EXAMPLE OF THE CONTEST
• Nebraska will participate in a primetime season opener, the AVCA First Serve Showcase, on Tuesday, August 27 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
• No. 2 Nebraska plays its first game of the Division I season, taking on No. 9 Kentucky at 6 p.m. (CT). Wisconsin plays the second game of the doubleheader against Louisville. All four teams participating in the AVCA First Serve Showcase are ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll.

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska finished the 2023 season with a 33-2 record (19-1 Big Ten) and reached the NCAA Championship game, where they lost 3-0 to Texas in Tampa, Florida.
• The Huskers won the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2017 and head coach John Cook was named AVCA National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year.
• With four freshmen in the lineup, the Huskers won their first 27 games of the season and held onto first place from Oct. 23 through the end of the regular season.
• The Huskers, who had no seniors on their roster in 2023, return 10 letterwinners, including every starter.
• Opposite hitter Merritt Beason (first team), libero Lexi Rodriguez (first team), setter Bergen Reilly (second team) and outside forward Harper Murray (third team) were selected as 2023 AVCA All-America.
• Beason was the AVCA North Region Player of the Year, and Murray was both the AVCA North Region and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Reilly was the Big Ten Setter of the Year, and Rodriguez was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the second time.
• The Huskers are coming off 86.5 percent of their kills from 2023, 99.7 percent of their assists, 100 percent of their service aces, 96.2 percent of their digs and 79.4 percent of their blocks.
• Nebraska acquired two new signings through the transfer portal during the offseason in Minnesota winger Taylor Landfair and San Diego middle blocker Leyla Blackwell. Landfair, a 6-5 winger from Plainfield, Ill., is a senior for the Huskers but has two years of eligibility remaining after experiencing medical issues before the 2021 season. Landfair was the Big Ten Player of the Year and an AVCA first-team All-American in 2022 at Minnesota after posting 4.36 kills per set on .257 hitting with 1.63 digs per set. Blackwell, a 6-4 middle blocker from San Diego, Calif., was a three-time All-WCC selection at San Diego and averaged 2.25 kills and 1.24 blocks per set with a .329 hitting percentage last season. Blackwell led the Toreros to the 2022 NCAA semifinals by breaking the school record for block assists in a single season (152). She finished sixth nationally with 1.50 blocks per set.
• Nebraska has two freshmen on the roster who enrolled in January and played during the beach volleyball season. Skyler Pierce is a 6-2 outside hitter from Lenexa, Kan., and Olivia Mauch is a 5-6 libero from Bennington, Neb. Both Pierce and Mauch tied for the team lead with 18 wins during the beach volleyball season.

SCOUTING REPORT: KENTUCKY
• Kentucky finished last season with a 21-8 record and 17-1 mark in the SEC, which earned them the conference title. The Wildcats’ season ended in Lincoln with a 3-2 NCAA regional semifinal loss to Arkansas.
• Kentucky was selected third in the SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, behind Texas and Florida. Eleanor Beavin, Brooklyn DeLeye and Emma Grome were all Preseason-All SEC selections. Grome led the NCAA with 12.10 assists per set last season and was an AVCA second-team All-American for the third time in her career. DeLeye was the SEC Freshman of the Year last year, averaging a team-high 3.69 kills per set. Beavin averaged 4.09 digs per set and was an All-SEC selection last year.
• Kentucky toured overseas to Japan in May.

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 11-2 all-time against Kentucky. The Huskers have won 10 straight games in the series, including a 3-1 win in Lincoln last year.
• Kentucky’s last win over Nebraska was in 1983.
• Nebraska head coach John Cook has faced Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner, a Nebraska assistant from 2000-04, six times. The Huskers have won all six matches, three in sweeps and three in four sets.

HALL OF FAME COACH COOK IN YEAR 25 AT NU
• Nebraska head coach John Cook will enter his 25th season as Nebraska volleyball head coach in 2024. He has led the Huskers to four national championships, 11 Final Fours, 13 conference championships and 22 top-10 finals rankings since 2000.
• Cook has 850 career victories and is one of the all-time winningest coaches in NCAA history. Since taking over the program in 2000, Cook has led the Huskers to a nationally leading .873 winning percentage (689-100).
• Under Cook, the Huskers have earned 68 AVCA All-Americans and 20 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, both ranking among the nation’s best. He is a three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, earning the prestigious honor in 2000, 2005 and 2023, and an eight-time conference coach of the year, including Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2016, 2017 and 2023.
• In 2023, Cook was named AVCA National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading a young Nebraska team without seniors to its first Big Ten title since 2017. The Huskers finished the regular season 28-1 overall, their best regular-season record since 2005, when they went 28-1. After going 26-6 last year and missing the NCAA regional finals for the first time since 2011, the Huskers again started with a starting lineup that included four true freshmen and a junior transfer (Beason). Cook’s Huskers won their first 27 games of the season and held the No. 1 ranking from Oct. 23 through the end of the regular season. Despite having no seniors on the roster for the second time in his 24 years at Nebraska — and starting a true freshman at the setter position for the second time in Cook’s tenure — the Huskers secured the overall first seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and the sixth time under Cook.
• Cook was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2017, along with former Husker volleyball coach Terry Pettit.

