Stalls Powers Huskers Past Long Beach State, 3-0

Lincoln ? Tracy Stalls matched her career high with 14 kills, leading No. 1 Nebraska to a 3-0 victory (30-15, 31-29, 30-25) victory over Long Beach State at the Nebraska Invitational Sunday afternoon.

A 6-foot-3 middle blocker from Denver, Stalls totaled 14 kills on just 20 swings and added a match-high four blocks, as the Huskers improved to 4-0 on the season and extended their home winning streak to 38 matches dating back to 2004.

Stalls was one of four Huskers selected to the all-tournament team, joining tournament MVP Sarah Pavan, setter Rachel Holloway and Jordan Larson after a perfect 3-0 weekend.

Pavan totaled a match-high 24 kills, including 18 in the first two games, on .409 hitting and added four blocks. Holloway posted her second double-double of the weekend with 53 assists and 11 digs and helped NU hit .350 or better for the third straight match. Larson narrowly missed out on her third double-double of the weekend with nine kills and 14 digs, but tied her career high with four aces, including three straight in the openers, sparking NU’s decisive run.

The Huskers out-hit the 49ers, .357-.219, en route to picking up NU’s first win against the 49ers since 1985 and snapping a three-match losing streak to LBSU in the process. Dani Busboom tallied a match-high 17 digs, as NU out-dug Long Beach State, 59-38, and held the 49ers to just .219 hitting in the match between two of the country’s long-time volleyball powers.

"They have a very talented team, but I saw some amazing things on our side," Cook said. "For this time of year, we played some pretty amazing volleyball."

In game one, the Huskers were truly amazing, putting on an offensive clinic in rolling to a 30-15 victory. NU hit a mind-boggling .778 with 21 kills in 27 swings without making an error. Pavan was a perfect 8-for-8 on swings while Stalls had four kills in as many attempts along with two blocks. Trailing 8-7, the Huskers used the pinpoint serving of Larson to spark a 13-2 run, as the sophomore recorded three consecutive aces and forced the visitors to take both timeouts. The run continued after the break, as NU eventually built the lead to 20-10 after a Rachel Holloway kill and cruised to the opening-game win.

 “They were such a big team, and we had to get around their block” Pavan said “Our hitters did a great job of doing that and our passers were allowing Holloway to set up our hitters on 1-on-1 situations.”

Pavan continued her assault in game two, totaling 10 kills on 18 swings to lead the Huskers to a dramatic 31-29 victory. NU out-hit LBSU, .319-280, and while totaling 23 digs, including seven from Busboom. The Huskers fell behind early and trailed 15-13 before running off five unanswered points, including a pair of kills by Pavan, to take an 18-15 lead after Dani Mancuso’s kill. The Huskers eventually pushed the margin to 24-18,and led 28-25 before Long Beach State used a 4-1 run to tie the game at 29-all after a Nicole Vargas kill. Stalls then gave NU the lead with a thunderous kill to make it 30-29 before Holloway’s setter dump ended game two and sent NU to the locker room with a 2-0 lead.

In the finale, the Huskers overcame a slow start and got strong performances from Stalls and fellow middle blocker Amanda Gates to earn a 30-25 come-from-behind win.  Stalls had six of her 14 kills in the finale on .556 hitting while Gates had two kills and three blocks, two of which came in NU’s comeback effort. NU trailed by as many as five points on three occasions and was down 22-18 before making their final run. The Huskers scored four straight points, including two blocks and a kill from sophomore Amanda Gates to tie the game at 22-all. The teams traded points before a Pavan kill gave the Huskers the lead for good at 24-23 and added two more kills to push the margin to 26-23. Long Beach State got to within 26-25, but Stalls had three straight kills and combined with Rachel Holloway on a block for match point to complete the sweep.

The Huskers continue their non-conference schedule next weekend, as they host the Ameritas Players Challenge, featuring No. 12 Louisville, No. 22 Minnesota and Cal Poly, which knocked off eighth-ranked Texas over the weekend.

