By Lincoln Arneal
To no surprise, tickets for the spring match in Central City sold out in less than an hour Monday morning.
With tickets only available for in-person purchase in Central City, fans began lining up around 8 p.m. Sunday, 12 hours before sales started. The seats sold out in 38 minutes, and then 14 minutes later, all the standing-room-only tickets were gone.
The Huskers will play Wichita State on April 29 at the newly constructed Bison Dome, which can hold around 2,100 fans.
Head coach John Cook said Central City had talked to Nebraska for four years while constructing the first monolithic dome in the state, which also doubles as an EMA-rated tornado shelter.
“It’s a pride for the community and I think by Nebraska volleyball or any of our Nebraska teams coming out there and playing it just kind of validates,” he said. “This is a big deal.”
ORR MAKING PROGRESS — Kennedi Orr has received plenty of attention this spring. While the rest of her teammates participated in beach volleyball, the junior setter worked out with Cook and assistant coach Kelly Hunter.
After undergoing a minor procedure on her knee last year, she traveled to Hawaii with the rest of the team during spring break. While there, they found a gym through a connection with assistant coach Jaylen Reyes and worked out.
Cook said he saw “major” progress from Orr during the spring.
“We trained the heck out of her,” Cook said. “She got a lot of individual attention. We worked really hard, and she worked really hard… Life is good for Kennedy Orr.”
RETURNING SOON — Junior libero Lexi Rodriguez and Beason each missed portions of practice on Monday.
Rodriguez was wearing street clothes on Monday and said on her social media that she suffered a concussion last week after taking an attack to the head. Beason sat out the second half of practice after feeling under the weather.
Cook said he expected both of them back on Tuesday.
“These are just little things that if it was fall, they wouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “But since it is just spring, we don’t push through some of these things.”
STRONG RESPONSE — Whether he’s on the speaking circuit or out recruiting, the most common topic that people ask Cook about during the last month has been Nebraska’s outdoor match scheduled for Memorial Stadium in August.
“It’s unreal. I mean, there’s people going to come in from all over the world for this thing,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Cook said he expects the stadium to sell out when tickets go on sale on April 25. He doesn’t know what the capacity will be with the court and concert setup, but he expects a strong response.
Allick said people also talk to her about the match when she’s out. One of her friends on the soccer team was asked about it because she was wearing Huskers clothing.
Beason said she was impressed with the response. While she’s always been involved with volleyball, it’s at a different level in Nebraska compared to growing up in Alabama.
“For me, it’s been really cool just to see how big volleyball is up here,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons that I wanted to come here was how big and how important volleyball is. It blows my mind to think about it.”
