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Michael Voppel
The NCAA women’s volleyball tournament got an upset on Sunday when Texas A&M defeated previously undefeated No. 1 Nebraska 3-2, sending the Aggies to the program’s first Final Four.
The Huskers, who have won five national championships, have mostly enjoyed success this season. But they went 33-1 after joining an Aggies team that played its best when it mattered most.
“A lot of us are seniors, and we’ve been doing this a really long time,” said Texas A&M’s Logan Lednicki, who had 24 kills and six block assists. “And I think all the new guys were ready to work, ready to work.”
Sophomore Kyndall Stowers had 25 kills and 16 digs for Texas A&M (27-4), which finished second to Kentucky in the SEC regular season standings. The Wildcats have also reached the Final Four; They advanced with a 3–0 win against Creighton on Saturday.
Hours after the Aggies pulled off an upset, another No. 1 seed was ousted on its home court as four-time defending NCAA champion Texas lost 3-1 to Wisconsin.
The national semifinals are Thursday in Kansas City. Texas A&M will face No. 1 seed Pitt (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) after the Panthers advance to Saturday with a 3-1 win over Purdue. Neither team has won a national championship, although Pitt will be making its fifth consecutive appearance in the Final Four.
In the other semifinal, No. 1 seed Kentucky will face No. 3 seed Wisconsin (9 p.m. ET, ESPN). Both programs have one NCAA volleyball title.
Texas A&M, the No. 3 seed in the Lincoln Region, defeated No. 2 seed Louisville in a reverse sweep on Friday. The Aggies did almost the same to them when they won the first two sets against the Huskers but lost the next two and were forced to go from first to 15th (must win by 2).
Texas A&M won the deciding set 15–13 in front of a stunned, sold-out crowd at Nebraska’s Bob Devaney Sports Center. It was the Huskers’ first loss at home against Minnesota since November 26, 2022.
It was the second time in Texas A&M program history that the Aggies defeated a No. 1-ranked team. Earlier he had done this against Stanford in 1995.
For Nebraska, it was another heartbreaking end to the season. The Huskers last won the national championship in 2017, when it was also held in Kansas City, and they were hoping to repeat that this year in the city just three and a half hours south of their campus.
Since 2017, Nebraska has lost in the national championship match three times – in 2018, 2021 and 2023 – and lost to eventual champion Penn State in the national semifinals last season.
Former Huskers player and assistant Dani Busboom Kelly took charge of the program this season when longtime coach John Cook retired. He led Louisville to the NCAA finals last year and in 2022; It seemed like things were set for a storybook ending to his first season guiding Nebraska.
But it was not to be, as Texas A&M defeated Nebraska 30–16, which was one of the biggest keys to the upset.
“Really an amazing game by Texas A&M,” Busboom Kelly said. “They played like they had six seniors on the court. I’m proud of the way we competed. We played our hearts out.”
After losing the first two sets 25–22, Nebraska won the third set 25–20. That set the stage for what turned into a match within the match, with the Huskers winning the fourth set 37-35 on their 10th set point. This seemed to swing the momentum toward Nebraska, but the Aggies still had the last word in the fifth set.
“You play games to prove who is better in that moment,” Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison said. “We came out on top of that, and I’m excited.”
