Olympics
August 28, 2024
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — The start of NCAA volleyball season followed the lead of an Eric Clapton hit.
About 40 seconds “After Midnight,” sixth-ranked Louisville finished off No. 3 Wisconsin in four sets in an AVCA First Serve Showcase match that started on Tuesday and ended on Wednesday in the Eastern time zone. That was after second-ranked Nebraska defeated No. 9 Kentucky, also in four sets.
It was quite a kickoff on ESPN2 to the 2024 NCAA women’s volleyball season and there’s so much more to come this week, not the least of which is 218 matches on Friday as the rest of the field gets underway.
Nebraska overpowers Kentucky
Kentucky of the SEC made a match of it for two sets before the Big Ten’s Nebraska turned it on and pulled away for a 25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20 victory.
The key was blocking: Nebraska had 18 blocks, its most since 2018. The Huskers got 11 kills each from Merritt Beason and Rebekah Allick, who had one error in 15 attacks to hit .667 and had two solo blocks and 10 block assists. Beason hit just .114, but had six block assists and eight digs.
While Nebraska hit .258 with four aces — three by Lindsay Krause and eight serving errors,…
