Huskers have 4 days to prepare for Ohio St

My name is Mylie Ketterson and I am a new writer here at Corn Nation.

I was born and raised in Nebraska and have always had a love for Nebraska sports. I fell more in love with Husker volleyball when I graduated college in May 2022 and moved to Lincoln. I went to school at Midland University and played women’s hockey for four years so the student athlete grind is no stranger to me. I am excited to be writing and look forward to what is ahead in this journey. As always, GBR!

With four days in between matches, the Huskers are preparing to start B1G play on Friday when they take on Ohio State and Sunday vs. Minnesota. This will, hopefully, be enough time for OH Lindsay Krause and DS Laney Choboy to recover from injuries.

Krause was injured when she got rear-ended in Lincoln earlier in the week. Choboy was injured during a collision with a teammate during the Stanford match. These two were notably absent during the Kentucky match and will be needed heading into Friday and Sunday.

Merritt Beason and Harper Murray received B1G honors on Monday. Beason was named B1G Player of the Week and Murray was named B1G Freshman of the Week. Beason had 4.00 kills per set and hit .354 along with 1.88 digs per set against Stanford and Kentucky. Murray averaged 3.63 kills per set and had a .349 hitting percentage with 2.00 digs per set in those matches as well. Well done ladies!

#2 Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. #21 Ohio State Buckeyes

It is no secret that Ohio State is one of the forces in the B1G conference and have given Nebraska some stiff competition the last few years. The Buckeyes have started the season 3-6 with losses to #13 Georgia Tech twice, #4 Stanford, #6 Oregon, #9 Texas, and #18 Baylor. These six losses all come in a row leading into the match against Nebraska.

This season, they are returning one All-American in senior OH Emily Londot. She has 170 kills and is hitting .242 on the year so far. She will need to be contained at the net along with senior Rylee Rader. In their match against Oregon, Rader totaled 10+ kills and had no errors hitting .579 for the match. Londot and Rader will also be very present at the net on defense recording 17 and 20 blocks on the year, respectively.

Like Nebraska’s Bergan Reilly, a freshman won Ohio State’s setter battle. Mia Tuman has been getting in on the action this year for the Buckeyes. She has been very present defensively for this team with 76 digs on the year and 2.24 a set. Even though the Buckeyes have 6 straight losses, the sets have all been close for the most part with some even going above 25 points.

Nebraska will need to shut down both Rader and Londot on offensive to lock in a win against a Buckeye team that is looking to get out of a six game losing streak hole. Nebraska’s offense in Merritt Beason, Harper Murray, and Andi Jackson will need to be on their game to beat this hungry Buckeye team.

#2 Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. #12 Minnesota Golden Gophers

This Minnesota team is 4-4 right now, but they are still a tough group of girls who shouldn’t be taken lightly. This Golden Gophers team has also surprised me with their, some would say, slow start to the season. They are currently 4-4 and look to be over .500 with a win against Iowa before coming into the Devaney Center on Sunday to play the #2 Huskers. The four losses they have suffered have been to #9 Texas, #3 Florida, #6 Oregon, #4 Stanford, and, #11 Creighton.

On the Minnesota offense, McKenna Wucherer will be one to watch. She already has 108 kills and is hitting .236 on the season. Even though she is only a sophomore, she is looking to become a household name on this Minnesota offense.

The Golden Gophers have one returning All-American from last season in Taylor Landfair. She earned First Team honors. Landfair is a Redshirt Junior this year and is looking to return to this All-American spot. She is hitting .123 on the year on 79 kills. This is lower than last year when she hit .257, but it is still early and she is someone the Huskers defense needs to keep an eye on.

Wucherer and Landfair are also unstoppable on defense combining for 107 digs already. Senior setter Melani Shaffmaster looks to keep rolling as well. She, alone, has 107 digs on the season while adding 31 kills. She will put the ball in all the right spots for her hitters while sneaking in a couple points for herself.

Minnesota’s coach, Keegan Cook, is in his first season with the Golden Gophers and is taking over for Hugh McCutcheon. This coaching change is what led Laney Choboy to Nebraska so all I can say is thank you to the Gophers. He spent the past eight seasons with the University of Washington.

For the Husker offense, Merritt Beason leads the team in kills now and looks to continue this against Ohio State and Minnesota. She is coming off of an amazing week against two high caliber teams. To say we hope that Laney Choboy is back is an understatement.

In her absence, the Huskers played around with the DS position a little bit during the Kentucky match. Ally Batenhorst and Harper Murray are just two that ended up in that position. While these two filled it well, Batenhorst and Murray are needed more at the net when it comes to attacking and blocking, then they are in the back court.

This week looks to be exciting with Nebraska battling two strong B1G opponents right out of the gate. They will need to avoid a big third set slump that has sucked them in for the past three matches and they will need to continue to lower their serving errors number to be successful against Ohio State and Minnesota.