Huskers Down Bears, 3-1

No. 1 Huskers Aces Baylor

Waco, Texas ? Top-ranked Nebraska relied on its best serving performance of the year to overcome a slow start, as the Huskers remained unbeaten with a 3-1 victory (30-32, 30-18, 30-21, 30-24) over Baylor Saturday afternoon.

The Huskers, who improved to 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the Big 12, recorded a season-best 11 aces while keeping the Bears’ offensive attack off-balance. Rachel Schwartz totaled a career and match-high three aces and tied her career high with 14 digs, while Sarah Pavan, Jordan Larson and Dani Busboom also chipped in a pair of aces in the win.

Nebraska’s 11 aces not only was a season high, eclipsing the 10 set against Minnesota on Sept. 10, but the most by the Huskers in a Big 12 since 2003. In addition to their serving prowess, the Huskers limited Baylor to just two aces, three days after they tied a Big 12 record with 16 aces at Missouri.

Nebraska Coach John Cook, who picked up his 200th win at Nebraska on Saturday, said that the Huskers’ strong serving and passing was a major factor in handing Baylor its first home loss of the year.

"After seeing what they did to Missouri, we challenged our team to not let their servers get hot with aces, especially (Taylor) Barnes," Cook said. "We turned the tables on them today and did a great job in serve/receive. We may have missed too many serves for what we like, but we stressed them with our serving all day."

Larson, who posted her ninth double-double of the season with 17 kills and a match-high 16 digs said that the Huskers became more aggressive, especially at the service line, after dropping the opening game.

"We came out more aggressive with our serving and worked hard on putting pressure with our serve," Larson said. "We were more efficient with our hitting after the first game."

Redshirt freshman Holloway nearly posted a triple double in the win, totaling 54 assists, a career-high 15 digs and matched her season high with seven on 11 swings for NU, which has won all 22 meeting in the all-time series. Holloway also helped the Huskers overcome a sluggish opener, where they hit just .078, to hit .333 over the last three games against the Big 12’s second-ranked defense.

"We settled down and stopped making errors," Cook said of the Huskers’ improved offense showing. "They played great in the first game, and we had a couple of opportunities to win game one, but we didn’t take advantage. Once we stopped making errors, we forced Baylor to beat us and it was a different outcome."

Pavan paced the Huskers’ offensive attack, as she matched her season high with 24 kills and added three blocks for the winners. It was the third time Pavan has totaled at least 20 kills this season and the 11th time in her career.

In a back-and-forth battle that saw 10 ties and three lead changes, Baylor took advantage of 10 Husker hitting errors in a 32-30 victory. The Huskers jumped out to a 5-1 lead, only to see the hosts reel NU back in, tying the game at 19-all after a Barnes kill. NU seemingly took control at that point, as an Amanda Gates kill started a run off three straight points to give NU a 22-19 lead after a Pavan kill. Baylor responded with six unanswered points, taking three-point lead after a Husker error. NU was down 28-26, but roared back as a Holloway kill triggered a 3-0 spurt that put NU up 29-28 and had Schwartz serving for game one. NU could not close out the opener, as Nicole LeBlanc’s kill tied the game before another NU miscue gave the Bears their first game point opportunity. Larson tied the game at 30-all, but a kill by Anna Breyfogle and the Huskers’ fourth ball-handling error of the game gave the Bears an early 1-0 lead.

The Huskers stormed back in game two, hitting .364 as a team in rolling to a 30-18 victory. Pavan led the charge with eight kills on 10 swings, while the strong serving of Schwartz and Holloway paced the visitors. Schwartz had consecutive aces in an early 4-0 Husker spurt, while Holloway served seven straight points, turning a 19-15 lead into a commanding 27-18 lead, as Nebraska tied the match heading into intermission.

Nebraska took command early in game three, racing out to a 9-2 lead and never trailed en route to a 30-21 victory. Dani Mancuso led the Huskers with four kills, including three kills in a 6-0 run that gave the Huskers a comfortable 15-4 cushion. The Huskers led by as many as 12 points, at 19-7 after a Kori Copper kill and cruised to a nine-point victory to take a 2-1 lead.

The two teams battled in the finale, as the game saw 14 ties before the Huskers pulled away late for a 30-24 victory. NU hit .386 as a team, as Pavan totaled eight kills on .467 hitting, while Larson chipped in five more while hitting .417. The teams traded points until Baylor ran off three straight points to take an 11-8 lead. The lead would be short-lived as the Huskers used a 5-1 run to take the lead at 13-12. Neither team could take control until the Husker broke an 18-all tie with three straight points, including a Pavan kill that put NU up 19-18 and a Maggie Griffin ace that gave the Huskers a two-point lead. Baylor got within 24-22 before kills by Larson and Pavan extended NU’s lead four points and forced a Baylor timeout. NU quickly pushed it to 28-22 after an illegal hit and a Larson ace and closed out the match moments later on Pavan’s 24th kill of the afternoon.

