Nebraska volleyball fell one step short of its ultimate goal: Winning a national championship on top of its Big Ten title.

The Huskers, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, were dropped by No. 2 seed Texas in absolutely dominant fashion on Sunday, getting swept 25-22, 25-14, 25-11 in the national title match to put a sour note on a tremendous and exhilarating Husker season.

The Longhorns (28-4) won their second consecutive national title after taking control from end-to-end and stunning the Huskers (33-2), who end the season having lost its only two games of the year via sweeps to teams ranked in the Top 5 of the final Top 25 rankings (No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 5 Texas).

Let's take a look back at what happened in Tampa.

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Nebraska appeared to have some jitters right out of the gate but seemed to settle in throughout Set 1. Texas, rather, was the one imploding late in the first set as the Huskers pulled to within a 22-22 tie via a 3-0 run that came on the back of Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott losing his composure and being dealt a red card.

The Huskers held serve and were in prime position to battle back from deficits of 17-14 and 20-16. But the Longhorns played like champions all day, never more so than the end of Set 1 when they rattled off the final three points of the set on a block, kill and ace.

From there, the route was pretty much on.

Nebraska held an early 10-7 lead in the second set after a 6-1 run, but the Longhorns exploded with an 11-0 run – fueled by four consecutive aces by Asjia O'Neal – to take a commanding 18-10 lead.

In Set 3, the Huskers scratched their way to a 7-5 deficit after digging themselves an early four-point hole. Just like in the second set, though, the Longhorns showed what they were made of, dominating during a 12-5 run to put the clamps down, and that run ultimately became a championship-winning 18-6 run.

Nebraska was looking to repeat history on Sunday. The Huskers got it, just not in the way they had hoped.

Let's take you back, as we did just 10 days ago after Nebraska powered past Arkansas in the Elite Eight, to that fateful 2005 season.

That year, the Huskers began the season 28-0 with just seven games remaining to complete the second undefeated season in program history (2000) and just the fourth-ever undefeated season (at the time) in college volleyball since the first year of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament in 1981.

On the last day of the regular season, though, the Huskers fell to Texas, their biggest conference rival (Big 12) for their only loss ahead of the postseason. They then proceeded to storm through the bracket, winning five consecutive matches by winning 15 of 15 sets for a perfect 5-for-5 run of sweeps before the national championship match. Nebraska then faced Washington for the title, got overwhelmed immediately out of the gate, watched the Huskies thoroughly control the match throughout, and ultimately Nebraska couldn't put enough together en route to being swept – a very rare sweep for a program that hadn't gotten swept in three years – despite being widely viewed as the no-doubt best team in the country.

This season, the Huskers began the year 27-0 with just eight games left to reach that incredible undefeated height. But then they lost on the second-to-last day of the regular season to Wisconsin, their biggest conference rival (Big Ten) for their only loss ahead of the postseason. Then, Nebraska blitzed through the bracket, winning 15 of 16 sets and pulling out sweeps in 4 of 5 matches during a five-game winning streak before playing for a ring. Nebraska then faced Texas for the chance of transforming an unforgettable season into a truly magical one. But, just like on the final day of that 2005 postseason run, the Huskers got completely overwhelmed right away, and though they weathered the storm momentarily, that brief bounce-back disappeared en route to getting dominated in the championship match.

The fact that it was at the hands of Texas perhaps makes it all a little more of a painful twist of fate (though not as badly as if it had been against Wisconsin, I guess) given the Longhorns having ended the unbeaten flow in '05.

Nebraska had hoped that the postseason series history between the two would bode well on Sunday in Tampa. The Huskers and Horns had met twice before in the national title bout with Nebraska winning both times to capture a championship (1995 and 2015).

Instead, it was the second consecutive national championship for the Longhorns, who are now 56-6 over the last two title-winning seasons (28-1 last season; 28-4 this season) ever since Nebraska ended their season in 2021 in the Elite Eight on the Longhorns' home court.

Merritt Beason poured in an absolutely lethal performance on the final day of the regular season, putting up 21 kills with just five errors on .302 hitting with nine digs and five total blocks in an absolutely dominant, Gopher-shattering performance against Minnesota.

It looked like Beason was angry that she wasn't named Big Ten Player of the Year and that she was taking it out on the ball in a seemingly momentum-building performance ahead of the postseason.

Beason, though, didn't really get unlocked across the first three rounds before she appeared to get unlocked against Arkansas. Then, she reverted back to the type of performance she had through the Sweet 16 but a step below the level she's capable of with just eight kills and four digs with seven errors on a season-low 0.038 hitting.

In Sunday's title match, Beason struggled to an even tougher tune, finishing with a negative hitting percentage (-0.059) with four errors and only three kills (tying her season-low, only matched by her three kills against Omaha on Volleyball Day in Nebraska) while tallying just two total blocks and four digs.

The Huskers' top veteran hitter struggled and so, too, did their top rookie hitter.

It's a shame that the 2023 season ended the way it did for Harper Murray. But it also lined up with how her season flowed.

The true freshman Murray displayed a lot of reasons why she was the No. 1 overall recruit in America's 2023 signing class many times throughout her rookie campaign. She also struggled through up-and-down inconsistencies all season long. And that's how things ended for the ultra-talented freshman.

Murray had arguably her best two-game run of her entire freshman year in the postseason, fueling the Huskers in the Elite Eight and Final Four by combining for 28 kills, adding 17 digs and five blocks with 12 errors in wins over Arkansas (15 kills, 12 digs, three blocks, six errors) and Pittsburgh (game-high 13 kills, five digs, two blocks, six errors).

In Sunday's national title match, however, we saw the same growing pains from Murray. She finished with 7 kills (which was actually a team-high), five digs and three blocks, but there were so many times in which she didn't look totally comfortable or in any sort of rhythm. Beason was not at her best against Pitt in the Final Four, but Murray was one of the driving forces as she was able to pick Beason up. Wasn't the case on Sunday.

And Husker hitter Ally Batenhorst struggled the most of any Husker in the title match. Like Beason, Batenhorst also finished with a negative hitting percentage (-.214) with two kills and five errors and recording just one block.

That's pointing out just three Huskers – including their two most prominent (and healthy) outside hitters in Beason and Murray – but nobody on Nebraska's roster played well.

The Huskers finished with 20 kills to 19 errors and finished with an awful .013 hitting percentage. Meanwhile, the Longhorns put up a .264 hitting percentage with 38 kills to just 14 errors. The biggest difference, though, was one that Cook commented on during his TV interview between the second and third sets: the Longhorns' outstanding service.

Texas racked up an astounding 12 aces on the day, compared to just two for the Huskers. Errors, hitting percentage and aces. Those are the clear-cut three main differences. In addition to the Longhorns getting star performances from their stars (Madisen Skinner's game-high 16 kills to just seven errors on .273 hitting with two aces; O'Neal's five aces with four kills and just one error on .375 hitting) and Nebraska's stars not matching the same output.

The difference in experience was stark on Sunday.

Texas rolled out a lineup featuring four seniors and four juniors to surround its freshman and sophomore talent while the Huskers deployed five juniors and zero seniors on a team loaded with freshman (five) and sophomore (four) contributors.

For one day, that experience won out. It's not going to make anyone feel much better right now in all likelihood, not as the Huskers once again (for the sixth time in program history) finished second fiddle as the national runner-up.

But ... the Huskers will be back. Maybe the transfer portal changes things, but Nebraska will have a team projected to return its entire 2024 roster – one year stronger, one year wiser and one year more experienced. It has to be exciting to think about what the future holds in store for this young and successful crew of stars. Even if a magical season ended in frustrating fashion.

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