Harrowing tales from the liberos in the NCAA volleyball final four - ESPN

All around her, players are dressed in red and white. Not Lexi Rodriguez. She wears all black.

Directly across the net from Nebraska's 5-foot-5 libero stands Wisconsin right-side hitter Anna Smrek. She's the daughter of a former two-time NBA champion. She stands 6-foot-9 and can touch higher than 11 feet when she jumps. The net, which stands at 7 feet, 4 1/8 inches, is no match.

Next to Smrek is Wisconsin middle blocker CC Crawford. She stands 6-foot-3. Her dad ran Division I track. Her mom played Division I basketball. Her brother is a defensive lineman at Iowa. Blocking is her forte.

Smrek, Crawford and Wisconsin are down by a set and trailing 5-2. They know they need points — and fast.

Rodriguez knows it too. She knows the Wisconsin hitters will be swinging their arms high and fast and hard, trying to slam the volleyball to the floor on Nebraska's side of the net. It's Rodriguez's job to keep that from happening.

Merritt Beason goes back to serve. Rodriguez guards the sideline as Smrek rises and swings, but the Nebraska block deflects it back to Beason. After some quick back-and-forth, Crawford tips the ball gently over the Nebraska block toward the front corner of the court. Rodriguez takes one, two, three quick steps. She reaches her left arm out and dives, popping up the ball inches before it lands on the court. Rodriguez slides into the referee stand and then scrambles back into position. She's ready for whatever comes next.

It's Smrek again. This time she pokes the ball into a vacant area of the Nebraska court, but Rodriguez slides on her knees to dig it. She gets back up and backpedals to guard her turf.

Smrek isn't finished.

She approaches with intention this time. She slams the ball toward the back of the