Nebraska Volleyball: Notes, quotes, everything Huskers said on Final 4 win

Nebraska volleyball and its nucleus of star freshmen and veteran juniors has broken through to the final day of the college volleyball season.

The No. 1-ranked and top tournament seed Huskers (33-1) swept fellow No. 1 seed Pitt (29-5) on Thursday night and are now set for a date with destiny against No. 2 seed Texas (27-4) in Sunday's NCAA Women's Volleyball National Championship (2 p.m CT on ABC). The Longhorns took down No. 1 seed Wisconsin (30-4) in the second national semifinal Thursday night.

Before we get to all of that over the next couple days, first let's take a look back at the Huskers' win over the Panthers in the Final Four round. Below are post-match notes, full press conference video and everything the Huskers said following their latest win in the NCAA Semifinals.

ENJOYING INSIDE NEBRASKA?

CONSIDER AN ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION for less than $2/week to unlock all of our premium articles and sound off on the hot topics on our INSIDER'S BOARD

=========================

>> With the win, Nebraska advanced to an NCAA Final for the 11th time in program history and for the fifth time in the past nine seasons. NU improved to 11-6 all-time in NCAA Semifinal matches, with the 11 trips to the NCAA Final ranking second in NCAA Division I history.

>> The Huskers have won their last four NCAA Semifinal matchups and five of their last six.

>> John Cook has led Nebraska to an NCAA Final for the eighth time in his 24 seasons. Cook is the third Division I coach to take one school to eight NCAA Finals, joining Russ Rose (10 at Penn State) and Don Shaw (8 at Stanford). Overall, Cook’s eight trips to the NCAA Final are tied with Shaw for third all-time among Division I coaches.

>> With the win, Nebraska improved to 33-1 on the season. The 33 wins tie for the second-most victories for Nebraska during the NCAA era (1981-present), one shy of the 34 wins by the 2000 Huskers.

>> Nebraska improved to 130-36 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers joined Stanford (138 wins) as the only two Division I programs with 130 NCAA Tournament wins.

>> NU improved to 14-0 all-time against Pittsburgh, including a 5-0 mark in the NCAA Tournament.

>> The Huskers moved to 11-0 all-time against ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament.

>> Cook improved to 89-19 in the NCAA Tournament as Nebraska’s head coach. He moved to 97-24 in his NCAA Tournament career. Cook ranks second all-time in career NCAA Tournament victories and NCAA Tournament wins at one school.

>> Tonight marked Cook’s 850th career victory (including his seven seasons at Wisconsin). Cook is just the 14th coach in NCAA Division I history to win 850 matches. He joins Florida’s Mary Wise (1,045) and Florida State’s Chris Poole (918) as the only active Division I head coach with 850 career wins.

>> The Huskers won the first two sets against Pittsburgh and improved to 101-1 in the NCAA Tournament when taking a 2-0 lead. Nebraska has won 100 consecutive postseason matches when winning the first two sets.

>> Nebraska had eight blocks in set one. That was a higher total than the Huskers had in 11 matches this season.

>> The Huskers recorded their 10th block on the 50th rally of the match. NU finished with 15 blocks, its fourth straight match with double-digit kills and 14th on the season.

>> In addition to the 15 blocks against Pitt, Nebraska had 17 blocks in its last match against Arkansas. The Huskers have recorded 15 blocks in consecutive matches for the first time since back-to-back matches against Michigan (15) and Illinois (16) in November of 2014.

>> Nebraska held Pittsburgh to a .137 attack percentage, which marked the Panthers' second-lowest percentage of the season and lowest since their season opener against BYU.

>> Bekka Allick had 10 blocks in the match, which tied the Nebraska all-time record for blocks in a three-set NCAA Tournament match. Only three times prior to tonight had a Husker had 10 stuffs in a three-set NCAA Tournament match: Melissa Elmer twice during the 2005 NCAA Tournament (Duke and Florida) and Amber Rolfzen in a 2014 first-round match against Hofstra.

>> Allick now has 22 blocks in her last two matches, averaging 3.1 blocks per set.

>> Allick and fellow middle Andi Jackson combined to hit .563 in the match with nine kills on 16 error-free swings.

