Honors and Awards
- 2002 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (Spring)
- 2001 AVCA First-Team All-American
- 2001 AVCA All-Central Region
- 2001 First-Team All-Big 12
- 2001 Second-Team Academic All-District VII
- 2001 First-Team Academic All-Big 12
- 2001 AVCA Division I National Player of the Week (9/10)
- 2001 Big 12 Player of the Week (9/10)
- 2001 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (Spring and Fall)
- 2001 State Farm/NACWAA All-Tournament Team
- 2001 US Bank/Arby’s Classic MVP
- 2001 Husker Power Volleyball Lifter of the Year
- 2000 NCAA Blocking Champion
- 2000 Second-Team AVCA All-American
- 2000 AVCA All-Central Region
- 2000 First-Team All-Big 12
- 2000 First-Team Academic All-Big 12
- 2000 Big 12 Hitting Pct. Champion
- 2000 Big 12 Blocking Champion
- 2000 Big 12 Player of the Week (10/23, 11/26)
- 2000 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (Spring and Fall)
- 2000 US Bank/Arby’s All-Tournament Team
- 1999 Honorable-Mention All-Big 12
- 1999 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (Fall)
Career Wrapup
Amber Holmquist will be remembered as the best middle blocker in school history. A three-time AVCA All-American, Holmquist owns or shares 17 school records and eight Big 12 records. Not even half way through her senior season, Holmquist broke NU career total blocks (728) and career block assists (646) records set by three-time All-American Stephanie Thater in 1992. Holmquist also concluded her career ranked second on the all-time charts with a .396 hitting percentage and 11th on the all-time kills chart with 1,122. As a sophomore in 2001, Holmquist crushed three NU single-season blocking records, setting new marks with 199 block assists, 220 total blocks, and 1.98 blocks per game. A 2002 Verizon/CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-American, Holmquist also set Big 12 records for single-season hitting percentage, total blocks, and blocks per game, as well as single-match records for block assists and total blocks. Holmquist finished her career as the only player ever to lead NU in hitting percentage and blocks per game in four straight seasons.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
2002: Outlook
A glance at the Nebraska record books reveals senior middle blocker Amber Holmquist’s impact on the program. Holmquist, the 2000 NCAA blocking champion and the 2000 and 2001 Big 12 blocking champion, already owns 12 school records, including blocks in a single season with 220 in 2000. Despite playing in just 69 games as a freshman, Holmquist will likely shatter school records for total blocks (needs 61) and block assists (needs 28). She could also become the first player in school history to lead NU in hitting percentage and blocks per game in four consecutive seasons.
However, Nebraska Coach John Cook said that it will be Holmquist’ offensive numbers that will factor more prominently into NU’s 2002 success. Holmquist owns an amazing .393 career hitting percentage, which ranks second on the Husker career charts, and a career 2.73 kills-per-game average. With the departure of All-Americans Nancy Metcalf (Meendering) and Jenny Kropp, Holmquist will be asked to shoulder a much heavier offensive load.
Cook will also ask Holmquist, who is the only middle blocker on the 2002 roster who has seen significant playing time, to provide leadership to an inexperienced group that includes three freshmen.
2001: Junior Season
Holmquist provided the Huskers with their biggest block and most efficient attack in 2001. She ranked second nationally with 1.81 blocks per game and was the Big 12 blocking champion for the second straight season with 2.02 blocks per game against league opponents. She also averaged 1.79 blocks per game in the NCAA Tournament and 1.67 per game in 19 matches against ranked opponents. Holmquist led the Huskers in blocks 16 times and tallied at least six blocks in 15 matches. She tied her own Big 12 and NU school record for block assists in a three-game match with 12 against Texas Tech Nov. 18.
Offensively, Holmquist produced 271 kills while swinging at a team-best .388 clip, a mark that tied for eighth on the NU single-season charts. Holmquist was also the 2001 Big 12 hitting percentage champion (.375), marking the second straight season she had earned the honor, and she ranked 13th nationally in that category.
Holmquist hit for a .333 percentage or better in 22 of Nebraska’s 33 matches, including seven performances of .600 or better and 18 of .400 or better. She tied her career high against Missouri Oct. 3, notching 10 kills with one error on 12 attacks (.750).
