Wisconsin volleyball: series against No. 5 Nebraska postponed due to COVID-19 [UPDATE]

This weekend’s big matchup between the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers (10-0 Big Ten, 10-0 overall) and the No. 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-1, 7-1) will not be happening as scheduled. The matches were postponed due to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19.

“The decision to postpone was mutually agreed upon by the two schools out of an abundance of caution surrounding the health and safety of the participants,” a statement said.

This is the first series of games for Wisconsin has been impacted this season and the schools will work with the Big Ten to try and reschedule the game. Since this was “mutually agreed upon” we don’t know if the outbreak was in Nebraska’s or Wisconsin’s program.

“We are disappointed for our players and fans that we won’t be able to play this weekend but the health and safety of all of the players is what’s most important,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said.

“We are obviously disappointed that we won’t get to compete at Wisconsin this weekend, but our players understand that the health and safety of everyone is most important,” Nebraska head coach John Cook added in a statement issued by the Huskers.

This is a huge bummer for volleyball fans, as this would have been Wisconsin’s biggest test so far this season.

UPDATE, Thursday 2/25/21 at 6:00 p.m. CST

The Badgers will be taking a 14-day pause due to COVID-19 cases within the program.

“For the safety of our student-athletes, we are pausing all team activities,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Our athletes are taking all necessary precautions to keep everyone in the program safe. We’re really looking forward to resuming team activities when appropriate.”

As noted above the Nebraska matches this weekend are being postponed and now the Iowa matches on March 5th and 6th will be postponed too.