>> Merritt Beason had four service aces in the match. The four aces were her most as a Husker and tied her career high.

>> Lexi Rodriguez had 14 digs in the match to increase her career total to 1,418. Rodriguez passed Kenzie Maloney (1,406) and Jordan Larson (1,410) to move into fifth place on Nebraska’s all-time digs list.

Opening statement:

"I thought it was a great effort on our part. Pittsburgh is a very good team. Just watching video on them, they had our respect. I thought this would be a really, really tough match, and I knew we'd have to play great to win.

"But I thought our team -- we talked about winning some close points. There were some ugly volleyball. We found a couple ways to win a couple points out of that, and I just thought our serving and blocking and defense really put some pressure on Pittsburgh.

"A lot of credit to them. They've had a great year. They've got a great team. They're very well-coached. I love the system that they run.

"It's a great effort for the Huskers."

Nebraska led 10-9 in third set then scored nine of next 10 points including four on aces. Did the Huskers see something in the Pitt defense or did the aces just happen?

"I just kept encouraging them to keep the service pressure on them. Sometimes when you get in a match like that, things aren't going, you can get a little tentative, and I just kept reminding them.

"Pittsburgh is a great serving team, as well, and I don't know what our aces to errors were, but there was some really tough serving going on out there on both sides. We kept talking about we got to keep serving them tough because they've got great hitters."

Overall thoughts on a match that pitted the nation's top-two defenses against each other:

"You look at the first game, either team did not hit well. As the match went on, it got more and more offensive and the numbers came up.

"But defense takes a lot of energy and emotion, and eventually that starts tapering off as the match goes on. But I'm looking here, we have 400 in Game 3 against the first or second best team in the country, but their numbers came up, too.

"But overall we did a really good job of holding them down and containing them. We never let them get really hot. Babcock in game two got a couple nice we call big kills, but again, we made some great adjustments and shut them down."

On the freshmen:

"I think they're all super competitors. That's their super power. They're competitors. They love to compete. The bigger the stage, the bigger the match, the harder they compete.

"That's the bottom line, is they're competitors, and they love to compete."

On Nebraska's in-game adjustments and its increased hitting percentage as the match progressed:

"Well, when Pittsburgh started out, we were on their tendencies, and a couple hitters started changing up what they were doing and we were just able to adjust right there with them, and we kind of kept -- it's like a prize fight. Somebody is hitting one shot and then all of a sudden they'll go to another and you've got to be able to counter that.

"I just think playing in the conference in the Big Ten, we have to do this every night. It's constant adjusting because the hitters are so good and they figure out what you're doing. It's just part of how we train and how we approach things. It's why we're one of the top defensive teams every year in the country. It's a big theme in our gym.

"The other key here is I'm looking at their side out percentage. They were in the 50s all three games, and that's -- a team as tough as that, to hold them down, that's a great effort on our part. Great effort."

How Cook has seen Pitt progress over the last three years as Huskers have now beaten Pitt in the 2021 and 2023 Final Four rounds

"Hey, they just went to three straight Final Fours. Tell me how many programs are doing that. They're an elite program now. That's going to continue with them. Coach Fisher has done a heck of a job, and they should be really -- Pittsburgh should be really proud of what they're doing. There's three straight Final Fours; that's not easy."

On a group defined by toughness and being different:

"I remember talking in the airport. I don't remember that. But these guys are tough.

"I think what I was trying to tell you is that they're different than the teams we've had in the last few years.

"These guys are, like we talked about, they're great competitors. They love the big matches. They love the big points. We found a way to win a lot of really close matches, and they've got something special in them.

"Everybody is seeing that, and that's why we won the Big Ten, to be able to go ten weeks and survive that, you've got to be something special."

Anything different in preparing for this national title match, especially with an extra day of rest?

"Well, this is new, the extra day. I've got to think about how we're going to manage that. I really don't know our schedule tomorrow yet. I just know the All-American banquet is in the morning and I'm supposed to be on some panel thing in the morning which I'm going to bail on.

"We'll do what we've done all year, but with the extra day here it'll be interesting, and of course Sunday is historic."

