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Saturday Sweeps Set Up Nebraska-Texas
The No. 1 Huskers handled UNLV in three straight, the No. 2 Longhorns needed every point of three two-point sets against TCU, and the two meet at 2:30 p.m. Central on FOX.
T-Mobile Arena opened its floor to volleyball for the first time on Saturday, roughly ten years into the building's life, and No. 1 Nebraska treated the novelty like a Tuesday. The Huskers swept UNLV 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-16).
Two hours later No. 2 Texas swept No. 18 TCU 3-0 (30-28, 25-23, 25-23) on the same floor, and the scoreboard was the only place that match looked like a sweep.
Tom Brady watched from courtside. The showcase is in its first year, the four teams are playing for $1 million in NIL opportunities, and nobody has published how that million splits or who funds it.
Six Points Separated Texas From Trouble
Texas won its three sets by two points, two points and two points. Six points across an entire match, and the first of them ran to 30-28 before the Longhorns closed it.
Nebraska's three sets went by seven, ten and nine. The two sweeps read identically in a results table and were separated by twenty points of actual distance, in the same building, two hours apart.
TCU out-blocked Texas 11 to 6, and middle blocker Kinsley Young had seven of those by herself, one more than the entire Texas team managed all night.
Texas hit .169 to TCU's .124 on almost identical volume, 124 swings against 121. That gap is the whole statistical case for calling Saturday night a sweep, and Texas has published no individual stat lines to widen it.
Nebraska Won the Net Ten to Two
Harper Murray hit .364 for 11 kills with three blocks. Bergen Reilly ran 32 assists with 10 digs and five kills of her own, and Andi Jackson finished with eight kills and five blocks.
Cami Christiansen led UNLV with six kills, two fewer than Jackson managed as a middle blocker and five fewer than Murray. Nebraska blocked ten balls to UNLV's two and served six aces to two.
Nebraska's release has UNLV hitting .054 and the Huskers .337. WOWT in Omaha publishes .083 and .310 off identical set scores and identical kill totals, and both pairs are published as official.
UNLV hit under .100 on either published account, against the .124 TCU managed against Texas two hours later on the same floor and against a defence that blocked six balls instead of ten.
The Arena Had Never Hosted Volleyball
MGM Resorts sold this weekend on out-of-town money, and the pitch was regional before it was competitive. The arena has roughly ten years of history and Saturday was the first volleyball in any of it.
Liz Manthei is the executive director of live events at MGM Resorts International. She spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on 28 August, the day before either match was played.
We're seeing a lot in Nebraska ZIP codes popping up, which we're really excited about. We're really excited to welcome Nebraska fans, they're always a great time in Vegas and they're very supportive. We've definitely seen it from the Texas side as well. Both Texas and TCU. So we've seen from both of those area codes really traveling, and we're super excited to have them in Vegas.
Both fan bases got a sweep and nobody in the building saw a fourth set. Saturday was also Nebraska's first match that counts, because the $350,000 it won at AT&T Stadium on 27 August came in exhibitions.
Texas Has Lost Both Its No. 1 Meetings
Per Texas's own preview, Sunday is the third No. 1 against No. 2 match in program history, and the Longhorns lost the other two, to Nebraska in 2016 and to Penn State in the 2009 final.
Nebraska leads the all-time series 33-25, and Texas has taken 12 of the last 16 meetings since 2008. The most recent meeting between them was the 2023 national title match in Tampa, which Texas swept.
Texas arrives at 2-1, having lost its opener to No. 12 Arizona State and having needed five sets to beat Marquette. Nebraska arrives at 1-0, and they meet at 2:30 p.m. Central on FOX.
We expect Nebraska to sweep it, and to do it with no set closer than three points. The block is the condition, because Texas lost that exchange to a No. 18 team on Saturday.
