Nebraska Women’s Roundup: Softball’s off-season needs, Track and Field earns 11 NCAA bids
Nebraska Softball’s season did not pan out how anyone imagined. They suffered six season-ending injuries, including two-time national champion pitcher Jordy Bahl. The Huskers finished the season 30-23 overall after losing in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, so what’s next for NU?
Head Coach Rhonda Revelle is losing eight seniors, including five with significant roles. In the infielder, Nebraska needs to replace three-time First-Team All-Big Ten shortstop Billie Andrews and second-team All-Big Ten third baseman Sydney Gray. Pitchers Sarah Harness and Kaylin Kinney are graduating as well. Additionally, 2023 First-Team All-Big Ten Brooke Andrews will no longer be in the outfield.
The Huskers will use the transfer portal to pick up talent and experience. Having Bahl on the roster will undoubtedly turn heads and catch the attention of good players. Bahl also created NIL opportunities for herself and her teammates. The 1890 Initiative had an increase in donations for NU softball, and it will continue.
The 2023 season was expected to be special, with Bahl in the circle and so much experience all over the field. The injuries derailed the plans, but NU did a great job of battling past the adversity. The team will definitely look different in 2024, but Nebraska could add some exciting names from the portal.
Now let’s dive into Nebraska Track and Field’s NCAA Championship bid winners, a Husker bowler winning a major title and more volleyball on national television.
Nebraska Women’s Roundup: Supernovas crowned PVF champions, Nebraska state volleyball leads world in attendance
Stats of the Week:
4: Four Husker Women qualified for the NCAA Championships in the javelin at the NCAA West Preliminary. Rhema Otabor, the 2024 Big Ten champion, finished second with a 186-10 (56.94m) mark. Mirta Kulisic claimed eighth (174-5, 53.16m), Eniko Sara was ninth (172-10, 52.69m) and Emanuala Casadei earned 12th place (165-5, 50.42m).
206-1: Hillevi Carlsson qualified for her first NCAA Championship after throwing a 206-1 (62.81m) on her last hammer throw attempt. She finished seventh to qualify. Cammy Garabian finished 14th after a 197-3 (60.12m) throw. She missed the championships by two places.
Men’s throwers Dash Sirmon and Tyler Brown both qualified for nationals as well. All six Nebraska javelin throwers qualified.
Nebraska was a perfect 6/6 in qualifying their javelin throwers for NCAA'sThe crazy part? US Champ @maddie00harris is redshirting for Nebraska this year@HuskerTFXC is JAV U pic.twitter.com/S8C3WagU9M— Beau Throws (@beau_throws) May 24, 2024
5: Redshirt junior Axelina Johansson qualified for her fifth NCAA Championship meet in shot put. She finished fourth in the West Preliminary with a 58-10 1/4 (17.94m) throw.
Three other Huskers finished in the top 20 in the shot put. Mine De Klerk was the first throwing out after placing 13th with a 55-8 1/2 (16-98m) throw. Amelia Flynt, who recorded a 55-5 1/2 (16.90m), finished 16th, Kalynn Meyer earned a personal-best 55-0 (16.76m) for 19th place. Meyer earned a bid with her after a personal-best 190-0 (57.92m) throw in the discus to earn sixth place and her first NCAA Championship bid.
Nebraska guard Allison Weidner returns to basketball after back-to-back ACL injuries
7: Velecia Williams, a Husker jumper, recorded the seventh-highest mark in Nebraska history during the preliminary. In the long jump, she earned a 21-6 1/4 (6.56m) mark to place ninth and get a NCAA championship bid.
6: Jenna Rogers finished fifth place in the high jump with a clearance of 6-0 1/2 (1.84m). She claimed her sixth NCAA bid in her career. She is a four-time First-Team All-American and is gunning for her fifth selection this season. Her teammate Brooklyn Miller tied for 27th in the long jump at the West Preliminary.
44-10 1/4: Rhianna Phipps and Ashley McElmurry both secured bids in the triple jump. On a windy day, Phipps recorded a 44-10 1/4 (13.67m) jump on her last. She finished eighth with McElmurry coming in ninth place. McElmurry earned her first NCAA Championship bid with a 44.8 3/4 (13.62m) jump.
