regional after fueling the Huskers in their four-game run to the Final Four with 13.8 kills per match – including 19 kills in the Elite Eight, tying her sixth-best output of the entire season – plus 19 total blocks at an average of 4.8 blocks per match, including her season-best eight total blocks against Arkansas.

In addition to Beason, setter Bergen Reilly and libero Lexi Rodriguez were named to the Nebraska Regional All-Tournament Team.

NEBRASKA REGIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:

Merritt Beason, Nebraska (MVP)

Bianca Bertolino, Georgia Tech

Azhani Tealer, Kentucky

Maggie Cartwright, Arkansas

Jillian Gillen, Arkansas

Bergen Reilly, Nebraska

Lexi Rodriguez, Nebraska

All games Saturday, all times Central and all games will be broadcast on ESPNU/ESPN+

FINAL FOUR:

1 Nebraska (32-1) vs. 1 Pittsburgh (29-4)

1 Wisconsin (30-3) vs. 2 Texas (26-4)

>> Time/TV: Semifinal No. 1 at 6 p.m. CT, Semifinal No. 2 to follow (both on ESPN)

>> Date: Thursday, Dec. 14

>> Location: Amalie Arena (Tampa, Fla.)

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NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

>> Time/TV: 2 p.m. CT on ABC

>> Date: Sunday, Dec. 17

>> Location: Amalie Arena (Tampa, Fla.)

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ELITE EIGHT RESULTS:

Pittsburgh Regional:

1 Pittsburgh def. 2 Louisville in reverse sweep, 3-2

Nebraska Regional:

1 Nebraska def. 3 Arkansas, 3-1

Wisconsin Regional:

1 Wisconsin def. 2 Oregon, 3-1

Stanford Regional:

2 Texas def. 1 Wisconsin, 3-1

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>> Nebraska advanced to an NCAA Semifinal for the 17th time in program history and for the sixth time in the past nine seasons. The Huskers’ 17 NCAA Semifinals rank second in NCAA history, and Nebraska’s six semifinal appearances since 2015 lead the nation.

>> Cook has led Nebraska to an NCAA Semifinal for the 10th time in his 24 seasons. Cook becomes the fourth Division I coach to take one school to 10 NCAA Semifinals, joining Russ Rose (Penn State), Andy Banachowski (UCLA) and Jerritt Elliott (Texas).

>> With the win, Nebraska improved to 32-1 on the season. The 32 wins tie for the most by a Nebraska team since the 2006 team won 33 matches (33-1).

>> Nebraska improved to 129-36 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers rank second in NCAA history in postseason wins and winning percentage (.782).

>> Nebraska improved to 17-15 all-time in Regional Final matches, including a 9-5 record in matches played in Lincoln.

>> The win was Nebraska’s 22nd consecutive home victory in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 2013. The 22-match home postseason win streak ties for the longest in program history, as Nebraska also won 22 consecutive home NCAA Tournament matches from 1995 to 2002.

>> NU improved to 83-7 all-time in home NCAA Tournament matches, including 28-2 at the Devaney Center.

>> Nebraska finished the 2023 season with a 21-0 home record. The Huskers posted a perfect home record for the first time since 2017 (17-0) and for the 18th time in school history.

>> The Huskers’ 21 home victories are a school record, eclipsing the 20 home victories during the 2005 season.

>> The attendance for today’s match was 8,713. NU set an all-time NCAA record for any female sport with a total home attendance of 264,666 fans in 2023.

>> NU improved to 4-0 all-time against Arkansas, including a 2-0 mark in the NCAA Tournament.

>> The Huskers moved to 12-0 all-time against SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament.

>> Cook improved to 88-19 in the NCAA Tournament as Nebraska’s head coach. He improved to 96-24 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 Arkansas and are 100-1 in the NCAA Tournament when taking a 2-0 lead. Nebraska has won 99 consecutive postseason matches when winning the first two sets.

>> Arkansas came back to win the third set, handing Nebraska its first set loss of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers had won their first 11 sets of the postseason.

>> Arkansas took a 3-2 lead in the first set, marking the first time Nebraska trailed at any point in the first two sets in the NCAA Tournament. NU never trailed in either set one or set two in its first three NCAA Tournament matches.

>> Nebraska totaled a season-high 17 blocks in the match, eclipsing its previous high of 15 blocks at Minnesota on Nov. 25.

