Three Takes: Nebraska Volleyball sweep Florida State, advance to Sweet 16

No. 10 Nebraska Volleyball sweeps a tough Florida State team 25-20, 25-22, 25-17. They advance and will head to Austin, Texas to play Illinois in the Sweet 16 on Thursday, Dec. 9. The Fighting Illini upset No. 7 Kentucky, the 2020 National Champions on Saturday.

Here are my three takes on Nebraska's well-rounded win over the Seminoles:

Nebraska setter Nicklin Hames did a good job of diversifying the offense and going to many hitters. It also makes it easier on a setter when all of their hitters were doing well and putting away balls.

Left-side hitter Madi Kubik had 43 swings, the most off all the hitters. However, that is typical for the first left-side hitter. The rest of the hitters, including the middle blockers, had 21 to 26 attacks.

Even the kill numbers were similar. Kubik had 12 kill, Ally Batenhorst with 11, Lauren Stivrins had 10, Kayla Caffey added nine and Lindsay Krause had eight kills. As a team, Nebraska hit .262, including .349 in the third set.

"We have to be balanced so Nicklin did a really good job of getting everybody involved," Nebraska Head Coach John Cook said.

Running a balanced offense will be a huge emphasis for the Huskers as they travel to play Illinois and potentially take on No. 2 Texas or No. 15 Washington.

Freshman outside hitter Ally Batenhorst started against Campbell on Friday for the first time since Oct. 30 when Nebraska played Minnesota. Six-year senior Lexi Sun started for the eight-consecutive games following until Batenhorst earned the role back.

"Mentally, I've come a long way," Batenhorst said. "I think initially, whenever I was starting, I came in a little bit more tentative. And I feel like as the season went on, I kept working hard but things changed, obviously."

In her second game starting after the hiatus, Batenhorst had 11 kills, three errors and hit .308 against Florida State. In the first set, she hit .667 and had six kills on nine swings with no errors.

"I kind of developed a mindset where I wasn't gonna worry about anything, I was gonna go for it with full confidence and I think it really helped me out," Batenhorst said.

Batenhorst has struggled with consistency the most this season. She typically either hits zero or hits .300. There is not much of a middle ground with her.

If Cook decides to ride with her against Illinois, she will need to be consistent point-by-point and set-by-set. If not, Cook has shown he is not afraid to pull players and try someone different.

Nebraska's floor defense continues to frustrate offense after offense. The match against Florida State was no different.

The Seminoles hit .122, including .048 in the second set with only eight kills.

The Huskers had 71 digs, averaging over 23 digs per set.

"One of our strengths this year was defensively passing for the most part, but normally we're able to put down some of those balls and we were not being able to put them down all the time," Florida State Head Coach Chris Poole said.

The Seminoles still had 68 digs but Nebraska still managed to have 54 kills on 145 attacks. The number of digs on both sides reflects on long rallies but the Huskers found a way to win the majority.

"That can weigh on you, that can get frustrating," Poole said. "I thought Nebraska did a nice job of keeping the ball off the court."

The Huskers competition will be more difficult each round, if they continue to advance. Nebraska's defense will need to get tougher and tougher as well to keep up with the powerful offenses and serving.

As Cook says, "defense wins championships."