The craziest part of the meet this week was having to dodge a bird on my vault run in AA finals #2024panamchamps pic.twitter.com/6Fd13ynEfs— Emma Spence (@Emma_spence13) May 27, 2024
51.524: Nebraska Women’s Gymnast Emma Spence finished fourth in the Pan American Games. She represented Canada in Santa Marta, Columbia on May 22-26. The soon-to-be senior recorded a 12.400 on the vault, 12.767 on bars, 12.533 on beam, and 12.200 on the floor in the preliminary rounds. She qualified for the all-around, vault, bars and beam.
In the all-around finals, she set a 13.467 on vault, 12.733 on bars, 12.667 on beam and 12.667 on floor. Spence’s all-around score of 51.534 came in fourth. In the event finals on Saturday, the Canadian earned third on vault (13.467) and fourth on bars (12.767), and on beam (12.833).
Jillian Martin defeats Hope Gramly to become the youngest #USBCQueens champion. #AFFTS pic.twitter.com/QK10MhGVX0— USBC (@USBC) May 22, 2024
Player of the Week: Jillian Martin
Husker Bowler Jillian Martin is the youngest USBC Queens Champion in history at the age of 19 years old. She took down top-seeded Hope Gramly at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wisc. Martin secured her second professional title and first career major.
The soon-to-be junior was the No. 3 overall seed. Husker great Lindsay (Baker) Boomershine was the No. 5 seed. Boomershine was the 2023 Queens Champion. Martin is the fifth Husker to win the title and the third in the last four years. With the title, Martin won $60,000 and a tiara.
Martin is a two-time NTCA First-Team All-American and was the NTCA Rookie of the Year after a historic freshman season. She was the top recruit in the class of 2022 and is a two-time PBA Junior National Champion (2021-22). Martin, who has two more seasons, isn’t done breaking records for the Huskers.
Louisville is loading up for the Championship! National Semifinals Thursday, December 19 ESPNNational Championship Sunday, December 22 ABC https://t.co/LLEOHkbxJD#NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/kQYPl8RcCt— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) May 23, 2024
National and recruiting news:
2024 College Volleyball National Championship on ABC: The 2024 College Volleyball National Championship match will be on ABC for the second year in a row. The 2023 title match marked the first-ever nationally televised college volleyball national title match. Nebraska vs. Texas averaged 1.7 million viewers while competing with NFL games. The championship will also compete with NFL viewers this season as well.
Jaz Shelley signs with NBL1: Former Nebraska Women’s Basketball guard Jaz Shelley signed with Ballarat, an NBL1 team in Australia. She will finish the season in the NBL1 South. The Australia native was selected as the No. 29 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. However, the Phoenix Mercury waved the 5-foot-9 guard.
Sam Haiby, Shelley’s former teammate at Nebraska, plays for the Mackay Meteorettes in the NBL1. Unfortunately, the Meteorettes and Ballarat don’t play again for the rest of the regular season.
League One Omaha add setter and middle: League One Omaha continues to add to its roster ahead of its inaugural season in 2025.
Most recently, they added Dutch setter Laura Dijkema who has played professionally since 2006 when she was 16 years old. She played in Italy, Russia, Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands. When she won the Italian championship with Igor Gorgonzola Novara, Dijkema was named the championship’s best setter.
Omaha also added Argentinian middle blocker Candelaria Herrera. She was a three-time All-Big 12 pick at Iowa State after transferring from Florida A&M. Afterward, she represented Argentina at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 6-foot-1 middle played professionally with Argentina and France.
On the horizon:
Track and Field: The 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships are on June 5-8 in Eugene, Oregon. The 19 qualified Huskers, 11 women and eight men, have a week and a half to prepare for championships.
VNL: The USA Women compete in the second round of the Volleyball National League on Tuesday, May 28. They face Canada at 7:30 p.m. CT. Then, the US National Team takes on Bulgaria on May 31 at 8:00 p.m. CT. The US closes out the week with a match vs. Poland on June 1 and another against Turkey on June 2. They take on Poland at 4:30 p.m. and Turkey at 3:00 p.m. on their respective days.
Former Huskers Jordan Larson, Justine Wong-Orantes and Kelsey Robinson represent the US in the VNL.
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The post Nebraska Women’s Roundup: Softball’s off-season needs, Track and Field earns 11 NCAA bids appeared first on On3.
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