>> Bekka Allick had a career-high 12 blocks in the match (her previous career high was 10 at Minnesota on Nov. 25, 2023). Allick's 12 blocks were the most by a Husker in an NCAA Tournament match during the rally-scoring era (since 2001), breaking the record of 10, which was accomplished seven times by five Huskers. Allick's 12 blocks were just one shy of the Nebraska record for any NCAA Tournament match, including the sideout scoring era.

>> Beason had 19 kills in the match. She has produced double-digit kills in 17 of her last 18 matches, including all four matches of the NCAA Tournament.

>> Beason has 444 kills this season. She moved into the top 10 on Nebraska's single-season kills list, passing Mikaela Foecke (441 in 2017) and Sarah Pavan (443 in 2005) for the ninth-most single-season kills by a Husker in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).

>> Beason also had eight blocks, matching her career high. She also had eight blocks against LSU last season while playing for Florida.

>> Rodriguez had 20 digs in the match to increase her career total to 1,404. Rodriguez became the seventh player in school history to total 1,400 career digs. The 20 digs marked the 11th time in her career that Rodriguez has recorded 20 or more digs.

Opening statement:

“Our crowd was unbelievable today. Regional finals are the hardest matches to win. Our players really showed some grit and hung in there when things were ugly and found a way to win. We are extremely happy and I’m really proud of our team for the grit and resilience they showed today.

On being down and fighting back:

“I think in a Regional Final that’s a great comeback. We had to make some great plays. I think that really took some momentum out of Arkansas, but of course they came back in game three great and really took it to us. Then in game four it was just back and forth, back and forth. We had so many chances to really make some runs on them in game four, but you got to give them credit. They don’t let the ball hit the floor. I had to keep telling our team that they had to play the whistle because they just find amazing ways to get it up and send it back over. You think you can take advantage of their blockers but we didn’t do a very good job of that. We just couldn’t kill many balls over the setter. She had a lot of really great touches and they are a really good team. They play really good volleyball.”

On what it means for this group to go play in the Final Four:

“I told them that I’m really proud of them. Really proud of Merritt (Beason) and Lexi (Rodriguez). Merritt is leading four freshmen. We have no seniors. Same with Lexi. Sometimes it is wild to put it mildly. These guys are talented. I’m just really, really proud of them. I’m having a hard time putting it into words. It will come to me at some point, but they’ve done an amazing job. They’ve had a lot of close matches and I told them it’s the connections and the relationships they have with each other. That is what allows teams to be able to do that.”

On being down and coming out on top:

“We just told each other that we do it every day in practice. We play games like that most days in practice to put us in that situation. We’ve done that a lot this season and like I said, we do it a lot in practice. So just reminding ourselves that we can and trying to not let the outside factors and the doubt slip into our minds and just reminding ourselves that we literally do it all the time. Like Coach said, winning the deuce games is what’s been really important for us this year, and we’ve been doing that all season.”

On what it means to make it to the Final Four:

“That is one of the reasons why I chose to come to Nebraska. I knew the tradition and the legacy that this program had. I knew that was a staple of this program. That was something that I wanted to be a part of. That is something that me and Coach talked about a lot from the getgo was that was their goal and I wanted to be in on that. It’s just so special to be a part of and for it to actually be happening now. I knew that I was walking into a very high level, very competitive program and that’s what I wanted. That’s ultimately why I chose to come here so it’s special and I’m just so proud of this team and all that we’ve done this year. We’ve worked really, really hard to be in this position on and off the court. Culture, relationships and all that stuff, so I’m just really proud of us. It’s really cool to see it all start to pay off.”

On Bekka Allick’s play:

“It was huge and we knew that going in, like Bergen (Reilly) said they run a very fast tempo especially to their outsides. Their outsides get a lot of sets and we knew that was going to be a very big factor of this game, whether or not we could manage that. Like Bergen said, that was our job. Other than one rotation we were just supposed to go to the outside. For Bekka (Allick) to also be in on that and she obviously had a really tough job. Her and Andi (Jackson) both with how fast it was, so I just thought it was so awesome. She is a huge piece of our defense game day in and day out and game in and game out. For her to be in that position and for her to play as well as she did tonight, it was really, really special. She almost was crying like three points before the game was over. She just wants it so bad, so I was just really happy for her.”

On the crowd and atmosphere:

“It’s definitely up there. You could tell from point one and from intros it was going to be electric in there. It’s just really cool to be a part of and the crowd kept it going through the entire match, which is hard to do. Props to them.”

