The Nebraska football team’s Spring Game will be played May 1st. During an appearance on Sports Nightly last night, head coach Scott Frost laid out the hopeful timeline the Huskers will use this winter and spring. The Huskers will begin their winter conditioning period on Monday. Spring ball will begin in late March. The Huskers expect to have 15 full practices after last year’s spring period was cut short after only a few. The Huskers also had to cancel the 2020 spring game. The Nebraska football program welcomed a large portion of its 2021 recruiting class to campus on Tuesday. The class of 2021 includes a record-high 12 early enrollees. Early enrollees are allowed to go through winter conditioning and spring ball with the goal of being able to get on the field early in Lincoln.
Nebraska volleyball seniors Lauren Stivrins and Lexi Sun were voted to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team by the league’s 14 head coaches on Wednesday. Stivrins is a two-time AVCA All-American and two-time All-Big Ten First-Team selection. Sun earned her first ever All-America accolade in 2019 after leading the Huskers in kills per set, digs per set and service aces. The coaches also tabbed the Huskers as the No. 3 team in their Preseason Poll. Defending Big Ten champion and NCAA runner-up Wisconsin was the unanimous choice by the coaches as the top team. Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State and Purdue round out the top five. The Huskers open their season at Indiana Friday. First serve will be at 5:00.
The Loper men, and now 4th ranked UNK women’s basketball team, are in Kansas tonight for games at Pittsburg State. The Loper women are currently the only 10-0 team in D2… the Pittsburg State women have won seven in-a-row and lead the all-time series with UNK, 28-12. The women tipoff tonight at 5:30, the men’s game will follow at 7:30. The Lopers continue a three game road series Saturday at Missouri Southern, and next Tuesday at Fort Hays State. Their next home game is February 4th when the host Central Oklahoma.
The logistics for the Nebraska boys high school basketball tournament in March are in limbo. The Devaney Center won’t be available now as the Husker volleyball schedule includes home matches the weekend of the tournament March 11-13 and coach John Cook uses the arena for practices. The NSAA will consider options at its regularly scheduled board meeting today.
KGFW & High School Sports Schedules 01-18-21 (Subject to Change)
Thursday
Kearney Catholic Girls & Boys Basketball @ Aurora – 6:00/7:45
Kearney High Wrestling @ Columbus (Dual) – 7:00 @ CHS
Kearney Catholic Wrestling vs. Gibbon (Dual) – 7:00 @ KCHS
Kearney Swimming & Diving vs Norfolk – 4:00 @ KHS
Longtime Loper Athletics employee Dick Collins of Kearney died Tuesday at Kearney Regional Medical Center. A member of the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame, Collins was the Lopers head equipment manager for 38 years (1976-13). He worked with more than 10,000 UNK student-athletes and hundreds of Loper coaches during his tenure. He helped design the current equipment room, housed on the ground floor of the Health & Sports Center. In 2017, it was named the “Dick Collins Equipment Room” in his honor. Collins was 73.