Senior Brett Sears was recognized as a second-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Perfect Game/Rawlings on Wednesday morning.

Sears’ second-team All-American honor is the highest by an NU starting pitcher since Aaron Marsden in 2003.

The senior becomes an All-American after earning first-team all-region and NCBWA District 6 Player of the Year honors earlier this month.

A semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and National Pitcher of the Year, Sears was the Big Ten’s Pitcher of the Year and a First-Team All-Big Ten honoree while posting a 9-1 record with a 2.16 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 104 innings.

Sears had a breakout 2024 campaign, ranking among the national leaders throughout the season. The Westphalia, Iowa, native is fifth nationally with a 2.16 ERA and 0.88 WHIP, 19th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.32), 21st in hits allowed/9 inn. (6.23) and 24th in walks allowed/9 inn. (1.64).

After Nebraska’s win over Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, the senior became the first NU pitcher since at least 1999 to reach a 9-0 record on the mound.

Sears is the first Husker hurler with 100-plus strikeouts in a season since 2008 after compiling 101 punchouts, which is ninth-most in program history. Sears also completed the season tied for eighth in program history with 104 innings pitched in 2024.

JOSIAH ALLICK AND TRISTON SIMPSON JOIN HUSKER MEN’S BASKETBALL STAFF

Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg announced Wednesday that Josiah Allick and Triston Simpson will join the Husker basketball staff as graduate assistants for the upcoming season. 

Allick will serve as a graduate assistant this season, as he rehabs following ankle surgery. He helped Nebraska to one of its most successful seasons in program history in 2023-24. The Lincoln, Neb., native played in 33 games, including 27 starts, in his lone season at Nebraska and averaged 7.3 points on 55 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds per game. Allick led NU in field goal percentage and totaled a pair of double-doubles, including a 14-point, 11-rebound effort in the Huskers’ NCAA Tournament game against Texas A&M. He was recognized for his contributions on and off the court, as Nebraska’s Sportsmanship Award nominee in men’s basketball.

Allick, who also played at New Mexico and Kansas City, helped his teams win 91 games during his career, including 64 games over the last three seasons. Both Nebraska and UMKC posted their highest win totals in the last 30 years with Allick on the roster.  During his collegiate career, Allick totaled 1,246 points and 781 rebounds in 136 career games, including 111 career starts.

Allick, who graduated from New Mexico in 2023, is working on his master’s degree in business administration at Nebraska.

“We are excited to keep Josiah around our program,” Hoiberg said. “Everyone saw the contributions he made as a player here with his work ethic, selflessness and leadership abilities. He is an outstanding communicator who relates exceptionally well with people, and his experiences will help our current players as we continue to build a winning culture.”

Simpson returns to his hometown after spending the 2023-24 as an assistant at Indian Hills Community College. He helped the Warriors to a 29-6 record, North Central District and Region XI titles before the program reached the NCJAA semifinals.  Two players earned NJCAA All-America honors while seven players earned all-region accolades under his tutelage.

“We are pleased that Triston has joined our staff,” Hoiberg said. “He had a chance to get into coaching at the junior college level and helped Indiana Hills to the national tournament last year.  Triston was a multi-year starter at point guard at South Dakota and played professionally for a few years before getting into coaching, and that experience will help him as he continues his adjustment to the coaching ranks.”

Simpson played collegiately at South Dakota, where he was a three-year starter at point guard. A two-time All-Summit League honoree, he played 124 games for the Coyotes, totaling 1,193 points and nearly 400 assists. He averaged double figures in each of his final two seasons, including a career-high 14.0 points per game in 2018-19. During his four seasons at USD, the program won 81 games, including a 26-9 mark in 2017-18.

Following his collegiate career, Simpson played overseas professionally for three seasons, including stops in Iceland, Argentina, Cyprus and most recently in Estonia, where he played for Tallinna Kalev in 2022-23.

Simpson received a bachelor's degree in Sports Management from South Dakota in 2020.

Both Allick and Simpson are Lincoln natives who played at Lincoln North Star High School and for Coach Tony Quattrocchi. Allick and Simpson will join Nihilo Ibarra and Justin Moore as graduate assistants for the upcoming season.

HUSKERS ANNOUNCE 2024 VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

The Nebraska volleyball program and the Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 schedule on Wednesday. The Huskers will play 31 matches – 20 against Big Ten opponents and 11 against non-conference foes. Eighteen of the Huskers’ 31 matches will be played at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The schedule features 11 matches against teams that finished in the top 25 of the 2023 AVCA Coaches Poll, including six against top 10 teams.

Before the season officially gets underway, Nebraska will have its annual Red-White Scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Fan Day will take place that morning at the Devaney Center from 10 a.m. to Noon. Red-White Scrimmage tickets will go on sale to the general public on Thursday, June 13 at 10 a.m., on Huskers.com.

The Huskers open the regular season on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at the AVCA First Serve Showcase in Louisville, Ky. Nebraska will take on Kentucky at 6 p.m. (CT) at the KFC Yum! Center. Tickets will go on sale to the general public Friday, June 14 at 9 a.m. (CT) on Ticketmaster.com.

Nebraska's home opener will be Friday, Aug. 30 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m., followed by a home match against TCU on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.

NU will head to Dallas for a midweek matchup at SMU on Tuesday, Sept. 3, before returning home for another tournament. Nebraska will face The Citadel on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. and Montana State on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m.

Nebraska and Creighton will meet at the Devaney Center on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m., and the Huskers' third home tournament will feature matches against Arizona State on Friday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. and Wichita State on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m.

The Huskers will host Stanford on Wednesday, Sept. 18, a change from the originally scheduled date of Tuesday, Sept. 17. That match will start at 7 p.m. Nebraska's non-conference slate wraps up with a match at Louisville, which has been set for Sunday, Sept. 22.

The reigning Big Ten champion Huskers will begin league play against two of the new conference foes. NU will host UCLA on Friday, Sept. 27 and USC on Sunday, Sept. 29. After a road match at Illinois on Thursday, Oct. 3, the Huskers will have three straight home matches - Iowa (Sunday, Oct. 6), Purdue (Friday, Oct. 11) and Rutgers (Saturday, Oct. 12). After a road trip to Michigan State (Friday, Oct. 18) and Ohio State (Saturday, Oct. 19), the Huskers wrap up the month at home against Illinois (Friday, Oct. 25) and Michigan (Saturday, Oct. 26).

The Big Red begins November with four straight road matches: at Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 1, at Northwestern on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Oregon on Thursday, Nov. 7, and at Washington on Saturday, Nov. 9. NU returns home to host Minnesota on Thursday, Nov. 14 and Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 16.

The final two weeks of the regular season begins at Iowa on Wednesday, Nov. 20, with the Huskers hosting Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 23. Nebraska is on the road again for the final weekend of the regular season, playing at Penn State on Friday, Nov. 29 and at Maryland on Saturday, Nov. 30. Seven of the Huskers' final 10 matches will be on the road.

Additional start times and TV information will be added to the Huskers.com schedule page as they become known.

2024 Nebraska Volleyball Schedule