Another Thursday night meant another sweep for Nebraska volleyball. No. 1 Nebraska went into a sold-out Wilkinson Hall and took care of No. 15 Indiana, 25-15, 25-19, 25-19.
And speaking of volleyball, that is where we’ll start this week. Let’s dive in.1
1. Nebraska now has four players on the AVCA watch list
Nebraska already had Andi Jackson, Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly on the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List. Now you can add Manaia Ogbechie to that list.
The sophomore middle blocker was one of 16 players added to the list Thursday, giving Nebraska four players among the 46 currently being considered for the national award.
Ogbechie has earned the addition. She is averaging 2.19 kills per set while hitting .427, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten and 14th nationally, and she is adding 1.21 blocks per set. Her biggest week so far came against New Mexico, Baylor and Georgia Tech, when she put down 33 kills on .547 hitting and added 12 blocks. That earned her Big Ten Player of the Week honors.
The AVCA will cut the group to semifinalists in November, with finalists announced Dec. 14 and the winner named Dec. 18 in San Antonio.
Meanwhile, Jackson continues to collect honors of her own. She was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second consecutive week after Nebraska swept Penn State and Maryland. Jackson averaged 3.83 kills and two blocks per set while hitting .526 across the two matches.
She was especially good at Penn State, finishing with 11 kills on 16 swings with just one error and seven blocks. Then at Maryland, she had 12 kills, six aces, five blocks and four digs. Those six aces tied Nebraska’s rally-scoring-era record for a three-set match.
Jackson is only the third Husker to win Big Ten Player of the Week in consecutive weeks, joining Madi Kubik in 2021 and Kelsey Robinson in 2013.
2. Pryce Sandfort joins a pretty short Nebraska list
Pryce Sandfort was named preseason All-Big Ten on Monday and was one of only two unanimous selections, along with Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr., the league’s preseason player of the year.
That makes Sandfort just the fourth Nebraska player to earn preseason All-Big Ten recognition since the Huskers joined the conference. The others: James Palmer Jr., Terran Petteway and Keisei Tominaga.
Sandfort averaged 18.1 points last season while shooting nearly 48% overall and 41.6% from 3. His 129 made 3s set a Nebraska single-season record and were the second-most in Big Ten history. In March, Sandfort averaged 21 points during Nebraska’s run to the Sweet 16, including 25 in the season-ending loss to Iowa.
What will we see from Sandfort this season? We get our first look Friday night when Nebraska hosts Saint Louis in exhibition play at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Nebraska basketball’s preseason problem is a good one
Let’s talk about Nebraska basketball, shall we?
3. You will have plenty of chances to watch Nebraska men’s basketball
Thirty of Nebraska’s 32 regular-season games are already scheduled for national television. That includes games across CBS, FOX, FS1, TNT, BTN and NBC Sports Network.
The biggest first comes Jan. 2 when Nebraska hosts Michigan State on CBS. It will be the Huskers’ first regular-season CBS appearance since joining the Big Ten.
Nebraska also has at least three FOX games, seven on FS1, 12 on BTN and five Peacock games that will also air through NBC Sports Network on YouTube TV.
And there is another first on Dec. 5: Nebraska’s annual game at Creighton will air on TNT.
Coming off 28 wins and a Sweet 16 appearance, Nebraska is entering a season where people outside the state want to tune in. The TV schedule certainly reflects that.
4. Nebraska women’s basketball gets a bigger national stage too
The women will also have plenty of national television exposure. Nebraska has at least 14 games scheduled across the Big Ten’s television partners, including 10 on BTN.
The first national broadcast comes Nov. 22 against Creighton at CHI Health Center on FS1. From there, the schedule gets interesting quickly.
Nebraska opens Big Ten play at Iowa on Dec. 5 on BTN, hosts Texas A&M a week later on the network and then plays Cal at Chase Center in San Francisco on Dec. 20.
In January, the Huskers travel to defending national champion UCLA on Jan. 2 and then USC on Jan. 5. Both games are on BTN.
Then comes a three-game home stretch featuring Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan will air on FS1, while the Ohio State game will air on FOX. Iowa’s return trip to Lincoln on Feb. 4 will be on Peacock.
Nebraska is trying to make the NCAA tournament for a fourth straight season, and you’ll be able to catch quite a bit of the Huskers on your TV.
5. Addy Farman starts her sophomore season with a Big Ten honor
Nebraska diver Addy Farman was named Big Ten Diver of the Week after winning the one-meter springboard in Nebraska’s opening dual against Iowa State. Her score of 282.60 was a personal best, topping the 273.38 she posted against Kansas last season.
It also did something more important than simply win the event: Farman earned an NCAA Zone D qualifying cut for March. She added a fourth-place finish on three-meter with a score of 246.90.
Talk about a strong opening step for a sophomore who reached the C Final on one-meter at last season’s Big Ten Championships.
First-year Nebraska diving coach Ford McLiney liked what he saw.
“Addy’s working hard and staying the course,” he said. “Every day she shows up, she asks the right questions and steadily improves. Lately, we have been working to keep things simple and dive smart. That’s exactly what she delivered at the meet.”
Farman’s next competition comes Oct. 17 in Omaha, where Nebraska will face Omaha and South Dakota State in a triangular meet.
Pun intended, but you have to get to the end of the newsletter to understand why.
Punproven scuba jokes are 👌