Nebraska Volleyball Year-in-Review 2022: Setters

Our postseason look at Nebraska’s 2022 season continues. With left-side hitters covered in the first installment of this series, we now move on to the setters. There’s a lot to talk about here.

The Combinations

For many fans, Nebraska’s setter carousel will be one of the most vivid lasting memories of the 2022 season.

It’s worth going through how many changes and combinations we saw at this position throughout the year. Despite the nearly ubiquitous presence of the 6-2 in 2022, Nebraska first took the court in a 5-1 with sophomore Kennedi Orr running the show. The coaching staff had mentioned during the offense that an Orr 5-1 would be an ideal system for Nebraska–provided Orr could successfully take the reins and play consistently.

But following Nebraska’s season-opening sweep over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Huskers made a change for the team’s second match of the day and gave junior setter Anni Evans her own opportunity to run the 5-1. The following night against Pepperdine, Orr was back in the lineup.

Then, in Week 2, the 6-2 arrived. Fifth-year senior Nicklin Hames, who had started 2022 as a defensive specialist after setting a 5-1 for the Huskers since 2018, was thrust back into a setting role alongside Evans in a 6-2. This was the lineup for Nebraska’s contest against Loyola Marymount, but Orr got an opportunity in place of Evans in the following match against Ole Miss.

The story just kept evolving from there. Hames and Evans made up the starting duo for Nebraska’s next three matches, but Hames went down with an injury in the team’s first loss of the year to Stanford. Orr then took Hames’ spot and guided the offense alongside Evans for the next seven matches.

Hames returned to the lineup on Oct. 14 against Penn State and was once again Nebraska’s most reliable setter. Evans kept her starting role on the other side of the 6-2 until Orr unseated her late in the Nov. 13 match against Ohio State. The sophomore had a starting role for the next six matches.

But Hames was sidelined due to injury for two more matches against Minnesota and Delaware State, forcing Nebraska to deploy the Orr-Evans 6-2 once more. Hames returned for the Huskers’ final two matches against Kansas and Oregon while Evans occupied the other half of the lineup.

By the Numbers

That’s a lot to take in. The purpose of all that is to lay out just how volatile the setter spot was for Nebraska in 2022. Let’s delve into a few standout numbers.

It’s tough to make direct comparisons between the three setters with each of them participating in a considerably different number of sets. Evans led the pack with 89 sets out of 109 sets total. Hames appeared in 78, and nine of those were as a defensive specialist. Orr participated in 54.

Despite effectively setting in 20 fewer sets than Evans, Hames led Nebraska in the total assists count with 448. Hames often had the luxury of setting in an extra half rotation when sophomore opposite Whitney Lauenstein rotated to the service line, but this is not enough to account for such a big disparity.

Hames was also incredibly productive in the dig category, placing third on the team with 225 despite missing over 30 sets throughout the season.

Both Evans and Orr had glimmers of success in 2022, and each of them had their shot at running a 5-1. Evans had an impressive 12 assists per set in a full-time role against Tulsa. Orr, meanwhile, had perhaps her best performance of the year on Oct. 8 at Michigan, where she tallied 26 assists in three sets despite being in a two-setter system.

The Future

Hames has graduated. Evans has announced her intent to grad transfer. A new era is bound to begin.

The first point here is an important one: Nebraska would like to return to a one-setter offense in 2023. It’s been a staple of Husker volleyball for almost every year in Head Coach John Cook’s tenure, and Cook reiterated his preference for the 5-1 even as he ran a 6-2 this year.

Orr returns to the fold in 2023 and will have her chance at redemption as a junior.

The alternative to Orr would be a good one, though it is an alternative without experience at the collegiate level. True freshman Bergen Reilly will enroll in January having compiled a resume that few junior-level players can match. We call her “junior-level” but Reilly has already experienced volleyball on the professional stage with the USA senior national team at this September’s NORCECA Final Six. Reilly has also competed on USA youth national stages with a few of her peers in Nebraska’s 2023 class.

Barring any transfers, Orr and Reilly will battle for a starting spot in what will be a heavily scrutinized setter position next fall.