Nebraska volleyball arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, Wednesday for the Regional rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The fifth-seeded Huskers (27-4, 17-3 Big Ten) practiced Thursday before meeting with the media to talk about the matchup with 12th-seeded Hawaii (26-3, 14-2 Big West).
“We just had a pretty intense practice,” Coach John Cook said Thursday. “It’s always better when I have to blow the whistle to stop because it’s getting too intense than to ask them to go harder. I think they’re excited to play and I think we’ve had a really good week of training hard but also making sure they’re rested going into this weekend. You’ve got to play back-to-back at this level and you’re going to have to dig deep. You’ve got to make sure they’re rested. I feel like we had a really good schedule this week, so we’ll turn them loose [Friday].”
This is the 12th all-time meeting between Nebraska and Hawaii. The two traditional powers last played in 2007, a Nebraska sweep in Lincoln. The Huskers and Rainbow Wahine have played twice in the NCAA Tournament with Nebraska winning an NCAA Semifinal 3-1 in 2000, coach John Cook’s first season, and Hawaii beating the Huskers 3-1 in a Regional Final in Lincoln in 2002.
First serve from Madison is set for 3:30 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed at WatchESPN.com and via the ESPN app. The winner will face the winner of fourth-seeded Wisconsin and 13th-seeded Texas A&M. The Badgers and Aggies face off at 1 p.m.
Watch the Huskers’ full press conference from Madison below.
