For so many years, Nebraska alone ruled the Big 12.

For the past few seasons, the league's two powerhouse volleyball programs shared the glare of the league spotlight.

But in 2009, clearly it's the Longhorns' turn to shine.

Destinee Hooker performed like the national player of the year candidate she is, and her teammates were every bit as impressive. Second-ranked Texas locked up a return trip to the national semifinals Saturday night, slowly but surely overpowering No. 7 Nebraska for a 21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 win in Omaha's NCAA regional final.

The loss ended the season for the 26-7 Huskers, and it snapped Nebraska's impressive run of 10 consecutive sweeps.

“That's obviously a very emotional win for our team and our program,” said Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, whose Longhorns this year won their first outright Big 12 championship since 1997. “I've coached a lot of matches. This might be the biggest win I've ever had, just to be able to continue the journey with this team and this group of seniors.”

Saturday's showdown was the first postseason meeting between Nebraska and Texas in the 13-year history of the Big 12. The 28-1 Longhorns now have won four straight over the Huskers and five of the past six in the series.

The Longhorns will take on No. 11 Minnesota on Thursday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla. The other NCAA semifinal will pit No. 1 and two-time defending champion Penn State against third-ranked Hawaii.

Getting routed through Omaha's regional was hardly a reward for a Texas team that rolled its way through a brutal nonconference schedule — then dropped only one Big 12 match, a five-set thriller at No. 5 Iowa State.

But the Longhorns will go to Tampa full of confidence and riding high after overcoming the Huskers' huge Qwest Center home-court advantage. Entering Saturday, Nebraska had won 15 of 17 matches at Omaha's arena — including a remarkable 10 of 11 against top-five foes.

The fact Texas survived speaks volumes about the talent and tenacity of Elliott's 2009 team. The Longhorns were led all season by their two star seniors, Hooker — named most outstanding player of the Omaha regional — and Ashley Engle.

“It's a great win for our program,” said Hooker, who had four aces, two blocks and 18 kills on .350 hitting. “I'm excited just to have another week with this team. It's a blessing.”

Juliann Faucette had 14 kills and hit .346 for Texas, while Engle finished with 27 assists, five kills, 11 digs and two blocks. The Longhorns outhit NU .342-.179 and — thanks in large part to Hooker — had a 5-0 edge in aces. Texas' attack percentage was a season high for any team against the Huskers.

Coach John Cook said the Huskers were going to have to serve better and pass more consistently than Texas to have any hopes of winning. NU did just that in set one, but the Huskers couldn't keep it going.

“I thought Texas played great,” Cook said. “Their big-time players stepped up. Destinee had a great match.”

The defeat goes in the books as another missed opportunity for Nebraska to take down Texas — but it hardly casts a negative light on the Huskers' 2009 season.

After saying goodbye to a standout 2008 senior class, which included All-America outside hitter Jordan Larson, Nebraska's returning players and a new cast of rookies struggled at first to find their own way.

The season looked lost in September, when NU lost three of five during the roughest two-week stretch of Cook's 10-year tenure.

Then Nebraska began to click in a big way during the second half. The Huskers swept every match they played in November — a first in program history — and ended the season playing as well as any team in the country.

“We had been playing great,” Cook said. “This team has improved more than any team we've had at Nebraska. They've done everything we've asked.”

The strong finish appears to bode well for a squad that will return everybody except senior Kori Cooper — a fan favorite who helped NU win the 2006 NCAA title. The middle blocker out of Amarillo, Texas, ends her career with a 120-13 record.

Nebraska had everything clicking early in set one and raced out to leads of 8-3 and 15-7. But Texas fought back to get within 17-15 and 23-20. Then the Huskers clinched their 1-0 lead on back-to-back kills from Lindsey Licht and Tara Mueller. It marked the 31st straight set Nebraska won dating back to a 3-1 loss at Texas on Oct. 30.

Cooper led the Huskers in the first set with five kills on .571 attacking, and Nebraska outhit the Longhorns .297-.167 in the game.

Most of the second set was a point-by-point battle. But with the score knotted 16-all, Texas hit the gas and rattled off five straight points to take control. The Longhorns bounced back to hit .364 in game two, and Elliott said it was critical that Texas avoided falling into a two-sets-to-none hole.

“Nebraska had gone so long without losing a set,” Elliott said. “I thought if we could get that second game, maybe they would start to question themselves a little bit, and we would gain some confidence.”

Texas was at its dominant best in set three, dismantling the Huskers with its strong serve-and-pass game. Hooker had six kills in the set, and UT swung at an unstoppable .467 clip.

The final set was tighter, but Nebraska simply couldn't score with enough consistency to keep up. And with UT up 17-14, an emphatic three-point burst sealed the deal: First, Engle slam dunked an overpass. Then Engle and Jennifer Doris teamed up for a massive stuff, which was followed by Hooker's ace serve. That made it 20-14 Longhorns, and the match was all but over.

Licht had 12 kills, Cooper had 11, Mueller finished with 10 and Brooke Delano added nine. But none of NU's primary attackers hit better than .250.

“We all hate this feeling, so we don't want to feel it again,” NU setter Sydney Anderson said. “Look at where we were in September, and look at us now. We've gotten better, and we're still going to get better. I am so proud of this team.”

Nebraska (26-7)..................25 18 16 17

Texas (28-1)....................21 25 25 25

Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 2-0-1, Licht 12-0-3, Delano 9-0-0, Cooper 11-0-5, Mueller 10-0-1, Werth 7-0-1, Banwarth 0-0-0, Mancuso 1-0-0, Pendergast 0-0-0.

Texas (kills-aces-blocks): Faucette 14-0-1, Adams 8-0-2, Doris 5-1-5, Engle 5-0-5, Yogi 0-0-0, Hooker 18-4-2, Kocher 0-0-0, Robverson 4-0-2, Kisner 0-0-0, Webster 1-0-0.

Set assists: Nebraska 45 (Anderson 39, Mueller 1, Werth 1, Banwarth 4); Texas 50 (Engle 27, Kocher 19, Hooker 1, Kisner 3). A: 9,253.

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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