As the Kansas State women’s volleyball team rushed the court last Friday, one thought came to Kuulei Kabalis.

"I’m going home."

Kabalis, a 2009 Kamehameha-Hawaii alumnus, had a team-high 17 digs to help the Wildcats pull off the biggest upset so far in the NCAA tournament, beating No. 2 seed Nebraska in five sets to advance to the Honolulu regional this Friday against Pepperdine.

A win over the Waves would move the Wildcats into a regional final against Southern California or Hawaii, one of four schools Kabalis visited before the season.

She played her first two years at Western Nebraska, winning the 2010 NJCAA title with a tournament-record 34 digs in the final.

She also visited Washington State, where her sister, Kaleinani, played, and Utah State before settling on Kansas State.

"It didn’t feel like any other place I visited," Kabalis said. "I just knew I wanted to come here."

Kabalis’ one goal this year was to become the starting libero, and she’s done exactly that, playing in every match, averaging 3.74 digs per set in the regular season. Her 4.05 digs per set in conference play was sixth overall in the Big 12 and she’s third on the team with 22 aces.

She’s the first Kansas State volleyball player ever from Hawaii, and head coach Suzie Fritz tried to schedule a preseason tournament here next year so she could play at home.

Although that didn’t work out, Kabalis still gets a chance to play at the Stan Sheriff Center, in a much more meaningful situation.

"It is a blessing (for her)," Fritz said at a press conference Monday. "I think that she has about 900 people that are planning to attend that match to support her and support us, so we will have our own little cheering section."

The Wildcats received an at-large berth to the tournament, but weren’t sure they would make the field of 64 despite a high RPI.

They watched the selection show together and hadn’t seen their name pop up with only one regional left on the board.

That regional was Honolulu.

"We got all excited but nervous when Hawaii came up as the last regional and our team didn’t show up yet," Kabalis said. "When our name popped up, I got so excited that I’d be able to play in front of a lot of people I know."

In order to get here, it took a monumental upset of Nebraska, which was ranked No. 2 in the AVCA poll and seeded No. 2 in the tournament.

Kansas State had never defeated an opponent ranked that high in the history of a program that has been to the NCAA tournament in 12 of the last 16 years.

With the match tied at one set apiece, the Wildcats won a marathon third set 31-29. Nebraska battled back to win the fourth before Kansas State put it away in the fifth to silence a Nebraska Coliseum crowd of 4,161.

"It was really loud, but we didn’t let the crowd of the Nebraska team get the best of us," Kabalis said.

She also knows her team can expect at least twice that if they advance to play Hawaii on Saturday.