Before Saturday night, the #1 seed in the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Tournament hadn’t won it all since 2009. That team was Penn State. At the Target Center in Minneapolis, that streak ended as the Stanford Cardinal knocked off the Nebraska Huskers 3-2 (26-28, 25-22, 16-25, 25-15, 15-12).
The first two points of the opening set went the way of the Cardinal, but the first Husker point came from an unlikely source, Husker freshman middle Callie Scwarzenbach. A long rally on the next point fell the Huskers’ way off senior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke’s right hand.
Nebraska took a three-point lead on a ball that sailed out of bounds off the Stanford attack, but Cardinal Coach Kevin Hambly challenged, claiming there had been a touch by the Husker block.