money NCAA volleyball championship reaction: Wisconsin wins epic title game over Nebraska at Nationwide Arena
From the first whistle to the first flutter of confetti from the rafters, No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 10 Nebraska delivered everything expected of a national championship match. The atmosphere of the NCAA volleyball record crowd of 18,755 inside Nationwide Arena on Saturday night reflected that.
The Badgers (31-3) claimed their first national title in an extremely tight, five-set match — 22-25, 31-29, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12 — that felt like it would never end. The Huskers (26-8) trailed 7-0 in the final set and nearly completed the comeback with three fantastic digs on the fourth match point before Dana Rettke smashed the ball down the line for the final point.
Two of the three games this weekend could have gone either way, with both teams playing well enough to win. Like so many times in these tournaments, it’s survive and advance. Now Wisconsin stands alone.
“It was a heck of a match, just an absolute grind. And that's how it should be, right, I guess, to do this,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Just an unbelievable performance by Nebraska. Unbelievable performance by our kids as well. It was just every player putting their entire heart and soul into a match.”
Here are the top storylines from Saturday’s finale of the 2021 NCAA women’s volleyball tournament.
Badgers, Huskers defenses steal show
Much had been said about the Wisconsin block, especially the combination of 6-foot-8 Dana Rettke and 6-foot-9 Anna Smrek. And it was evident in the semifinal just how talented Nebraska’s team defense is. In the championship match, both teams took their play to another level entirely.
Five different Huskers had double digit digs as the team racked up 93 of them. Rettke and middle blocker Devyn Robinson had 13 and 10 blocks, respectively for an insane team total of 24.
In the fourth set, with Wisconsin nearly forcing extra points after trailing 24-20, Keonilei Akana made a one-arm dig to keep the ball alive. Outside hitter Madi Kubik then hit a high pass from almost on Nebraska’s bench to the left pin where Ally Batenhorst made a kill that nearly shook the building.
In the fifth set, Rettke carried the Badgers on three straight points — two of which were blocks — for the 7-0 lead that turned out to be too big to climb for Nebraska.
“And I felt like it was a heavyweight fight going back and forth, back and forth, they would make a big play, and then we'd make a big play,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “You saw two exceptional defensive teams, two exceptional serving teams. And those are the strengths of both of these teams.”
Wisconsin hit only .183, and Nebraska hit .141. Wisconsin libero Lauren Barnes was exceptional and led all players with 31 digs. Only one player on Nebraska, Kayla Caffey, hit above .250. She had 15 kills. Leading hitters Kubik and Lauren Stivrins struggled at times. Kubik had 19 kills but hit only .106 with 12 errors. Stivrins hit .222 with 10 kills.
Drama of the highest degree
The second set might have been the best set of college volleyball this season.
Wisconsin came back from a 13-8 deficit to take a 21-20 lead after Grace Loberg and Rettke combined on a block followed by a kill by Rettke. But Nebraska didn’t fold, and ended up with four set points before Rettke scored three straight points to take the set, 31-29.
It felt at that moment that maybe Nebraska missed a chance to bury Wisconsin and really put pressure on the Badgers not to fall short in the final four or championship for the third straight season.
“That was definitely an epic battle. Really good volleyball, so back and forth — kill, kill, block,” Rettke said. “And then I think we don't fight through that if not every single person on our team believes that we can.”
The fifth set couldn’t have been more of an emotional swing. Nebraska cut the deficit to 10-7 and even won three straight championship points to make the Badgers sweat. At 14-11, it looked like Wisconsin had won the match after Madi Kubik’s hit landed well out of bounds. But Cook challenged the call and won the point, with the official ruling there was a touch by Wisconsin on the block attempt.
A freshman lifts senior-laden Badgers to national title
Whatever Smrek does in the next three years of her Wisconsin career, this weekend will be remembered forever in program history.
After hitting over .700 against Louisville in the national semifinals with 20 kills, Smrek hit .429 with 14 kills against Nebraska. Sophomore Jade Demps also had a big night, hitting .346 with 12 kills.
“She didn't flinch,” Sheffield said of Smrek. “And she wasn't the only one that didn't flinch.”
Redemption and reward for Badgers
Barnes, Hilley, Rettke and Loberg returned to win a national title and made good on that promise. After losing in the national final in 2019 to Stanford, and falling to Texas at last season’s final four as the No. 1 seed, this felt like a just end to their careers.
"I think it's one thing to really think about being a national champion and training to be in the national championship. That's one thing, but being in a national championship is another,” Rettke said. “We really did that. So that was awesome and I'm just so thankful that this group of seniors came back and we got the job done.”
For Nebraska, Stivrins returned for one last shot after winning a title in 2017. Setter Nicklin Hames lost in the 2018 final as a freshman. Despite a terrific performance with 56 assists and 23 digs, she now has the choice of either leaving without a title or returning for one last opportunity.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: NCAA volleyball reaction: Wisconsin wins epic title game over Nebraska
