Huskers Open Spring Schedule with Win at Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii ? All-American Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, Ontario) had a match-high 22 kills, as Nebraska rallied from an 0-2 deficit to defeat Hawaii, 26-28, 20-25, 25-22, 27-25, 15-10 to win its spring exhibition opener in front of 6,538 at the Stan Sheriff Center late Friday evening.

Pavan, who hit .246 and had six blocks, was one of five Huskers who posted 10-or-more kills against the Rainbow Wahine. Christina Houghtelling (Cambridge, Neb.) finished with 15 kills, 13 digs and six blocks, while Dani Mancuso (Omaha, Neb.) had 13 kills, including the final two points of the match, as the Huskers broke a 9-all tie in the finale with a 6-1 run.

The Huskers also got strong performances from middle blockers Melissa Elmer (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tracy Stalls (Arvada, Colo.), who each added 10 kills. Elmer recorded a match-high 10 blocks, while Stalls added seven blocks and four assists. Dani Busboom (Cortland, Neb.) had 59 assists and 13 digs, while All-American Jennifer Saleaumua (National City, Calif.) had 22 digs and two service aces in her first match at libero.

"Usually when you play matches in the spring, you don’t worry about wins or losses, but when you have two good teams in front of 6,000 fans, it changes the whole environment," Nebraska Head Coach John Cook said.

Tara Hittle had a team-high 16 kills for Hawaii, which was out-hit .195-.154

After dropping the first two games, Pavan led the Huskers back in game three, totaling nine of her kills on .400 hitting in a 25-22 win in game three.

Hawaii, which returned every starter from a team that went 30-1 and reached the NCAA regional semifinals, had an opportunity to win the match in game four, taking a 25-24 lead on a kill by Sarah Mason, but Pavan responded with consecutive kills before Hawaii All-American Victoria

Prince was stuffed by Elmer and Mancuso for game point.

"Hawaii started off smooth, and we were out of sync early on, Cook said. "When we were down 2-0, we challenged our players to play better and to show how tough this team was. I was encouraged with how we competed and our mental approach when we were down. They stayed with it and kept their focus, which really allowed us to play good volleyball. We got better as the match went on and played very well in the fifth game.

The match was deadlocked at nine in game five before a kill by Stalls and a Busboom service ace put the Huskers up by two. Hawaii got to within 11-10, but would get no closer, as Houghtelling’s kill and a block by Pavan and Stalls on Hittle put NU up 13-10. Mancuso then finished the two-hour and 15-minute match with consecutive kills for the final two points.

"Our whole focus this spring is to put ourselves in situations where something is on the line and to show our competitiveness," Cook said. "It is more rewarding to be in those situations and to play in environments such as this one. There are only two places in the country that would have the type of atmosphere we had last night ? here and in Nebraska."

The Huskers will continue the spring portion of their schedule on Saturday, April 9, as Nebraska plays host to 2004 NCAA runner-up Minnesota at the NU Coliseum.

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score The Automated ScoreBook Nebraska vs HAWAII (Mar 18, 2005 at Honolulu, Hawaii)

Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Houghtelling, Christ 5| 15 6 42 .214| 1| 0 1| 0| 13| 1 5 0| 0 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 5| 13 9 38 .105| 1| 0 2| 0| 7| 0 3 0| 0 8 Elmer, Melissa...... 5| 10 5 31 .161| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 10 0| 0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 5| 22 8 57 .246| 1| 1 4| 2| 3| 1 5 1| 0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 5| 10 5 26 .192| 4| 1 0| 0| 6| 1 6 1| 0 18 Busboom, Dani....... 5| 2 1 6 .167| 59| 2 2| 0| 13| 1 4 0| 2 26 Saleaumua, Jennifer. 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 2 1| 0| 22| 0 0 0| 1 TEAM................ | | | | 1| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 5| 72 34 200 .190| 67| 6 10| 3| 65| 4 33 2| 3

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 20.5 Game K E TA Pct 1 17 6 45 .244 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS 2 15 8 44 .159 Nebraska............ (3) 26 20 25 27 15 3 17 8 41 .220 HAWAII.............. (2) 28 25 22 25 10 4 14 7 42 .167 5 9 5 28 .143

HAWAII | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Sanders, Juliana.... 3| 3 7 13 -.308| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 3 0| 0 2 Boogaard, Susie..... 5| 8 2 24 .250| 4| 1 0| 2| 13| 0 4 0| 0 3 Hittle, Tara........ 5| 16 6 46 .217| 1| 0 0| 1| 14| 0 5 0| 0 7 Arnott, Alicia...... 3| 8 7 30 .033| 0| 0 1| 0| 7| 0 0 0| 0 10 Kamana`o, Kanoe..... 5| 0 0 2 .000| 49| 1 1| 0| 18| 0 3 1| 0 16 Prince, Victoria.... 4| 10 4 29 .207| 0| 1 1| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0 4 Gregory, Kari....... 2| 3 1 8 .250| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 3 0| 0 6 Keefe, Jessica...... 1| 0 0 4 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0 9 Thomas, Nickie...... 2| 4 3 10 .100| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 2 5 1| 0 11 Watanabe, Ashley.... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0 13 Thurlby, Cayley..... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0 14 Ong, Kelly.......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0 15 Woolford, Raeceen... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0 17 Mason, Sarah........ 1| 6 1 9 .556| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0 TEAM................ | | | | 3| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 5| 58 31 175 .154| 55| 3 3| 6| 78| 2 24 2| 0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 15 7 39 .205 Site: Honolulu, Hawaii (Stan Sheriff Center) 2 13 3 38 .263 Date: Mar 18, 2005 Attend: 6538 Time: 2:15 3 12 5 31 .226 Referees: Dickson Chun, Dan Hironaka 4 14 11 38 .079 5 4 5 29 -.034