Holmquist, who opened the season hitting .391 or better in seven of NU’s first eight matches, was named the AVCA Division I Player of the Week Sept. 10 after totaling 32 kills on 44 swings with single-match hitting percentages of .600, .529 and .647, as NU defeated No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 20 Notre Dame and No. 7 UCLA in the US Bank/Arby’s Classic Sept. 7-9. She was also named to the State Farm/NACWAA All-Tournament team after hitting .600 against Hawaii Aug. 24 and .391 against Pacific Aug. 25.
Holmquist finished the 2001 season ranked second all-time in career hitting percentage (.393) third in block assists (475), sixth in total blocks (531) and 12th in solo blocks (56).
Holmquist was recognized with AVCA First-Team All-America honors in 2001, as well as first-team All-Big 12 honors.
2000: Sophomore Season
One of three Nebraska AVCA All-Americans, Holmquist was the best blocker in the country in 2000, leading the nation with 1.98 blocks per game. She also ranked fourth nationally with a .406 hitting percentage.
Holmquist added her name to the Husker record books in both categories. She smashed three NU single-season records during the final four weeks of the season, setting new marks in block assists (199), total blocks (220) and blocks per game (1.98). Holmquist became just the third Husker to hit .400 or better in a single season, as she ranks second on that chart with a .406 hitting percentage in 2000.
Holmquist also broke two Big 12 Conference records. She set a new league record with 16 total blocks at Texas Oct. 22 and she broke the Big 12 blocks-per-game record with a 2.14 average. The previous mark was 1.79. Holmquist broke the Big 12 single-season hitting percentage record set by Colorado’s Kelly Campbell in 1998.
In conference matches, Holmquist hit .450 and totaled 3.39 kills per game and 2.14 blocks per game. She hit .500 or higher in 14 matches and hit .600 or higher six times. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 18, Holmquist produced an amazing six-match stretch in which she hit .522, .667, .750, .500, .500 and .688. She averaged .387 at the net against ranked opponents.
Holmquist played one of her best matches Nov. 8 in the Huskers’ four-game win at Texas A&M. The Houston native pounded a career-best 26 kills on a .550 hitting percentage while posting 11 blocks in the regionally televised match.
A second-team AVCA All-American and first-team All-Big 12 selection, Holmquist joined NU setter Greichaly Cepero as the only players in the conference to win the player-of-the-week award twice. Holmquist also earned first-team Academic All-Big 12 honors in 2000.
1999: Freshman Season
After playing in just six of the team’s first 43 games (five of the first 13 matches), Holmquist emerged as the catalyst for Nebraska’s conference title run. The coaching staff started Holmquist for the first time at Texas A&M, but played her in just one game. However, after NU’s loss to the Aggies, Holmquist started the remainder of the season, guiding the Huskers to a 17-2 record after a 10-4 start.
She led the Huskers and the Big 12 Conference with a .373 hitting percentage and ranked second averaging 1.72 blocks per game in league matches. Her .373 percentage would have ranked 18th nationally if she had met the NCAA minimum for attacks.
For the season, she had 154 kills for an average of 2.23 kills per game, the second-highest average on the team. She had 121 blocks on the year, third-best on the team, and the fourth-highest total ever by an NU freshman.
Holmquist had 11 matches with six or more blocks, but saved her best two block totals for the end of the season with a season-high 10 against San Diego in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and nine blocks against UC Santa Barbara in the regional semifinals.
Offensively, Holmquist hit .419 over the final nine matches. She had six matches with double-figure kills, with four of those performances coming in the last five matches. She was nearly perfect in NU’s match at Oklahoma, recording eight kills on 11 attacks for a season-high .727 hitting percentage.
High School
Holmquist capped an impressive high school career by leading the USA Junior National Team to the North Central America and Caribbean Confederation Zone championship to advance to the World Championships in Canada.
She was named the 1998 All-Greater Houston Player of the Year after leading Alief Hastings High School to the state semifinals. A Texas all-state selection, Holmquist was nominated for Texas Athlete-of-the-Year honors after recording 461 kills, 81 solo blocks, 216 assists, 277 digs and 44 service aces during her senior season. A three-time first-team all-district honoree, Holmquist earned first-team All-Greater Houston honors as a junior and was named second team as a sophomore. A standout basketball player, she earned first-team all-district honors as a senior. She graduated with a 3.98 GPA and was an academic all-state selection. Her sister, Kendra, is a non-competing junior at Nebraska, while her grandparents live in Wausa, Neb.