No. 1 Huskers Head to Oklahoma

After playing its first eight matches at home, the Nebraska volleyball team ventures on the road for the first time in 2006, as the Huskers travel to Norman, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday. First serve from McCasland Field House is set for 7 p.m. and fans can listen to the match on B107.3 FM and on Huskers.com. In addition, HuskersNside subscribers can also watch Saturday’s match on HuskersNside.

The top-ranked Huskers relied on the old staples of blocking and defense in their Big 12 opener on Wednesday. NU, which improved to 8-0 with the win, out-blocked Kansas, 14-8, and held Kansas to .058 hitting. Sophomore Amanda Gates’ seven blocks and six kills highlighted NU’s efforts on a night where the Huskers struggled at times offensively. NU enters the match ranked second nationally in hitting percentage, but was held to .159 by Kansas.

No. 1 Nebraska (8-0, 1-0 Big 12)
at Oklahoma (9-2, 1-0) Saturday, Sept. 16
Norman, Okla. ? 7 p.m.Radio:  
B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Omaha)
Live Stats:
Huskers.com
Free Audio:
Huskers.com  
Live Video Feed:  
HuskersNside (subscription required) No. 1 Nebraska (8-0, 1-0 Big 12)
vs. Iowa State (8-2, 0-0) Wednesday, Sept. 20
NU Coliseum ? 7 p.m.Radio: Pinnacle Sports Network
( B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Omaha)
Live Stats:
Huskers.com
Free Audio:
Huskers.com  
Live Video Feed:  
HuskersNside (subscription required)

Oklahoma pulled one of the biggest suprises of the season to open Big 12 play with a stunning 3-0 win at Texas A&M. The Sooners, who improved to 9-2 on the season, had 15 kills by Joanna Schmitt and seven kills and nine blocks from Elaine Santos to snap a 27-match losing streak to the Aggies. The Sooners, who had never defeated Texas A&M in College Station, are riding a seven-match win streak, having swept nine of their 11 opponents, suffering losses to Arkansas in their season opener and at then No. 9 Wisconsin.

Following Saturday’s trip, the Huskers return home for a pair of matches against Iowa State (Wednesday) and Texas Tech (Saturday) before heading to Omaha to take on a resurgent Creighton squad on Sunday.

Did You Know?
?-Nebraska opened the season with six straight sweeps - the first time that has occured since 1976.

?-Nebraska’s .159 hitting against Kansas was its lowest in a match since 2003 and lowest in a win since the 1999 season.

?-With Nebraska (1st) and Texas (5th) in the top five of Monday’s AVCA poll, it is the first time since Sept. 10, 1996 (and the fourth time since the league was formed) that two Big 12 teams were ranked in the top five of the AVCA poll.

?-Nebraska is 58-2 on the road in Big 12 play under John Cook.

?-The Huskers hit .350 or better in four straight matches before hitting .272 in last Saturday’s win over Cal Poly - the first time NU has hit .350 or better in four straight matches since the 2002 season.

Worth Noting
?-Saturday’s matchup between the Huskers and Sooners features the top offensive teams in the Big 12. Nebraska leads the conference with a .315 hitting percentage, while Oklahoma is second at .273.
?-The league’s four ranked teams split matches on Wednesday, with No. 1 Nebraska and No. 5 Texas posting home sweeps. No. 17 Missouri and No. 24 Kansas State both went on the road and suffered losses to Colorado and Baylor, respectively.
?-With Wednesday’s win over Kansas, Nebraska improved to 10-1 all-time in Big 12 openers and to 77-0 all-time aganist the Jayhawks.
?-The Huskers extended their home winning streak to 42 matches with Wednesday’s win over Kansas, including 36 straight in the NU Coliseum.
?-Amanda Gates’ seven blocks in Wednesday’s win over Kansas eclipsed her total in NU’s previous four matches. Gates had six blocks in game one alone, her highest single-game total of her career.
?-Nebraska has three players leading the Big 12 in offensive categories: Sarah Pavan (kills per game and points per game), Rachel Holloway (assists per game) and Jordan Larson (service aces per game), while Tracy Stalls (hitting percentage) and Dani Busboom (digs per game) both rank second in their respective categories.
?-Nebraska leads the nation in both kills and assists per game in the latest NCAA statistics released Wednesday, while also ranking second in hitting percentage.
?-With the No. 1 ranking in Monday’s AVCA poll, the Huskers have spent 58 weeks all-time at No. 1, the most weeks at No. 1 of any Division I program. UCLA is second with 51 weeks. In fact, NU has been ranked No. 1 in 18 of the last 19 polls dating back to the start of last season.
?-The Huskers lead the Big 12 in hitting percentage (.315), kills (17.80) and assists (16.64), while ranking second in both blocks (3.46) and digs (16.64).
?-Rachel Holloway not only became the fifth freshman to start her collegiate debut at NU, but was the first Husker freshman to start at setter in a 5-1 offense in the NCAA era (1983-present). NU had two other freshmen split time in the 6-2 offense (Lindsay Wischmeier-1999; Dani Busboom-2003), but neither started their first match at NU.

Scouting Oklahoma
The Sooners come into Saturday’s match with momentum, winners of seven straight contests - all by sweeps. Oklahoma is 9-2 on the season and has not dropped a game since Sept. 1.

Under third-year coach Santiago Restrepo (28-41 in three seasons at Oklahoma), the Sooners are off to a 9-2 start and are three wins away from matching the progam’s highest win total since 1997 - the school’s last NCAA Tournament appearance. OU opened Big 12 play with an impressive sweep of Texas A&M on Wednesday, taking a 30-28, 30-26, 30-28 victory over the Aggies in College Station. It was OU’s first win over Texas A&M since 1979 and first-ever win in College Station.

The Sooners feature one of the Big 12’s top offensive squads, as they are second in the league in hitting percentage. Middle blocker Laura Tomes keys the attack, hitting a Big 12-best .480 and averaging 3.47 kills and 1.30 blocks per game. Joanna Schmitt is among the Big 12 leaders in kills per game with 4.44 and averages 2.69 digs per contest, while middle blocker Eliane Santos averages 3.63 kills and a team-best 1.48 blocks per contest.

The Huskers have dominated the all-time series, winning 62 of the 68 previous marches, including the last 17 contests dating back to 1997. The Huskers are  21-4 all-time against OU in Norman.

Last season, the Huskers won both meetings, using a career-high 20 kills by Christina Houghtelling to escape Norman with a 3-1 win before holding the Sooners to .042 hitting in a sweep in Lincoln last November.