KC BOUND! Miracle upset in Lincoln sends Texas A&M to Final Four

Match #31: #3 Texas A&M 3, #1 Nebraska 2
S1: A&M, 25-22; S2: A&M, 25-22; S3: NEB, 25-20; S4: NEB, 37-35; S5: A&M, 15-13
Records: Texas A&M (27-4, 14-1), Nebraska (33-1, 20-0)
Box Score

Major upsets often evoke Al Michaels’ ever-present 1980 question.

On Sunday, Texas A&M’s Jamie Morrison likely answered just as emphatically as he did last week inside Reed Arena:

“HELL YES!”

By taking down a Big Red machine of a different kind — the previously unbeaten Nebraska Cornhuskers — Aggie volleyball is headed to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

An already historic run turned miraculous when A&M (27-4) defeated Nebraska (33-1) on Sunday afternoon in five sets, as the Huskers’ happy place — the Bob Devaney Sports Center — watched the Maroon & White crash a Big Red party.

It is A&M’s first win over the No. 1-ranked team since 1995, and given the stakes, it’s much more significant.

“There is no little ounce of me that is scared of them, and I respect them a lot,” Morrison told the Aggies pregame. “I respect them, but I am not scared because we are prepared for this.”

Then, as if channeling Herb Brooks himself, Morrison added:

“I’m not scared because you were born for this as competitors to step out here and be in this environment, and it will be loud. Use your breath. Stay calm in those moments. It will be hard; they’re a good volleyball team, but we are prepped.”

From being prepped to now propelled to the college game’s biggest stage: The Final Four.

Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

In just his third season in Aggieland, Jamie Morrison is going where no Texas A&M volleyball coach has gone before!

Kyndal Stowers led the way with 25 kills on a .327 hitting percentage.

Logan Lednicky, already one of the greatest Aggie volleyball players ever, led the way with 24 kills and passed Hollann Hans (1,640) for third place on the Aggie leaderboard in career kills with 1,661.

Morgan Perksin and Ifenna Cos-Okpalla were dominant at the net with nine and eight total blocks, respectively. The latter moved into second all-time in program history in blocks with 556. She’s now six behind Jazzmin Babers’ 562 for the school record.

The A&M attack all began with Maddie Waak, who dished out a ridiculous 63 assists.

Before Sunday, the Big Ten champions had dropped just seven sets all season. As the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Nebraska had been undefeated at home since Nov. 26, 2022, and had swept eight consecutive matches entering the regional final.

No more.

Morrison’s senior-laden Aggies snapped all those streaks and have staked their claim, turning the “Something great is about to happen” prophecy into reality.

From a great opportunity, A&M just authored the program’s greatest moment.

What they have earned here tonight is a trip to Kansas City as the Aggies will face Pittsburgh on Thursday, Dec. 18, at the T-Mobile Center.

Of course, it’s easy to describe Sunday’s victory as a miracle, but Morrison’s program is filled with the precursor: Belief.

And they’ll carry that belief with them all the way to the Final Four.

More to come shortly.