It’s not necessarily a surprise that any given volleyball team on a postseason run eventually runs right into Nebraska — the Cornhuskers are perennial contenders and have reached the Final Four on 18 separate occasions — but it might be particularly painful for Kansas fans to see the Jayhawks get sent to the Devaney Center.
Not just because KU has never beaten Nebraska, but because the Huskers have stood in the way of some of the Jayhawks’ prominent postseason runs during the Ray Bechard era, including the one featuring the most successful KU volleyball team of all time.
Here’s a look back at the last two times the Jayhawks and Cornhuskers met in the postseason, before KU tries to reverse the trend on the road at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.
Kansas senior Rachel Langs swings at a ball during the Jayhawks’ 4-set loss to Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022 in Lincoln, Neb.
Dec. 2, 2022 — lost 3-1 (14-25, 18-25, 25-19, 24-26) in second round
In what is still the most recent season that Kansas did not host the NCAA Tournament’s first two rounds, the Jayhawks entered the NCAA Tournament with room to spare at 18-10 (8-8 Big 12), but still as an unseeded team set to play No. 7 seed Miami in the first round in Lincoln, Nebraska, with the No. 2 seed Huskers facing Delaware State.
KU moved past the Hurricanes in short order with a sweep, led by eight kills and a whopping 10 blocks from middle blocker Rachel Langs, as well as a dozen kills by Caroline Bien. That set up a date with John Cook’s Cornhuskers, who were more vulnerable than usual as they had taken their lumps in Big Ten play, losing three of their final five matches, and finished as runners-up to Wisconsin in the league race.
The matchup between former conference foes started profoundly poorly for the Jayhawks, as they totaled two kills as a team with a minus-.250 hitting percentage in a set that was largely uncompetitive after Nebraska stretched a 9-7 lead to 17-9.
Another run by the Cornhuskers resolved the second set, in which KU had a much more functional offense and was tied as late as 13-13 on a kill by Langs. But the Jayhawks conceded five straight kills, including two by Rebekah Allick and two by Madi Kubik, and dropped the set 25-18.
Then KU won a set, something it did in just seven of its 28 matches against Nebraska during Bechard’s 27-year tenure. The Jayhawks jumped ahead when Bien scored a kill and two aces to help KU go up 8-5.
KU was then able to successfully to keep the Cornhuskers at arm’s length, aided by some well-timed kills by true freshman Rhian Swanson, who prior to Nebraska had recorded more than four kills in just one career match. The 14 she ultimately posted against the Cornhuskers stood as one of the highest totals of her career until she became a full-time contributor during the 2025 season.
In any case, her consecutive kills put KU up 21-15, and the Jayhawks claimed the set with that same six-point margin.
The fourth set was a battle. KU trailed by three points on several occasions early but rallied to take a 15-14 lead on a kill by Langs. The Jayhawks were two points away at 23-22 from forcing their first five-setter against Nebraska in 32 years when Lauren Dooley and former Husker Anezka Szabo combined to block Ally Batenhorst, but Kennedy Farris committed a service error. Lindsay Krause put Nebraska at match point with a kill, but then got blocked by Bien and Langs.
With the set tied at 24, Szabo served and Allick promptly scored a first-ball kill. Bien had one chance at an attack before Krause ended the match with her team-high 13th kill.
An epilogue: Nebraska promptly lost in five sets to Matt Ulmer’s Oregon Ducks six days later.
Despite the roster turnover and coaching change in the intervening years, by the way, KU still retains four players from its 2022 roster, including two key players in Swanson and setter Katie Dalton. That ought to give this year’s postseason a familiar feel with both Miami and Nebraska on the schedule. Nebraska retains Allick and Maisie Boesiger.
KU right side hitter sophomore Kelsie Payne (8) looks for a kill against Nebraska on Thursday Dec. 17, 2015, as Nebraska outlasted the Jayhawks 3-1.
Dec. 17, 2015 — lost 3-1 (20-25, 21-25, 25-20, 16-25) in Final Four
The 2015 KU volleyball team went on such a legendary run as to earn a teamwide induction into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame. The Jayhawks were led by the formidable first-team All-American duo of setter Ainise Havili and right-side hitter Kelsie Payne, who both play professionally to this day in Major League Volleyball. Other top players included libero Cassie Wait, middle blocker Tayler Soucie and outside hitter Madison Rigdon.
Not many teams managed to knock off KU that year — in fact, the only team to have done so by the time the Jayhawks reached the Final Four was Texas, twice. Still, it wasn’t easy for them to make it to Omaha, Nebraska, to meet the Cornhuskers. After taking down Loyola Marymount in the Sweet 16 to reach the program’s first-ever regional final, the No. 9-ranked Jayhawks met No. 1 overall seed USC and in one of the most dramatic results in recent KU sports history scored the final six points of the fifth set to win it 15-13 and keep the season alive.
It died five days later in Nebraska, as the Jayhawks hit .159 as a team despite the near-unstoppable Payne’s exceptional 22 kills on .576 hitting.
KU committed four first-set service errors, including one that kicked off a 5-0 run by Nebraska when the Jayhawks had held a 6-4 lead. Rigdon and fellow outside hitter Tiana Dockery were responsible for one attack error each as part of that stretch.
KU fought its way back within a point on numerous occasions: at 15-14 on an attack error by Mikaela Foecke and at 18-17 and 19-18 on kills by Payne. But the Huskers scored six of the final eight points, conceding just one kill — to Soucie — on their way to a 25-20 victory.
The second set was not in question for quite as long. Service errors by Dockery and Wait canceled out some kills as KU was attempting to keep pace. Wait’s error set off a 5-1 run from which the Jayhawks never recovered. They were able to stave off three set points after trailing 24-18, but Nebraska called timeout and Kadie Rolfzen got the kill the Huskers needed.
Much like they did seven years later, the Jayhawks struck back in the third set to prevent a sweep. Janae Hall recorded four kills in KU’s first 17 points of the set, then was involved in a pair of blocks as the Jayhawks went up 19-16. Cecilia Hall got a kill for Nebraska, but KU pulled away from there, with a block by Dockery and Soucie providing the set point at 25-20.
In what became the decisive fourth set, Havili recorded the last of her eight kills (to go along with eight digs and 38 assists) to make it 8-8, but then committed a service error before Annika Albrecht responded with an ace and Foecke recorded a kill, giving the Huskers a bit of a cushion. The two teams traded runs late: After Nebraska stretched its advantage as far as 18-12, KU relied on its defense and one kill by Dockery to score four straight.
But the Jayhawks didn’t score again from there. The Huskers recorded the final seven points of the match, five of which came on attack errors, including the match point as Cecilia Hall and Kelsey Fien blocked Janae Hall.
Nebraska swept Texas in the championship to earn Cook his third of an eventual four titles. KU, meanwhile, did not progress past the second round again until 2021, a performance it matched by earning a spot in the Sweet 16 in Lincoln on Friday.
Richard Gwin
Photo courtesy of Kansas Athletics
Richard Gwin