Most impressive part of pulling off a sweep in the national semifinals?

"What you just said, winning 3-0. I want to ask Nate when is the last time that happened, that we won a semifinal match 3-0. I mean, you're just trying to survive anyway when you get to this point, and to win 3-0 is, again, a testament to our team. They stayed with it.

"It was close there in Game 3, and we just found a way to pull away and kind of wear them down a little bit."

On the feeling of winning national Coach of the Year and then later seeing his team put on a dominant Final Four performance:

"Yeah, usually winning the Coach of the Year, it's not good. Whoever wins Coach of the Year usually loses in the semifinals.

"You know, but I think the Coach of the Year this year wasn't that I was better than any other coach. Pittsburgh, all these teams, there's so many great coaches, and every time we play teams and I watch them, I'm thinking, God, these guys are really well-coached.

"But I think the Coach of the Year deal was more about what we did with the sport of volleyball and how we inspired maybe a generation of volleyball and this rebirth of volleyball and this growth, and I think that was more what that was all about.

"I'll leave it at that. But it's pretty cool, and I haven't thought much about it since the banquet, and I'm really excited about the All-American Banquet tomorrow because we've got some players that are going to be honored, and well deserved."

No one will accuse you of backing into the national championship match, will they?

"No, but 2021 we were in the Finals there in game five. We're going to have to play a great match Sunday no matter who we play. When you get to the final two teams, you've got to bring out your best. I know these guys are going to do it."

Did it feel like you had a lot of out-of-system kills against Pitt?

"Well, either team was not playing great volleyball to start with, and you think about the nerves, the arena was about 35 degrees, and it's hard to get in a good rhythm to start off with.

"We know you're going to have to win some ugly volleyball, and we talk about that all the time, and we train it, and we talk about when we're out of system, we're in system, it doesn't matter to us. I thought we did a really good job of that tonight."

On the impact of the Huskers blocking so many touches:

"Well, you guys talk about the stuffed blocks, but every time we get a controlled touch it's a chance to score a point, and you try to get as many of those as you can, but again, that's great discipline by our block, and Pittsburgh goes fast, so if you can't stuff it, we're trying to slow it down for the diggers. Again, our block was really disciplined tonight.

What Cook saw and heard as he stayed on the bus during the Red Carpet Arrival:

"I didn't want to leave our bus driver -- I was on the bus, yeah. I didn't want to leave him alone, and I wanted to make sure nobody forgot something because typically somebody forgets something on the bus. So I kind of hang back there because if that guy locks it up, then we're done.

"Anyway, I heard it was amazing, long. Husker Nation showed up. There's no place like Nebraska. You guys can put that in the headline."

On how the block set the tone Thursday:

"I think just kind of what we always talk about is just using the scouting report. Coaches work really hard on that. The boys work really hard on putting that together.

"So just the biggest thing as a blocker is trusting what they've taught us and taking away their tendencies. When the opponent gets stressed they're going to try and hit their comfortable shot as hard as they can and usually that works out, so being able to take that away early on is something that pays off in the long run, and just staying disciplined and not trying to do too much."

Does Murray have a message to the doubters who didn't believe in a team full of freshmen?

"I feel like that's understandable. Five freshmen coming in and more than half of us contributing every single day. I think that's understandable that people would feel that way, but I think that that's what drives all of us. We want to prove people wrong.

"We talked about that at the beginning of the season, just because we're a young team, that should hold nothing against us. I think that is what motivates us. We want to prove people wrong and tell them it doesn't matter how old we are."

On how the Huskers maintained competitiveness and energy throughout the match:

"Yeah, you used the word "maintain," and that's not something that's really forced for us. That's just kind of who we are as a people. Being able to celebrate as hard and as ridiculously as we do, it's because we've invested so much into each other, and so to see each other succeed, it's just watching your friends go do their thing.

"And so when we're acting that way, that's just pure love, and that's just having a good time."

On pulling off an impressive block party under the spotlight of a national stage:

"Yeah, man. That's hard to put into words because you always talk about just, oh, you know, like when you're in-conference you always think there is next weekend if you want to do better.

