This is the charm of the sport. For the Nebraska-Penn State game, it seemed impossible how the Nebraska Huskers could go down. The team stood at a 25-consecutive game-winning streak. And this season, only one game loss was put up against their name. Also, they seemed ready to be more fired-up for the match as well, as victory over the Nittany Lions would have bestowed on them the Big Ten title. But it could not be so.

Penn State shocked the crowd by dominating Nebraska Huskers from the start of the game. Despite the efforts of the Huskers, the Nittany Lions looked in control of the whole game, except for the second set. The result was a 3-1 victory for the fourth-ranked team with a scoreline of 25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23.

This came as a shock to most Nebraska fans, as they were expecting another victory after a dominant win over the Wisconsin Badgers. Thus, many reacted with backlash towards the team. It was pretty evident that a lot of the criticism also came from the fans, as the wounds of their defeat in the tournament finals against the Texas Longhorns hadn’t healed yet.

They feared that the team again would choke in the major stages. “Great way to go into the tournament. Nebraska chokes in the tournament every year. Maybe it happened a little early this year,” observed one fan. Another also said that, excepting Andi Jackson, who tallied 10 kills the entire game, it seemed that the rest of the defense was not much good.

“Andi Jackson had no help. I love Bergen, but she was predictable multiple times tonight. Beason was just not there, and it looked like no adjustments were made. The defense was atrocious, but I hope that was our last loss of the season.” However, amidst all this backlash, most Nebraska fans still showed their support to the team. They backed the side as they believed that they could rise back from this defeat.

“Own Maryland tomorrow! We are still the best team in the nation. Congratulations, Penn State. Especially to Caroline. She played a great game,” said one fan. The Huskers will now have to beat Maryland on October 30th to win a share of the Big Ten title. But many fans believe that they could manage this as the Huskers are still a great team.

In fact, the Nittany Lions only got better of them because of the extraordinary heroics of Caroline Jurevicius, the redshirt freshman who made 18 kills with a hitting percentage of.414 the whole game. Many Huskers fans did appreciate her performance as she spent her red shirt season at the college. But her performance showed no remorse to them. Despite this, fans still remained optimistic about a better outcome in the upcoming games.

Fans show support to the Nebraska Huskers despite loss

It felt like the Nebraska Huskers team had earned enough goodwill among the fans, because of which most of the fans backed them despite the loss to Penn State. “No worries! Regroup and reload!” said one fan. A lot of this support came down to the fact that the supporters knew the level of performance that the team was capable of. The Nebraska fans have seen their team defeat everyone except the Nittany Lions.

Most of the matches they’ve won this season have been in such a dominant fashion that they barely gave their opponents any chance. This is evident when one looks into the Wisconsin Badgers game. Before the game, every viewer was expecting it to be a close grudge match. However, in the end, the game finished with the Huskers comfortably sweeping the Badgers, displaying their strength as a team. Thus, a team this strong is bound to bounce back.

The fact that they tried hard to salvage something from the game and not let the Nittany Lions walk over them was also pretty evident, showing that they have the necessary mentality and ability to make a comeback. “Tough match, but the fight was there until the end. Learn from the loss and keep moving forward!” said one fan. Another thing that fans took into consideration is the fact that the Division 1 tournament stage of the season is about to begin, bringing new challenges to the Nebraska Huskers side.

The team has struggled before in these stages, eventually losing out on a title. They came agonizingly close last year but got swept by the Texas Longhorns in the finals. Fans don’t want any hiccups in that stage this time and would rather see them losing games in the regular season instead. “A loss now can be a good thing right before tournament play. SMU loss stung too but they stepped it up.” SMU was the only team other than Penn State that had defeated the Nebraska Huskers this season.

They had done this in their very opening game, winning 3-0 and completely dominating the team. But the Huskers then stepped up and went on a 25-game dominating streak. Many are hoping a similar reaction awaits them after the loss to Penn State. If they do so, they might also have a chance to defeat the Nittany lions in the Division 1 tournament, avenging this defeat. “Can’t wait to kill Penn state in the tournament 😤” Thus, it is yet to be seen whether the Nebraska Huskers come back in form against Maryland and win a part of the Big Ten title. But, looking at their form over the whole season, the odds of this happening are more than likely.