Miami volleyball’s season came to an end on Saturday, when it was swept by No. 1 seed Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA tournament. It was a rough way to end the season, as the ’Canes scored less than 20 points in each of the three sets played.
The final scores of the match were 25-19, 25-14 and 25-18. Despite the loss, junior Flormarie Heredia Colon still had a high-quality performance by notching 14 kills, 12 digs and three blocks.
Set one did not start off great for the Hurricanes, as the Cornhuskers had a 6-3 lead after a kill by senior Merritt Beason. That lead remained a trend for the rest of the set, as the ’Canes never closed the gap for the remainder of it. The closest Miami got to Nebraska for the rest of the set was when Nebraska held an 8-6 lead. The set finally ended with an attacking error by Heredia Colon, and Nebraska won the set 25-19.
Set two went even worse for the ‘Canes than set one, as they never held the lead even for a single point. Nebraska started off with an 8-4 lead off a kill by senior Taylor Landfair. That lead got even larger after an ace by senior Kennedi Orr to make the score 19-10. The Cornhuskers ended this domination of a set with a score of 25-14 to take a 2-0 match lead.
The third and final set for both the match and the Hurricanes’ season went just about the same as the other two. It did not start off that way, as the ’Canes had a 3-2 lead after a kill by sophomore Ava Carney. Unfortunately for Miami, right after that kill, the Cornhuskers went on a 7-0 scoring run that made the score 9-3. The Hurricanes made a slight comeback with the help of an ace by junior Naylani Feliciano to bring the score to 9-6. Despite the small run, Miami was never able to close the gap for the rest of the set and Nebraska ended both the set, match and UM’s season with a kill by sophomore Bergen Reilly. The final score of the set was 25-18.
With the loss, the 2024 Hurricanes’ volleyball campaign has officially come to an end. They finished with a record of 22-11 (12-8 ACC). In addition to reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament, the ’Canes finished eighth in the conference, had four ranked wins, had an 11-2 home record and had two All-ACC players.