Sanders led Baylor (13-4, 2-3 Big 12) with 15 kills, while LeBlanc finished with 11 kills and a match-high 17 digs for Baylor, which lost at home for the first time in seven matches.

The Huskers return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 4, when the Huskers play host to Kansas State at 7 p.m.

Nebraska vs Baylor (Sep 30, 2006)

• Box Score
• Short Box Score

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score Nebraska Volleyball #1 Nebraska vs Baylor (Sep 30, 2006 at Waco, Texas)

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.... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 3 1| 0| 14| 0 0 0| 1| 3.0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 4| 24 11 57 .228| 2| 2 4| 0| 6| 1 2 0| 0| 28.0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 4| 17 7 43 .233| 5| 2 3| 1| 16| 1 0 0| 0| 20.0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 4| 5 1 13 .308| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 3 1| 0| 6.5 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 4| 7 0 11 .636| 54| 1 0| 0| 15| 0 1 0| 2| 8.5 17 Gates, Amanda....... 1| 3 1 5 .400| 2| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 3.0 1 Griffin, Maggie..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 4| 9 4 34 .147| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 2 0| 1| 11.0 15 Cooper, Kori........ 3| 2 0 5 .400| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0| 2.5 18 Busboom, Dani....... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 2 4| 1| 16| 0 0 0| 0| 2.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 4| 67 24 168 .256| 65| 11 12| 2| 70| 3 9 2| 4| 85.5

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5 Game K E TA Pct 1 14 10 51 .078 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS 2 18 6 33 .364 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 30 13-0, 5-0 Big 12 3 16 6 40 .250 Baylor.............. (1) 32 18 21 24 13-4, 2-3 Big 12 4 19 2 44 .386

Baylor | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8 Modglin, Amanda..... 4| 6 2 13 .308| 2| 0 4| 0| 3| 0 4 0| 3| 8.0 9 Barnes, Taylor...... 4| 6 4 21 .095| 43| 0 3| 0| 15| 1 1 0| 2| 7.5 14 Breyfogle, Anna..... 4| 6 1 19 .263| 0| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 4 1| 0| 8.0 21 LeBlanc, Nicole..... 4| 11 7 42 .095| 2| 0 0| 1| 17| 0 3 0| 0| 12.5 22 Sanders, Katie...... 4| 15 5 36 .278| 1| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 2 0| 0| 16.0 49 Guilliard-Young, Des 4| 10 4 24 .250| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 1 5 0| 0| 13.5 4 Renz, Amanda........ 4| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 3| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 6 Sweeney, Deja....... 4| 1 1 5 .000| 2| 1 1| 1| 7| 0 0 0| 0| 2.0 11 Smith, Kelsey....... 2| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 13 Keeton, Lauren...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 18 Schramek, Kristen... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 1 1| 3| 12| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 TEAM................ | | | | 2| | | | 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 4| 55 24 161 .193| 53| 2 11| 11| 67| 2 19 1| 5| 68.5

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5 Game K E TA Pct 1 17 6 52 .212 Site: Waco, Texas (Ferrell Center) 2 11 5 29 .207 Date: Sep 30, 2006 Attend: 1038 Time: 2:03 3 11 7 37 .108 Referees: Michael Denardo, Ted Lopez 4 16 6 43 .233 ID-436087

1 2 3 4 Total Tie scores 10 3 1 14 28 Lead changes 3 0 1 2 6

Short Box Score

Short Box Score (Match) Nebraska Volleyball #1 Nebraska vs Baylor (Sep 30, 2006 at Waco, Texas)

Nebraska def. Baylor 30-32,30-18,30-21,30-24

Nebraska (13-0, 5-0 Big 12) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Pavan, Sarah 24-2-3; Larson, Jordan 17-2-1; Mancuso, Dani 9-0-3; Holloway, Rachel 7-1-1; Stalls, Tracy 5-0-3; Gates, Amanda 3-0-0; Cooper, Kori 2-0-1; Busboom, Dani 0-2-0; Schwartz, Rachel 0-3-0; Griffin, Maggie 0-1-0; Totals 67-11-7.5. (Assists) - Holloway, Rachel 54. (Dig leaders) - Larson, Jordan 16; Busboom, Dani 16; Holloway, Rachel 15; Schwartz, Rachel 14

Baylor (13-4, 2-3 Big 12) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Sanders, Katie 15-0-2; LeBlanc, Nicole 11-0-3; Guilliard-Young, Des 10-0-6; Barnes, Taylor 6-0-2; Modglin, Amanda 6-0-4; Breyfogle, Anna 6-0-4; Sweeney, Deja 1-1-0; Schramek, Kristen 0-1-0; Totals 55-2-11.5. (Assists) - Barnes, Taylor 43. (Dig leaders) - LeBlanc, Nicole 17; Barnes, Taylor 15; Schramek, Kristen 12

Site: Waco, Texas (Ferrell Center) Date: Sep 30, 2006 Attend: 1038 Time: 2:03 Referees: Michael Denardo, Ted Lopez ID-436087