OMAHA, Neb.—Texas and Nebraska made fast work of their opponents to set up a much-anticipated NCAA Omaha Regional final featuring perhaps the nation’s best player in Destinee Hooker against a Cornhusker team that hasn’t lost a set since October.
Seventh-ranked Nebraska dispatched No. 5 Iowa State 25-11, 25-19, 25-22 on Friday night, with Lindsey Licht hammering 10 kills to lead a balanced attack.
Hooker, the Big 12 player of the year, had 23 kills and the No. 2 Longhorns continued their domination over Texas A&M with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 win.
Texas (27-1) and Nebraska (26-6) both made it to the national semifinals a year ago, but only one of them can go this year. That team will be decided Saturday night.
“This is a super-heavyweight prize fight,” Nebraska coach John Cook said.
Fifth-ranked Iowa State had lost 75 straight matches to Nebraska before beating the Huskers in a five-set match in October in Lincoln. Nebraska swept the Cyclones in a November rematch, and the Huskers picked up where they left off in the regional semifinal.
Nebraska hit .441 in the first set, with Licht slamming six of her kills. The Cyclones committed seven errors in the set and hit just .056.
Kaylee Manns’ service ace put Iowa State up 17-16 in the second set before the Huskers rolled off seven straight points, and they never trailed again.
Brooke Delano, Kori Cooper and Hannah Werth had nine kills apiece for the Huskers. Victoria Henson led the Cyclones (27-5) with 13 kills, but ISU hit a season-low .096.
“I know both teams were really nervous. It’s hard not to be,” Cook said. “We just handled it better with adrenaline and emotion. We knew we had a shot to get on them early, and we took advantage of it.”
Texas ended A&M’s postseason run with another lopsided win over the Aggies (20-11). The Longhorns have beaten A&M 12 straight times and have won 14 sets in a row against them.
Hooker’s 23 kills on 43 swings equaled the number she had in last year’s national semifinal against Stanford.
“I don’t know how many of y’all would raise your hand (to) go out there and play against her,” A&M coach Laurie Corbelli told reporters after the match. “That’s the ninth time I’ve played against her, and the last. I don’t know that there will ever be a player who can do the things she does.”
Passing breakdowns forced Texas to go to Hooker often in the first two sets. With so much of the offense running through her early, she changed her game a bit to allow Julianne Faucette and Ashley Engle to become more involved.
Faucette had 11 kills on 24 swings, and Engle had six on 10 swings.
“That’s a bunch of really confident girls,” the Aggies’ Jennifer Banse said. “There’s nothing in their heads other than beating balls and beating whoever is on the other side of the net.”
Texas defeated Nebraska in two regular-season meetings, winning six of seven sets. Nebraska has won 10 straight matches, all on sweeps, since losing to Texas on Oct. 30.
Iowa State is the only team to have beaten both Texas and Nebraska this season, and Cyclones coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said the Huskers are capable of pulling an upset.
“If Nebraska can serve and pass like they did tonight, they’ll be able to hang with anybody in the country,” Johnson-Lynch said. “They played pretty flawless tonight.”
Nebraska will have a huge home-court advantage. A crowd of 8,935 showed up Friday at the Qwest Center, 50 miles from the Lincoln campus.
Cook said he’s counting on fans having some leftover emotion from the Nebraska football team’s 13-12 loss to Texas in last week’s Big 12 championship game.
“With what happened last weekend in football, I think it’s going to be charged-up in here,” Cook said. “I’m happy our kids get a shot at this.”
