“I think I just love giving my team an extra opportunity,” Rodriguez said. “And I also love when people are giving it their all to kill the ball, and you just get a really good dig. It’s just fun. I love it.”
Rodriguez is 5-foot-5 in a sport where the tall kids (exception, Nebraska’s 6-foot middle blocker Kayla Caffey) get most of the kills.
But Rodriguez's digs help keep the Huskers alive for another chance to get a kill. And at Nebraska that doesn’t go unnoticed, both from fans and her teammates.
“(Right-side hitter Lindsay Krause), if I get a really good dig, and then she gets a kill, she always will compliment me and be like, ‘This is your point,’” Rodriguez said. “That means a lot because sometimes liberos go unrecognized. But she always really hypes me up, and doesn’t leave me unnoticed.”
There are T-shirts online supporting Rodriguez (Raygun). One shirt says, "Lincoln Digs Lexi" and has her name and jersey number on the back. Another shirt says, "The Lex Big Thing."
Last weekend, Rodriguez had 18 digs to help Nebraska to a three-set win against Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Nebraska’s third-round match is Thursday against Illinois in Austin, Texas.
Rodriguez is a first-year Husker from Sterling, Illinois. She’s played against a lot of good players in high school, club volleyball and with the United States junior national team.
But college volleyball was still a big adjustment.
“It’s a lot different,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone here is a lot stronger. A lot smarter, especially in the Big Ten. There are some really high-level hitters. So I think it’s a really big step from high school. But being in a gym with some of the best hitters in the country is really helpful every day getting to see it. That’s prepared me for other teams.”
The biggest difference has been the different types of shots Rodriguez faces now.
“In the Big Ten, especially, people are hitting over (the block). They disguise it better,” Rodriguez said. “So you got to react fast. But at the same time, you have to be ready for the hard-driven shots. So it makes getting those off speed shots a lot harder.”
Rodriguez is often diving for balls and quickly moving from the back of the court to the front.
Yes, Rodriguez said, her body does hurt the day after a match.
“Just the legs usually are really sore and really tight,” she said. “It’s more just really tired, and you don’t want to move. But you got to recover. It gets easier as the weeks go on."
Rodriguez was named the Big Ten defensive player of the year, which is one of the four major player awards the league gives out each season as voted on by the coaches. She also was one of just two liberos on the 19-player all-Big Ten first team.
Rodriguez is just the second freshman in conference history to get the defensive player of the year award, and the first since 2002.
She’s the sixth player in program history to be named a conference defensive player of the year, joining a list that includes Olympians Justine Wong-Orantes and Jordan Larson.
Rodriguez has 470 digs this season for an average of 4.48 digs per set. She’s on pace to have the second-highest digs per set average for the Huskers in the past 10 years, trailing only Wong-Orantes’ 4.55 in 2015.
Rodriguez’s favorite saves are on middle attacks.
“I like digging middles, because I feel like middles a lot of times hit straight down,” Rodriguez said. “So when you dig them it kind of lowers their confidence a little bit, and makes them think more with what to do. That’s my favorite, really hard-driven shots.”
Rodriguez's goal is to dig 75% of the shots hit at her, and she’s achieved that mark often this season.
“As long as my numbers are where I want them to be then I’m usually like, ‘That was a pretty good game,’” she said.
Rodriguez has helped Nebraska have the No. 7-ranked defense in the nation, holding opponents to an average hitting percentage of .142.
In addition to her digs, Rodriguez has 118 set assists and 14 ace serves.
Nebraska coach John Cook sees great value in the libero position because they touch the ball so much — serving, defense, serve-receive and out-of-system setting.
“I think if you want to have a great team you better have a great setter, and you better have a great libero,” Cook said.
Photos: Huskers, Seminoles vie for Lincoln Regional supremacy