As America gears up to welcome the holiday season, college volleyball fans are waiting to embrace the best time of their year too—the NCAA Volleyball Championships 2024. With 64 teams entering this single-elimination tournament, the stakes for survival are sky-high. But it’s not just the win-or-go-home format but also the formidable competitors that make it an unmatched competition.

And well, Nebraska, who is currently riding on the Big Ten title high, knows exactly what it takes to truly survive on the national stage. Remember how they’d skillfully navigated their way to the finals last time? If not, let’s take a minute to refresh those memories when they faced the Longhorns and revisit who’d emerged the victor among the two. Here’s a little throwback to that!

When Texans ruled the NCAA Volleyball Championships

For the NCAA Volleyball Championships 2023, the Texas Longhorns faced the Nebraska Huskers, and the result was a clean sweep. The Longhorns crushed the Huskers’ victory hopes with a 3-0 margin (25-22, 25-14, 25-11) and lifted their fourth NCAA title. And that was barely a silent win.

The Longhorns went all out, setting a new NCAA Volleyball Championships record of the most service aces—12. While Asija O’Neal topped this chart with five aces alone, hitter Madison Skinner clinched the title of the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. Why not? She truly deserved it after knocking the opponent down with an incredible 16 kills and five digs.

Looking back at the match, Texas’ win can be credited as much to their brilliance as their opponent’s errors, for it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it just wasn’t their day. From basic serve-receive mishaps to an overwhelming number of unforced errors, the Huskers looked way off from the start and bagged a 20-19 kills-errors ratio.

Along with serve-receive trouble, the Huskers also committed an enormous amount of unforced errors, limiting their production to .013 hitting and a 20-19 kills-errors ratio. If you look at the final set, the lack shows in the giant margin as the Huskers lost the NCAA Volleyball Championships title by a 14-point margin. The last they did this was way back in 2019. But there were still some unforgettable records set that day that the Huskers were a part of.

The NCAA finals attendance was record-breaking

While the match went on in the Amalie Arena on a Sunday afternoon, about 19,727 fans were seated to witness the final showdown, where the women in orange reigned over the Red Shirts. This was notably higher than the previous indoor attendance record of 19,598 from the semifinals that took place days before.

The possible reason for the hype was that Texas (27-4) was going for its second consecutive and fourth NCAA title overall. Whereas Nebraska (33-1) was looking at a sixth win—and first since 2017. Thus, both sides had plenty to prove. Also, the two programs previously met in the championship in 2015 (3-0 Nebraska win) and 1995 (3-1 Nebraska win). And both times the Texans were left blown.

Thus, call it the hunger for revenge for the need to complete the unfinished business; Texas did not leave any room for error in 2023. But starting December 5, can the Huskers rewrite history and make up for the loss? Let us know below!