Ella Swindle, Bergen Reilly starring for Texas and Nebraska as freshmen, set for a title

TAMPA, Fla. — Sunday’s championship match between heavyweight programs Texas and Nebraska will set a new standard for NCAA women’s volleyball. Ticket sales have soared to new heights, according to officials with ticket distributor StubHub. Viewing ratings for the match are expected to follow, especially since ABC will broadcast a championship match for the first time on a national network.

The growth of the game will be just as evident when the two teams take the court at Amalie Arena. For the first time, two true freshmen setters — Ella Swindle of Texas and Bergen Reilly of Nebraska — will lead their teams into a Division I championship match. Whoever wins will become just the third true freshman setter to lead her team to a national title, joining Stanford setters in Bryn Kehoe in 2004 and Jenna Gray in 2016.

That bit of volleyball history is both a testament to the shared precociousness of Swindle and Reilly as well as a sign of a healthy sport, said Texas’ Jerritt Elliott and Nebraska’s John Cook, two of the coaching deans in their sport.

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“It’s probably a good indicator that freshmen are coming in more ready to play,” said Cook, who’s only had one other freshman starter in his 24 years as Nebraska’s head coach. “Club volleyball is doing a great job of preparing these kids, the youth coaches have gotten better, and there’s just more players across the country.”

Elliott agreed with his peer, saying the development of volleyball naturally leads to better — and earlier — development of the players.

“I think the growth of the sport is tremendous,” said Elliott, who took over the Texas program in 2001. “We do have better club coaches, and the type of athletes that we’re getting, they are coming out (of club and high school) more proficient.”

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Fresh face: Swindle takes over on veteran team

Freshmen players can make an immediate impact at the highest levels of college volleyball. Heck, Nebraska will likely start four freshmen on Sunday.

But those impact freshmen usually play at the pins or in the middle. Playing the setter position requires certain intangibles often only learned through experience. Setters quarterback the team, to lean on the football analogies that Cook loves to use. They determine where the ball goes in the attack, when it goes to a certain player, and why it goes to a particular player at a certain place and time. And they make those decisions in a blink while trying to stay calm in a swirling maelstrom of action on the court.

Oh, and they also have to serve as the team psychologist. That’s particularly tricky for a freshman learning the personalities of new teammates while navigating the natural angst of starting college. In Swindle’s case, she had to take the reins of a Texas attack that had just won the 2022 national championship behind the setting of Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres, who averaged 11.3 assists a set last season.

“I definitely think the game is a lot faster, but that wasn’t the biggest adjustment,” said the 6-foot-3 Swindle, who grew up in Columbia, Mo. “I think the biggest adjustment is just learning how to play with new girls that have played in national championships and have won national championships and just have high expectations, like you do.

“You just want to be the best that you can be for them. And so the biggest adjustment for me was just learning how to take it day by day.”

Elliott emphasized to Swindle that bad days, especially early in the school year, didn’t translate to a bad season.

“There’s a lot of pressure coming in to set a team that just won a national championship,” he said. “You feel all the responsibility. For me, it was just trying to kind of tone that down with Ella and tell her that she was going to fail a lot and we were going to catch her and that she wasn’t going to be perfect every night.

“It was just setting the expectations where she could just grow and build her confidence.”

Swindle and the Texas attack have certainly grown into the season. During a 5-3 stretch to open the season, Texas (28-4) had a hitting percentage of .250 or lower four times while topping .300 just twice. But the Longhorns have hit less than .250 just once in the 21 matches since the start of October and topped .300 eight times. They hit .274 in Thursday’s semifinal win over Wisconsin, an intimidating defensive powerhouse that led the nation in blocks this season.

“I remember seeing (Texas) earlier this year,” said Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield after his team’s semifinal loss to the Longhorns. “They were a totally different team. They’ve really, really grown together.”

Feeling right at home: Reilly QBs Huskers

Reilly can empathize with Swindle, especially since the two friends have shared a room while playing for the U.S. youth national team. Like Swindle, Reilly slid into a starting role on a traditional powerhouse with the highest of expectations. Unlike Swindle, however, Reilly arrived as part of a loaded freshman class trying to help the Huskers bounce back from a disappointing end to the 2022 season.

Last season, Nebraska (33-1) fell in the regional semifinals for its earliest postseason exit since 2011. The passionate fan base wanted an influx of new blood into the program, and Reilly felt right at home on a roster without any seniors.

“The biggest change coming into college for me was the speed of the game coming from club and high school,” said the 6-1 Reilly, a native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “It’s a whole different game in college, and so that was a big adjustment to make, especially as a setter. But it went pretty seamless.”

Cook said he had to adapt to Reilly, maybe even more than she did to the college game.

“She just has a great feel for the game,” he said. “We don’t really give her a lot because she’s a feel setter, a great feel setter.”

He then whipped out one of his football comparisons.

“It’s like Patrick Mahomes,” he said. “I mean, he doesn’t do everything that he was trained as a kid growing up, he just creates things. Guys like that with a great feel, that’s his greatest gift. And (Reilly) has that kind of feel for the game.”

Put any feels and feelings aside, and both Swindle and Reilly draw praise for their competitiveness. Swindle has a fiery side on the court that flares up when she finds Texas middle blocker Asjia O’Neal on a slide or when she uses her size to win a joust at the net.

Reilly has more a steely resolve; the Huskers’ 3-0 rout over Pittsburgh in Thursday’s semifinal seemed more an efficient business trip than a celebration.

“Oh, she’s definitely a great competitor,” Swindle said about Reilly. “But she’s also just a nice girl. She’s a great player, and it’ll be fun to have two freshman setters going against each other.”

Sunday’s championship match

Texas (28-4) vs. Nebraska (33-1), 2 p.m., ABC