How the UNL Volleyball Team Went Viral

 I am not your sportswriter, that is my friend Jacob. However, something within local sports has actually gone viral in our city! If our city goes viral, that is my department!

UNL takes their sports very seriously. I am sure that anyone who has spent five minutes off campus can tell. It is all about the Huskers. You may think of the Huskers being solely a football team. However, you may not know that the Huskers is also the name of UNL’s volleyball team.

            In December, the volleyball team was unsure if they would be able to play this year due to COVID-19, until two members of the team got a phone call from their coach announcing their travel schedule. The first two girls to hear the good news were Lauren Stivrins and Lexi Sun.

            They got the call from their coach and were immediately ecstatic. So what did they do to celebrate? They facetimed the rest of the team while dressed in their uniforms and recorded the entire team's reaction.

            They were all shocked to hear the good news of being able to play once again. Their reactions spanned from disbelief to shock and awe. To them this was what they had wanted for a while. Stivrins and Sun recorded all of the reactions and then posted onto Tiktok where the video went viral, showing the team spirit of UNL. They were bored out of their minds and then just decided to announce it to the rest of their team members.

            Stivrins said that “this team is so close like that we can call anyone at any time and they’re going to pick up.” Almost the entire team picked up the phone and gave their reactions. This closeness has been cultivated by their coach, John Cook.

            Cook said it was his passion to train them and bring them closer together as a team. He has also said that he has every game date memorized in his head because of how ready the team is. The team spirit they have shows how excited the team got at the announcement of the season schedule. Along with this, it shows how connected they are. Finally, this reveals the positive spirit some people are still able to have, despite COVID-19.

TJ Pittinger is a junior

theology major from

Gilson, Ill.