No. 1 Huskers Open Big 12 Play with Sweep

Lincoln ? Behind seven blocks from Amanda Gates, No. 1 Nebraska remained perfect on the season, posting a 30-24, 30-21, 30-24  victory over Kansas in its Big 12 opener on Wednesday in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,128 and a national television audience.

The Huskers, who improved to 8-0 on the season, recorded 14 blocks and held Kansas (7-3, 0-1 Big 12) to just .038 hitting  With the sweep - NU’s seventh in eight matches ? the Huskers extended their home winning streak to 41 matches.

Gates, who also totaled six kills, provided an early spark, totaling six blocks and four kills in game one alone, as her blocking total was her best since recording 10 in NU’s season opener on Aug. 29. Tracy Stalls also had five blocks, as Kansas hit .061 or lower in all three games and fell to NU for the 77th straight time.

 “I thought Amanda Gates did a really nice job tonight, she was a bright spot tonight with seven blocks,” Cook said of the sophomore’s performance.

The Huskers, who were second nationally in hitting percentage, slogged through Wednesday’s match, hitting just .159, its lowest total in a win since the 1999 season.

“It wasn’t pretty tonight, but we found a way to win,” Stalls said. “We’re learning how to battle. The best thing we can take from this match is what we can do to improve and what things we can work on.”

Sarah Pavan paced NU with 12 kills and chipped in four blocks, while Jordan Larson added 11 kills, two aces and eight digs.  Rachel Holloway totaled her fourth double-double with 35 assists and a career-high 14 digs.

Cook was relieved to get Wednesday’s opener out of the way, especially coming off a stretch of three matches over three days last weekend.

“I think it’s good to get the first (conference match) out of the way,” Cook said. “I thought we were fatigued tonight, physically and mentally. The biggest thing we can take from this is that our team has got to learn to prepare mentally on a school day. I think it’s something we’ve got to get used to, this playing on a school day.”

Gates got Nebraska going early on, leading the Huskers to a 30-24 win in game one with six blocks and four kills, while helping hold KU to .050 hitting.  Nebraska trailed 17-14 before its block took over, as the Huskers used a pair of stuffs and a Dani Busboom ace to tie the score at 17-all. KU took a 20-18 lead on an NU serving error and a Jana Correa kill, and led 21-19 before the Huskers took over. Nebraska went on a 7-1 spurt, including two kills and a pair of blocks by Gates before Larson’s kill gave NU a 26-22 lead. The Jayhawks cut the deficit to 27-24, but a service error, a Dani Mancuso kill and an attack error sealed the Huskers’ six-point win.

While NU’s blocking keyed the game one victory, it was the floor defense that led to a 30-21 victory in. Holloway totaled nine of the Huskers 23 digs, as NU limited the Jayhawks to .061 hitting. Larson did most of the damage in a key 6-1 Husker run, totaling two kills and an ace to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 12-9 advantage. KU was within 16-12, but an attack error and a block by Larson and Stalls pushed the lead to six points, and the Huskers enjoyed a comfortable lead the rest of game two.

In the finale, Busboom keyed the Husker efforts, totaling 10 of her team-high 19 digs in holding the visitors to .000 hitting in a 30-24 win. Pavan led the balanced offense attack with five kills, including three of the Huskers’ final four points.

NU was down 6-4 before strong serving from Pavan and Rachel Schwartz keyed a 5-1 spurt that made it 9-7 after Holloway and Stalls stuffed Correa. Following a service error, NU ran off three unanswered points, extending the margin to 12-8 on a Stalls service ace. The Huskers built the lead to 22-15 before KU rallied, using a 7-3 run to pull within 25-22 after a Husker miscue. Leading 26-23, two Pavan kills and a KU error gave NU some breathing room before Pavan’s 12th kill of the night ended the match moments later.

Correa led Kansas with 14 kills and 10 digs for a double-double, while Savannah Noyes had eight kills and three blocks in a losing effort.

The Huskers return to action on Saturday night, when they travel to Oklahoma, a 3-0 winner at Texas A&M on Wednesday. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be carried on B107.3 FM and on Huskers.com.

                              Nebraska Volleyball
              Kansas vs #1 Nebraska (Sep. 13,2006 at Lincoln, NE)



   Kansas                 |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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2  Martincich, Katie...  3|  2   1   5  .200| 24|  0   0|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  2|   2.0
4  Correa, Jana........  3| 14   7  45  .156|  1|  0   2|  0| 10| 0  1  0|  0|  14.5
7  Brown, Emily........  3|  5   5  24  .000|  7|  1   2|  0| 10| 0  1  0|  0|   6.5
10 Williams, Brittany..  3|  3   6  20 -.150|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 2  1  0|  0|   5.5
15 Hill, Megan.........  3|  4   3  12  .083|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
18 Noyes, Savannah.....  3|  8   8  22  .000|  1|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   9.5
1  Morningstar, Linsey.  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
3  Mathewson, Jamie....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  4| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
6  Grieb, Melissa......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
8  Mazour, Paige.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
11 Mahoney, Caitlin....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
12 Wittman, Dani.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 36  31 131  .038| 34|  2   8|  5| 57| 2  8  0|  2|  44.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  12 10  39  .051  14-29  48%   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  9  49  .061  17-30  56%   Kansas.............. (0) 24 21 24  7-3
   3  12 12  43  .000  15-29  51%   Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30  8-0

   Nebraska               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  Schwartz, Rachel....  3|  0   2   4 -.500|  1|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
9  Pavan, Sarah........  3| 12   5  35  .200|  1|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  1|  14.0
10 Larson, Jordan......  3| 11   8  39  .077|  0|  2   2|  1|  8| 1  2  1|  0|  15.0
11 Stalls, Tracy.......  3|  6   3  15  .200|  0|  1   0|  0|  2| 1  4  1|  0|  10.0
12 Holloway, Rachel....  3|  3   0   7  .429| 35|  1   0|  0| 14| 0  3  0|  1|   5.5
17 Gates, Amanda.......  3|  6   3  12  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 2  5  1|  0|  10.5
1  Griffin, Maggie.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  Mancuso, Dani.......  3|  6   2  18  .222|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  0  0|  0|   7.0
18 Busboom, Dani.......  3|  0   0   2  .000|  4|  1   0|  1| 19| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 44  23 132  .159| 42|  5   6|  2| 53| 5 18  3|  2|  63.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  15  9  43  .140  15-25  60%   Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum)
   2  16  6  46  .217  17-21  80%   Date: Sep. 13,2006   Attend: 4128   Time: 1:35
   3  13  8  43  .116  16-25  63%   Referees: Marsha Rupert, Crystal Lewis

                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       8   2   3    13
                        Lead changes     4   1   1     6