Husker Comeback Falls Short

Lincoln - The seventh-ranked Nebraska volleyball team came back from a two-game deficit against No. 12 Kansas State, but faltered in the fifth game and suffered a 30-22, 30-26, 19-30, 23-30, 15-8 loss to the Wildcats before 4,051 fans Saturday night at the NU Coliseum.

The loss was Nebraska's first to a Big 12 team since 1999 and snapped a 78-match conference winning streak. The loss was also snapped the Huskers' 42-match Big 12 home winning streak and was head coach John Cook's first league defeat in 68 matches.

Nebraska (15-2 overall and 7-1 in the Big 12) struggled offensively all night, committing 41 hitting errors and swinging for a season-low .137 hitting percentage. With the score tied 8-8 in game five, Kansas State scored five of its final seven points on four Nebraska attack errors and a service error.

"You can't win many matches with 41 attack errors," Cook said, "and we were too high error to play with Kansas State tonight. I really want to thank our fans, who were just awesome. We're disappointed that we couldn't give them a win.

"It's been over three years since our last conference loss, and I think that's a tribute to this program and this team. Now we're going to see how we bounce back. We've just opened the door for the whole conference."

Sophomore middle blocker Melissa Elmer provided Nebraska with several bright spots. Elmer tallied a career-high 19 kills and had six blocks. She erred just twice in 31 attempts for a .548 hitting percentage, marking the second straight match in which she has hit over .500.

Junior right side hitter Ally Rebholz added 12 kills and two blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Saleaumua recorded a career-high 23 digs.

Nebraska beat KSU in every statistical category except hitting percentage, as eight Huskers who attempted a kill hit .100 or less. NU held a 68-56 advantage in kills, led 77-74 in digs and out-blocked the Wildcats, 14-13. KSU hit just .140.

"I was happy with how we fought back and didn't give up, and we need to praise the players for that," Cook said. "But we are obviously very disappointed. I can't remember us playing that poorly since the last time we lost to Kansas State in 1999."

With the win, Kansas State improved to 16-3 and 6-1. KSU is 2-66 all-time against Nebraska, with both wins coming at the NU Coliseum.

Trailing two games to one, Nebraska built a 20-17 lead with the help of two key kills from Saleaumua. From there, Elmer took over. She combined with Kelsey Fautsch, then Saleaumua on back-to-back blocks of Valeria Hejjas and Lisa Martin to make it 22-17, Nebraska. Elmer slammed a kill to increase the lead to 23-17. Elmer would have a hand in four of the Huskers' last eight points, producing two blocks and drilling two kills, including the game winner, as Nebraska wrapped up a 30-19, third-game win. Sara Westling served seven straight points, as Nebraska outscored KSU 9-2 to close it out.

In game four, Jensen posted a kill to tie the score at 15, but Rebholz responded with a kill that sparked a 5-0 NU run. Dani Busboom served four points during the stretch, which included a solo block of Hejjas by Fautsch. Minutes later, Fautsch combined with Westling on another block of Hejjas, increasing Nebraska's lead to 22-17. A kill by Anna Schrad forced a game-point situation at 29-20. Kansas State held the Huskers off on three straight serves before Elmer pounded a kill through the Nebraska block to tie the match and force a fifth game.

The Huskers trailed most of game one and struggled offensively, hitting just .063 as Rebholz and Elmer were the only players who swung for a positive percentage. Three straight Nebraska errors made it 22-14, KSU, and the Wildcats never looked back. Goehring accounted for the winning kill in KSU's 30-22, first-game win.

Nebraska faltered again in game two. Fautsch and Saleaumua notched kills to cut Kansas State's advantage to 24-22. But the Wildcats led 28-25 with the help of a kill from Hejjas and Martin. Westling cut the lead to two will a kill, but Kansas State scored the final two points of the game on a kill by Lauren Goehring and a hitting error by Westling.

Nebraska returns to action Wednesday, Oct. 15, when it plays host to Missouri at 8 p.m. at the NU Coliseum. The contest will be televised live on CSTV DirecTV 610) and NETV. A live video stream will be available on the web at Huskers.com on HuskersNside. The match can also be heard live on selected Pinnacle Sports Network affiliates and B107.3 FM in Lincoln.

 

#12 Kansas State vs #7 Nebraska (Oct 11, 2003)

• Box Score

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score 2003 NEBRASKA VOLLEYBALL #12 Kansas State vs #7 Nebraska (Oct 11, 2003 at Lincoln, NE)

#12 Kansas State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 Goehring, Lauren.... 5| 9 4 33 .152| 2| 1 1| 0| 8| 1 5 0| 0| 13.5 4 Martin, Lisa........ 5| 11 6 34 .147| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 3 3| 0| 13.5 9 Guerre, Gabby....... 5| 9 2 20 .350| 37| 1 2| 0| 18| 0 4 0| 0| 12.0 11 Jensen, Cari........ 5| 12 2 33 .303| 3| 1 2| 2| 9| 1 2 0| 0| 15.0 12 Hejjas, Valeria..... 5| 9 15 44 -.136| 0| 1 2| 0| 7| 0 4 0| 0| 12.0 14 Franklin, Michaela.. 5| 6 2 14 .286| 1| 0 0| 0| 4| 1 0 0| 0| 7.0 5 Downey-Wallace, Laur 5| 0 0 0 .000| 4| 0 0| 0| 21| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 6 Werner, Sandy....... 1| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 7 Stanzel, Katie...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 10 Jensen, Kris........ 5| 0 0 0 .000| 5| 1 2| 3| 4| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 13 Lindquist, Molly.... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 5| 56 31 179 .140| 53| 5 10| 5| 74| 4 18 3| 0| 74.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 15 7 41 .195 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS 2 14 6 38 .211 #12 Kansas State.... 30 30 19 23 15 16-3 (6-1) 3 11 9 43 .047 #7 Nebraska......... 22 26 30 30 8 15-2 (7-1) 4 11 8 45 .067 5 5 1 12 .333

#7 Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 Lynch, Michelle..... 5| 0 1 1-1.000| 38| 1 3| 0| 7| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 3 Houghtelling, Chris. 2| 3 2 10 .100| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 0| 4.0 8 Elmer, Melissa...... 5| 19 2 31 .548| 0| 1 1| 0| 6| 0 6 1| 0| 23.0 13 Rebholz, Ally....... 5| 12 5 32 .219| 0| 0 0| 1| 3| 0 2 0| 0| 13.0 16 Schrad, Anna........ 5| 11 9 52 .038| 0| 1 0| 1| 15| 0 2 0| 0| 13.0 26 Saleaumua, Jennifer. 5| 10 7 35 .086| 2| 0 0| 1| 23| 0 3 1| 0| 11.5 6 Dowling, Jenae...... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 2| 13| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 1| 0 2 2-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0| 0.5 10 Fautsch, Kelsey..... 5| 7 11 23 -.174| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 5 0| 0| 10.5 15 Westling, Sara...... 4| 5 1 9 .444| 0| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 5 0| 0| 7.5 18 Busboom, Dani....... 5| 1 1 2 .000| 20| 2 5| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0| 3.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 5| 68 41 197 .137| 61| 5 11| 5| 77| 1 26 2| 0| 87.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 13 10 48 .062 Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum) 2 16 12 40 .100 Date: Oct 11, 2003 Attend: 4051 Time: 2:18 3 16 3 44 .295 Referees: Dan Apol, Ed Halik 4 17 8 45 .200 5 6 8 20 -.100