RODRIGUEZ AMONG THE GREATEST NU LIBEROS OF ALL TIME
• Lexi Rodriguez is in the final year of a stellar career as the Huskers’ libero. A four-year starter and three-year team captain, Rodriguez will go down as one of the greatest players in Nebraska volleyball history.
• Rodriguez is a three-time AVCA All-American, earning first-team honors in 2021 and 2023, and second-team honors in 2022. She will attempt to join Kadie Rolfzen (2013-16) and Sarah Pavan (2004-07) as the only four-time All-Americans in program history.
• Rodriguez made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2021, winning the AVCA National Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Over the past two seasons, Rodriguez has led the Huskers to the nation’s No. 1 defense and won the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year again in 2023, becoming the fifth player in Big Ten history to win the honor twice in her career.
• Rodriguez enters the 2024 season with 1,424 career digs, which ranks fifth in school history. U.S. Olympian Justine Wong-Orantes is the career leader in assists at NU with 1,890.

BEASON BACK TO LEAD HUSKER OFFENSE AGAIN
• Opponent Merritt Beason made an immediate impact on the Nebraska volleyball program after transferring from Florida in 2023. She’s looking to take the next step in her senior season as a sophomore captain.
• Last year, Beason had a sensational season, being named AVCA first team All-America and AVCA North Region Player of the Year, becoming only the second Husker (Kelly Hunter) to receive the honor.
• Beason averaged a team-leading 3.76 kills per set on .282 hitting with 2.05 digs per set. She was named Big Ten Player of the Week four times and was the AVCA National Player of the Week on Oct. 23 after averaging 4.25 kills per set and 1.75 digs per set in wins over Northwestern and top-ranked Wisconsin.
• Beason was named MVP of the NCAA Lincoln Regional after recording 19 kills, 11 digs and a personal-best eight blocks in a regional final win over Arkansas.

KRAUSE WANTS TO CONTINUE WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
• Outside hitter Lindsay Krause was having the best year of her Husker career in 2023 before it ended with an ankle injury in mid-October. At the time of her injury, Krause was averaging 2.50 kills per set and hitting .285 for the season.
• Additionally, Krause had 2.82 kills per set with a .366 batting average in six Big Ten games, which was the most outside hitter in the Big Ten at the time.
• Krause was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Oct. 9 after posting season-high 15 kills on .519 hitting at Michigan and nine kills on .381 hitting at Michigan State.

DIFFERENT NAME, SAME GAME FOR ALLICK
• Junior middle blocker Rebekah Allick, who went by Bekka during her first two seasons as a Husker, decided after some off-season prayer to be called Rebekah, the name her father always gave her.
• Allick is a two-time AVCA All-Region and All-Big Ten second-team selection. Last season, she averaged 1.76 kills per set with a team-high 1.50 blocks per set, which was second among Big Ten players and seventh in the nation. Her 1.50 blocks per set also tied for the No. 2 mark in school history in the rally scoring era.
• Allick was at her best late in the 2023 season, with 12 blocks in the NCAA regional final against Arkansas, a personal best, and 10 blocks in the NCAA semifinal against Pittsburgh.
• In the last six matches of last season, Allick blocked an average of 2.40 times per set.

FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS BECOME SOPHIE
• Nebraska had four true freshmen returning for the 2023 season and all four are back as sophomores, ready to take their games to the next level.
• Setter Bergen Reilly was the 2023 Big Ten Setter of the Year, becoming the first freshman to win the award since it was created in 2012. Reilly was also an AVCA second-team All-American and an All-Big Ten first-team selection. Reilly led all Big Ten setters with 10.51 assists per set and earned four Big Ten Setter of the Week honors and two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
• Outside hitter Harper Murray is coming off a freshman season in which she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team, AVCA North Region Freshman of the Year and AVCA All-America Third Team. Murray was second on the team with 3.23 kills per set, the highest kills per set average by a Husker freshman since Kadie Rolfzen (3.46) in 2013. One of the Big Ten’s top six-rotation players, Murray also added 2.07 digs per set with a team-high 36 aces. She was Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times.
• Middle blocker Andi Jackson showed tremendous athleticism and potential when she first stepped onto the court as a Husker, and she followed it up with a strong debut season that included AVCA All-Region, All-Big Ten Second Team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. Jackson averaged 2.01 kills per set and 1.09 blocks per set with a .399 hitting percentage, which ranked third in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation. Her hitting percentage was the best ever by a Husker freshman and ranked seventh all-time in the rally-scoring era. Along with Reilly, Jackson helped the U.S. U21 National Team win the gold medal at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Toronto this summer, posting a .654 hitting percentage throughout the tournament with 39 kills and 10 blocks.
• Laney Choboy played in 34 games for the Big Red in 2023, averaging 1.82 digs per set with 37 assists and 14 aces. Known for her energetic play, the 5-3 defensive specialist unofficially led the team in highlight reels.