"But you're at a point right now where you've got to have the clutch factor and you have to make it happen. I'm just blessed. I can tell you right now there were tons of prayers before this game just wanting to show up for my team because I'm aware of what I've done in previous games, and you always kind of wonder if you're able to do it again.

"So just giving myself the grace to do that and for it to actually happen, I'm happy that I can do it with them and for them."

On some huge saves leading to points that served as momentous moments against Pitt:

"Yeah, oh, my goodness, yes, long rallies, the ugly rallies, the stuff where's it's like you didn't really deserve it kind of point. Those things really frustrating as an opponent when you don't win them, and that was something that actually hurt us when we last played Wisconsin.

"I could tell you right now it wouldn't have been a sweep if we would've won those long rallies. So that was be a point we've been hammering ever since that game.

"So yeah, when we were being scrappy and it was paying off and we were actually getting the point, it's a huge momentum shift because it takes down the confidence of the other team because it becomes a point of desperation, wanting to get ball up and just over, and so when you actually win them, it's huge."

On the atmosphere at Amalie Arena feeling like a home match:

"That's actually a good question. A lot like it. I mean, Nebraska fans are no joke. They'll show out, whether we're at Rutgers or California, Hawai'i, even Brazil I think we even had some fans.

"Yeah, it was nice to be in an environment where you're supported, you see family and friends. It's a good team. It was a lot like Bob."

On her journey at Nebraska leading to reaching the national championship match:

"Yeah, I mean, it means everything to me and this team, and I think freshman year making it to the National Championship was just insane and unreal to me, and I was a baby, I was the freshman on the team, and last year wasn't a great season for us.

"We didn't make it as far as we wanted to. But we came back stronger this year, and I think making it all the way to the National Championship again as one of the older players is just really incredible, and we've worked really hard to get to this point. It's not easy to get to this point, and a lot of people don't see the work we do on and off the court.

"We're excited to be here and pumped for Sunday."

Batenhorst went kill, kill, block in Set 3 after whiffing on an out-of-system attack, which fueled her to that mini run:

"Yeah, I honestly was not expecting that from myself. Coach said all week or today, he was like, we're going to go for it, and we need to unleash if we're going to win this match. I took it to heart. I really went for it. No matter what set I got, I was going to go for it. When I did that, I was like, all right, that's embarrassing, and I'm going to move on.

"We talk about FRS, which is Failure Recovery System, and I took that to heart and I moved on and I came back stronger, and that's the mindset you've got to have in these matches, especially when it's so close.

Harper Murray to Batenhorst: "I feel like it kind of lit a fire in you."

"Yeah, it did. I was like, no this was not going to be the last -- nope, I was going to go for it. Not going to be tipping anything."

On the confidence of taking some big out-of-system swings in a match of this caliber:

"Yeah, we work on that in practice every day. Lexi obviously gives me great sets, but we work on that every day in practice, so just trusting my training and I know my team has my back."

How long do the Huskers allow themselves to celebrate before preparing for Sunday?

"I think we all know that we still have one goal that we want. So yeah, tonight is a great win for us, but at the end of the day, Sunday is our goal.

"We just have to stay focused on that and do everything we can to prepare for that match."

Felt like it's been a roller coaster filled with successes and struggles as a freshman?

"Yeah, but Lexi and Merritt are our two captains, and they've been in this position before. And Ally, Bekka all the upperclassmen, the girls older than us have been -- they've felt how we've felt before.

"I think our team does a great job of leaning on each other. No one on our team has ever made us feel like we're just freshmen. When we're struggling, it's not like, oh, they're a freshman, cut them some slack. Like it's never been like that.

"I think all the girls who are older than us do an amazing job of just keeping us on track. I was just telling Coach about it, like all the captains and all the girls, we just trust each other and we're there for each other.

"I think at the end of the day that's what keeps us going, because we want to play for each other like Bekka said, and it's just pure love."

=========================

MORE FROM INSIDE NEBRASKA:

>> Nebraska Transfer Portal HQ
>> Updated prediction as Huskers look to flip 5-star QB Raiola
>> Sources: McCord, Huskers part ways
>> Huskers have their eyes on portal DB
>> Nebraska lands OT from Las Vegas powerhouse