Huskers Host Ameritas Players Challenge to Begin Season

TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
• The fifth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team officially starts the 2023 season by hosting the Ameritas Players Challenge this weekend at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
• On Friday, Lipscomb plays SMU at 3 p.m., and Nebraska plays Utah State at 6 p.m.
• On Saturady, SMU plays Utah State at 2 p.m., and Nebraska plays Lipscomb at 5 p.m.
• On Sunday, Utah State plays Lipscomb at 11 a.m., and Nebraska plays SMU at 2 p.m. 
• Doors will open 60 minutes prior to the start of the first match each day. 
• Friday night’s match vs. Utah State will be televised on Nebraska Public Media. Larry Punteney and Kathi Wieskamp will be on the call. All three Nebraska matches this weekend will be streamed online at B1G+ (BigTenPlus.com, subscription required). 
• The Huskers Radio Network will broadcast all the action on their radio affiliates, including 107.3 FM in Lincoln and AM 590 in Omaha. A live audio stream will be provided at Huskers.com and on the Huskers app. 
• John Baylor is in his 30th season doing play-by-play for the Husker volleyball program. Lauren (Cook) West, a former All-America setter for the Huskers, will provide color commentary.

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska is coming off a 26-6 (16-4 Big Ten) season and second-place finish in the Big Ten. The Huskers advanced to an NCAA regional semifinal, where they lost to Oregon in five sets. NU ended the year at No. 9 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, its 11th straight year finishing in the top 10 of the AVCA poll. 
• Nebraska had a nation-leading opponent hitting percentage of .128 this season. Junior libero and co-captain Lexi Rodriguez is back to lead the Huskers defensively once again. Rodriguez is a two-time AVCA All-American and is 12 digs away from reaching 1,000 for her career. 
• Sophomore middle blocker Bekka Allick was named to the AVCA All-Region Team in 2022 after finishing her first season as a Husker with 1.89 kills per set, 1.01 blocks per set and a team-high .326 hitting percentage. Allick was an All-Big Ten Second Team and a unanimous All-Big Ten Freshman Team member. 
• Junior opposite hitter Merritt Beason was an All-SEC and AVCA All-Region selection as a sophomore at Florida in 2022 before transferring to Nebraska and being named a team captain for the 2023 season. In her sophomore season at Florida, Beason helped the Gators win a share of the SEC Championship by averaging 3.35 kills per set with a .261 hitting percentage.
• Junior outside hitter Lindsay Krause averaged 2.25 kills per set with a .269 hitting percentage and totaled 44 blocks and 45 digs last season. Over the final 12 matches of the season, Krause averaged 2.72 kills per set with a .359 hitting percentage. 
• Ally Batenhorst posted 2.33 kills per set to go with 1.06 digs per set in 2022. The junior outside hitter was named to the Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team after 15 kills and 12 digs against No. 9 Oregon in the NCAA regional semifinal. 

HUSKERS RANKED NO. 5 IN AVCA PRESEASON POLL
• Nebraska is ranked in a tie for fifth in the preseason AVCA Coaches Poll. 
• The Huskers have been ranked in the top 10 a total of 543 times, which is also the most in NCAA history.
• Nebraska has appeared in all 604 AVCA Coaches Polls it has been eligible for since it was established in 1982. Nebraska is the only program to be ranked in every eligible poll all-time.
• Nebraska’s 604 consecutive weeks of being ranked is the longest active streak in Division I for any sport, leading Connecticut women’s basketball and North Carolina women’s soccer.
• Nebraska has been ranked No. 1 in 102 all-time polls, the most in NCAA history. 

AVCA HALL OF FAMER JOHN COOK IN 24TH SEASON AT NEBRASKA
• Nebraska head coach John Cook is in his 24th season as the Nebraska volleyball head coach in 2023. He has led the Huskers to four national championships, 10 final fours, 12 conference championships and 21 top-10 final rankings since 2000. 
• Cook has 817 career wins 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 nation-leading .870 win percentage (656-98). 
• Under Cook, the Huskers have achieved 64 AVCA All-Americans and 20 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, both among the best in the nation. He is a two-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, earning the prestigious honor in 2000 and 2005, and a seven-time conference coach of the year, including Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017, his first and second Big Ten honors with the Huskers in their Big Ten era (2011-present).
• Cook is one of only two active coaches - and one of six all-time - to be a two-time AVCA National Coach of the Year and was honored in 2008 by USA Volleyball, receiving its All-Time Great Coach Award.
• Cook was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2017, joining former Husker volleyball coach Terry Pettit in the hall. 

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 2-2 all-time against Utah State. The last time the teams played was in 1983, a 3-0 Husker win. 
• Nebraska and Lipscomb have never played. 
• Nebraska and SMU have never played. 

SCOUTING REPORT: UTAH STATE
• Utah State went 22-11 last year and won the Mountain West Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, where the Aggies fell 3-0 to Arkansas. The Aggies return six starters from that team. 
• Utah State was picked tied for first in the Mountain West preseason coaches poll. Senior outside hitter Tatum Stall and senior libero Jordi Holdaway were on the All-Mountain West Preseason Team. 
• Stall, who was named All-Mountain West in 2022, led the Aggies with 3.11 kills per set and was second in service aces with 38. Holdaway led the Aggies with 3.58 digs per set a season ago. 

SCOUTING REPORT: LIPSCOMB
• Lipscomb is coming off a 16-13 season and 12-4 record in the Atlantic Sun. The Bisons were picked to finish second in the ASUN this season by the league’s coaches. 
• Sophia Hudepohl was named preseason ASUN Setter of the Year. A sophomore, Hudepohl was an ASUN All-Freshman selection last year after averaging 10.49 assists per set and 2.24 digs per set. 
• Senior outside hitter Caroline Stogner and senior middle blocker Meg Mersman were also preseason All-ASUN Team honorees. Stogner led the team last season with 3.33 kills per set and added 2.07 digs per set. Mersman averaged 2.05 kills and 0.98 blocks per set. 

SCOUTING REPORT: SMU
• SMU was picked to win the American Athletic Conference in the preseason coaches poll. The Mustangs went 22-10 last season and 13-5 in the AAC, good for third. 
• Junior outside hitter Jamison Wheeler was selected as the preseason AAC Player of the Year. Senior middle blocker Emma Clothier and senior setter Celia Cullen were also tabbed as preseason All-AAC selections.
• A 2022 first-team All-AAC selection, Wheeler was selected as the conference’s preseason player of the year after leading the Mustangs with 3.41 kills per set last season. She totaled 48 service aces, placing her second on the all-time single-season list in school history. Cullen averaged 10.16 assists per set last year, and Clothier is a graduate transfer from Florida State who a four-time All-ACC selection and two-time AVCA All-Region pick.