All-Tournament Team
Sarah Pavan, Nebraska (MVP)
Tracy Stalls, Nebraska
Jordan Larson, Nebraska
Rachel Holloway, Nebraska
Alexis Crimes, Long Beach State
Iris Murray, Long Beach State
Ashley Adams, Middle Tennessee

 

LBSU vs Nebraska (Sept.3, 2006)

• Box Score
• Short Box Score

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score Nebraska Volleyball LBSU vs #1 Nebraska (Sept.3, 2006 at Lincoln, Neb.)

LBSU | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 Hudson, Sarah....... 3| 2 1 5 .200| 0| 0 1| 3| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 2.0 8 Washington, Naomi... 3| 8 0 20 .400| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0| 9.0 9 Hasalikova, Michaela 3| 7 1 14 .429| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 1 3 0| 0| 9.5 10 Vargas, Nicole...... 3| 4 1 9 .333| 31| 1 2| 0| 10| 0 3 0| 1| 6.5 19 Miramontes, Robin... 3| 6 6 30 .000| 4| 0 2| 0| 7| 0 1 0| 0| 6.5 34 Crimes, Alexis...... 3| 5 2 18 .167| 0| 0 0| 1| 2| 0 3 1| 0| 6.5 3 Buggs, Cynthia...... 3| 0 0 2 .000| 2| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 13 Murray, Iris........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 13| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 17 Whitfield, Talaya... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 21 Verdin, Quincy...... 3| 11 4 30 .233| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 11.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 3| 43 15 128 .219| 38| 1 6| 5| 38| 1 12 1| 1| 51.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0 Game K E TA Pct Sideout Pct 1 12 4 32 .250 14-30 46% GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 18 4 50 .280 17-30 56% LBSU................ (0) 15 29 25 5-2 3 13 7 46 .130 15-30 50% Nebraska............ (3) 30 31 30 4-0

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 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 24 6 44 .409| 1| 0 3| 0| 4| 0 4 0| 0| 26.0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 9 5 25 .160| 1| 4 1| 0| 14| 2 0 0| 0| 15.0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 14 2 20 .600| 1| 1 0| 0| 3| 0 4 0| 1| 17.0 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 3| 3 0 4 .750| 53| 0 1| 0| 11| 0 1 0| 0| 3.5 17 Gates, Amanda....... 3| 6 1 11 .455| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 3 0| 0| 7.5 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 3| 8 5 22 .136| 1| 0 0| 0| 4| 1 3 0| 0| 10.5 18 Busboom, Dani....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 17| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 3| 64 19 126 .357| 59| 5 5| 1| 59| 3 15 0| 1| 79.5

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5 Game K E TA Pct Sideout Pct 1 21 0 27 .778 14-15 93% Site: Lincoln, Neb. (NU Coliseum) 2 23 8 47 .319 18-30 60% Date: Sept.3, 2006 Attend: 4102 Time: 1:35 3 20 11 52 .173 15-25 60% Referees: Marty Prochko, Marsha Rupert

1 2 3 Total Tie scores 8 13 5 26 Lead changes 3 7 1 11

Short Box Score

Short Box Score (Match) Nebraska Volleyball LBSU vs #1 Nebraska (Sept.3, 2006 at Lincoln, Neb.)

Nebraska def. LBSU 30-15,31-29,30-25

LBSU (5-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Verdin, Quincy 11-0-0; Washington, Naomi 8-0-2; Hasalikova, Michaela 7-0-4; Miramontes, Robin 6-0-1; Crimes, Alexis 5-0-3; Vargas, Nicole 4-1-3; Hudson, Sarah 2-0-0; Totals 43-1-7.0. (Assists) - Vargas, Nicole 31. (Dig leaders) - Murray, Iris 13; Vargas, Nicole 10

Nebraska (4-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Pavan, Sarah 24-0-4; Stalls, Tracy 14-1-4; Larson, Jordan 9-4-2; Mancuso, Dani 8-0-4; Gates, Amanda 6-0-3; Holloway, Rachel 3-0-1; Totals 64-5-10.5. (Assists) - Holloway, Rachel 53. (Dig leaders) - Busboom, Dani 17; Larson, Jordan 14; Holloway, Rachel 11

Site: Lincoln, Neb. (NU Coliseum) Date: Sept.3, 2006 Attend: 4102 Time: 1:35 Referees: Marty Prochko, Marsha Rupert