So the sweet 16 is in place. No surprise that NU is there. NU won both 3-0.
I’m impressed with the selection committee. Of the 16 teams, 15 were seeded 1-4 in the regional leaving only one non seeded team(Cal Poly who beat 5th seed BYU and 4th USC) to make the to 16.
I’ve been in seeding discussions for wrestling tournaments and if half the projected place winners actually place you did pretty well.
NU has Kansas coming up and likely Louisville to make the final four. I suspect Texas is the only team that can challenge NU.
Totally agree about the great job by the volleyball tournament committee. As usual, there was a lot of griping, but most of it was overwrought in my opinion. I also saw a blurb that 14 of the 16 teams were highly ranked in the preseason poll, so maybe the landscape was a little more predictable than usual?
The Nebraska team wasn’t quite as in control as usual against K State in round 2, but they still never seemed flustered. They swept Kansas pretty handily in the spring match, though that was the first match with their new coach Matt Ulmer. He’s good, so it seems likely they’ve progressed a lot since then. Still, I expect a Husker sweep.
The regional final may be the first real test of the tourney for the Huskers. Based on the season, I think Texas A&M has a decent chance of beating Louisville. I give it about even odds. If Logan Lednicky is on form, they are hard to beat. It may come down to how well the Texas setter Ella Swindle plays. She’s been inconsistent. Not sure yet which team I’d rather Nebraska face in the final, but think it probably doesn’t matter that much. Chloe Chicoine is a dynamic undersized OH, and that somewhat different attack can create problems for teams (like Nebraska) more used to facing very physical attackers.
Regardless, the team this year has been an absolute joy to watch!
GBR