The Nebraska Huskers built a 25-game win streak throughout the season before falling to Penn State in the match that mattered most. On the night when Nebraska could’ve walked away as BIG10 champions, they lost a share of the title to Penn State. The backlash that followed urged outside hitter Harper Murray to make a statement on the regular struggles that athletes like her face.

Murray who sunk to the depths of depression during the 2024 off-season recalled how people who even during the worst phase of her college volleyball career, the trolling never stopped. “Back up a few months, obviously, I didn’t make the best decisions… I want to talk about, kind of like, what led up to that and what put me at such a low point,” said Murray.

“I was doing everything I could to escape volleyball,” Harper Murray revealed in her TikTok video. The 19-year-old explained that she didn’t “care” about anything even though she was spiraling downward. “And part of the reason why I wanted to escape volleyball was because I was so affected by what other people said,” said the sophomore in an effort to highlight how online hate affects athletes.

By recalling her experience Murray hoped to highlight how online hate and trolling only impact the players negatively. “All these things took such a toll on my self-confidence and self-worth. And I know a lot of other athletes are in my position,” Murray explained. The star player explained how seeing so many fans immediately turn against them impacted their morale.

Although Nebraska missed the opportunity to become outright conference champions, they could still earn a share of the 2024 BIG10 title. However, Harper Murry wanted to point out that if fans relentlessly criticize them for fumbling “once or twice,” it becomes difficult to remain positive. Yet, the outside hitter also said that she won’t lose her confidence again.

Harper Murry won’t repeat past mistakes

While revisiting her disastrous off-season to get the message across didn’t bring back pleasant memories, Murray also revealed how far she has come. The Ann Arbor native is no stranger to online backlash. In fact, it was the statement she made about Nebraska winning “three national championships in the next three years,” that became the root cause of her decline.

The immense backlash Harper Murray received online started a downward spiral that ended with a DUI arrest in April. However, the Nebraska Huskers star bounced back. Murray has soldiered on despite the negativity directed at them after the Penn State loss. “I’m in a way better place now where I can handle seeing these things a lot better and hearing these things,” she said.

However, despite already overcoming hardships, she is still human at the end of the day. “That still doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect me,” added Harper. This is the same sentiment that Huskers senior Lindsay Krause also echoed in her rebuttal. “In case for some reason you may have forget this holiday season: athletes are HUMAN,” Kraus wrote in her Instagram story shortly after the loss.

“And FANS don’t post hate comments,” added Kraus. It’s clear that that losing the outright title to Penn State, after dominating the regular season, was a huge blow to Nebraska. However, it’s also clear the Huskers didn’t expect the fans to turn on them for a single mishap.