On how fast Arkansas’ offense was:

“They run a really fast offense. It was kind of our jobs to be there against the outsides. It was tough and they have really good shots and a lot of times when teams go that fast they can only hit one shot, but they did a really good job of still mixing up their shots even with that fast of an offense. They were tough to defend, but I think just us staying disciplined and being ready for all those shots is what won us that game.”

On taking a final lap around Devaney:

“It was really cool. Everyone says there is no place like Nebraska. Our fans come out and they prove it every single night and every single game. Just kind of cool to be able to give back to them a little bit and just say thank you to them just by doing that little thing.”

Opening statement:

“I think first and foremost I’d like to thank the University of Nebraska for putting on an event like this. It’s no easy task to bring three teams in and to create an environment that replicates a championship environment. I appreciate the hard work that a lot of people have done on behalf of us and certainly on behalf of the sport. We’ve been well taken care of over here. We’re disappointed clearly because we’re competitive people. But in that same sense, we’re incredibly proud of our team. Few of you will ever realize how much they’ve had to pay to get to this point. We joked about it yesterday, that last four out graphic and that’s disappointing but they’ve paid a heavy price to get to this point and they’ve certainly shifted the paradigm of volleyball on our campus and certainly I think within the state of Arkansas and so I’m incredibly proud of the work that they’ve done and thankful to be a small part of it.”

On Nebraska’s defense:

“It was the quality of that defense, it wasn’t just the fact that they were creating those chances. Those chances were quality chances that they’re able to turn and we talked a little about that yesterday in that phase and I think that was what really challenged us there in that second set. Then I thought we were able to absorb that. I think Zoi (Evans) made some really quite remarkable moves on 13 (Merritt Beason) and she had gotten away from us I think in set one and set two and that was the difference and then I thought as Maggie (Cartwright) said, I thought our serving picked up and it kind of disrupted their first ball side out but Maggie went on a nice run in that set three and that’s what we have to do. We have to serve well and our serving gives us a chance there in that phase. I thought our serving plan tonight was really good actually. I thought we pressured them from the service line quite a bit.”

On Nebraska’s adjustments on blocking:

“I don’t know if I saw what you saw but certainly they were taking away some seam shots for us that we were trying to, we were trying to paint some edges but early we weren’t able to do that as well as we needed to do. That’s a tight block in an out of system situation. They’re really well-discipled blocking in that phase. In set two that really kind of got to us a little bit but then I thought our middles did a nice job of creating some seams for us as the match went on we kind of settled a little bit. I thought Courtney Jackson passed incredibly well. I think she covers more balls than I know. She’s really good at that. It’s disappointing that they don’t put that in the stat line but she was pretty good at that tonight and kept us alive in a lot of rallies.”

On what this season means:

“I think it means everything to us. Being a senior is not always easy but I think everyone, we go in every day and work really hard and I think the season means everything. We get this far and come up kind of short. The goal is to win it all. I think we’ve dedicated a lot of time, just crap loads of time actually and so it means everything. We breathe this sport so we can’t say more about it.”

On handing Nebraska its first set loss of the tournament:

“Going off of that, I think we go into every game knowing we can and so coming short in that first set, we regrouped after the second set and we just kept fighting.”

On the difference between the second and third sets:

“I think just settling in. This was a crazy environment and I think we played really well in the fourth, just sometimes it doesn’t go your way. I think after the second set, we knew that wasn’t us so coming on the third set, we passed well and we served pretty aggressive and I think that helped us and put us in a good position to give our hitters a really good offense.”

On quieting the crowd:

“Yeah it’s cool, you come in here and it’s loud and I think it hypes everyone up, both teams but it was cool because we’re the three seed and they’re the one and so I think we come in and people don’t really expect us to put up a challenge and I think we did so it’s kind of cool to play our game and quiet everyone down.”

On handing Nebraska its first set loss of the tournament:

“We got heart. Everybody puts in a lot. None of us want to go out like that obviously so it means a lot to us that we were able to fight.”

On playing with Jill Gillen, Maggie Cartwright and Taylor Head:

“These have become some of my best friends. It means everything. You’re not going to find people that are better to learn from than those three and any of the seniors and any of the players we have on this team so it means everything to learn from them an even better to be playing beside them. They believe in me so much and I believe in them so it’s been amazing.”