Huskers Sweep No. 15 Missouri, 3-0

Columbia, Mo ? Sarah Pavan had a match-high 16 kills on .467 hitting, as No. 1 Nebraska took a big step in the race for a Big 12 crown with a 30-25, 30-22, 31-29 sweep of No. 15 Missouri in front of a crowd of 6,105 at the Hearnes Center Wednesday night.

Pavan, the Big 12’s reigning player of the year, was dominant with 16 kills in 30 swings, while adding four blocks and eight digs, as the Huskers handed Missouri its first home loss of the season.

Pavan was one of several offensive stars for Nebraska (16-0, 8-0 Big 12), which hit .339  as a team and out-digged and out-blocked the Tigers (13-5, 7-2 Big 12).

Jordan Larson totaled 14 kills and 14 digs for her eighth straight double-double and team-best 12th of the year, while Dani Mancuso and Tracy Stalls both totaled nine kills in the win. Mancuso hit a season-best .400 on 20 swings, while Stalls led all players with eight stuffs, matching her season high

Behind the play of its veterans, the Huskers overcame an early deficit to post a 30-25 victory in the opener. NU hit .295, as Pavan, Larson and Stalls combined for 16 kills, while holding the Tigers to .042 hitting.  The Huskers found themselves in an early hole, as the Tigers ran off three straight points to build a 9-5 lead after a Nicole Wilson ace that forced an NU timeout. Missouri eventually pushed the lead to 17-12 before a service error and a Pavan kill got NU within 17-14 and forced a Tiger timeout. The run continued after the timeout, as the NU scored four unanswered points, taking an 18-17 lead on a Kori Cooper kill. The Tigers tied the game at 20, but NU ran off four straight points to take a 24-20 lead after a block by Pavan and Cooper forced MU to take its second timeout. Missouri got within 24-22, but could get no closer, as the Huskers ran off four of the next five points to take a 28-23 lead after a Mancuso kill and closed out game one moments later, as Larson and Stalls combined for a block on game point.

The Huskers played nearly flawless offensively in game two, hitting .438 as a team in posting 30-22 victory. Larson paced a balanced attack with five kills on .571, while four players had at least three kills in the game, including four kills on four swings from Mancuso. Nebraska took control early on, using a 5-2 run to take an 11-6 lead after a Stalls ace and a Tiger hitting miscue. MU got to within 15-10, but the Huskers quickly ran off two of the next three points to take a 17-11 cushion after a Dani Busboom kill. NU led by at least five points the rest of the way and led by as many as nine points, at 27-18 after Stalls and Mancuso combined on a stuff block.

In game thee, the Huskers played their best in the end, rallying from a 28-26 deficit by scoring five of the final six points of the match to snap Missouri’s seven-match win streak. The Huskers took an early lead, running off four unanswered points to turn a 4-3 deficit into a three-point lead and force a Missouri timeout. The advantage would be short-lived, as the Missouri responded with four unanswered points, as consecutive blocks by Nicole Wilson and Julianna Klein gave MU an 8-7 lead.  The teams traded points until the Huskers strung together a 3-0 run to extend the lead to 18-14 on a block by Stalls and Holloway. Missouri fought back, scoring seven of the next nine points to regain the lead at 21-20 on a Husker two-hit violation. The teams traded ties at 22 and 23 before a Na Yang kill and a Jessica Vander Kooi ace made gave MU a 25-23 lead and forced NU’s second timeout. Missouri led by as many as three and had a 28-26 advantage before Holloway took over. The freshman recorded a kill to put NU within one before recording a solo block on Vander Kooi to tie the score at 28-all. Jordan Larson’s kill gave the Huskers their first match point, but the Tigers clawed back and tied the score at 29-all. Pavan then ended the Tigers’ hopes for a fourth game, putting NU up 30-29 with a kill before silencing the crowd once and for all with a thunderous kill on match point for her 16th kill of the night.

Nicole Wilson led Missouri with 13 kills on .385 hitting, while Vander Kooi totaled 11 kills and 12 digs in a losing effort.

The Huskers return home on Saturday, Oct. 14, as they host the Colorado Buffaloes. Because of the football game against Kansas State, the match will now start at 3 p.m. with NU Coliseum gates opening at 1:30 p.m.  Fans can listen to the match on B107.3 FM in Lincoln and on Huskers.com.

Nebraska Head Coach John Cook
Opening statement
“I think it’s a big win, Missouri had a chance to be in the lead in the Big 12 tonight. Our players really responded to the challenge and played a very good match today. I thought they did a super job with their composure and our game plan. It was just really a workman-like effort to win this match.”

On Missouri’s hostile crowd
"It’s certainly a distraction. It caused us some interference, but our players are used to that, and I can tell you this, they’d much rather be in this environment then somewhere where there’s nobody. Those are the places I really worry about. In a way you feed off the energy, but we came out a little wild, missing serves, and part of that was the environment and the crowd. It took us a while to settle down.”

Nebraska Setter Rachel Holloway
On settling down
“After the start game, it’s all about seeing what the other team is going to do and figuring out their tendencies and seeing what we have to do to counter that. Even though we do start slow, we are learning and figuring things out. We were able to turn it around, and we have done it in the past. It’s just about everybody stepping up the things they have to do well and everybody was.”

On NU's offense
"I think just in practice we’ve been working on spreading out the offense because Sarah [Pavan] and Jordan [Larson], as good as they are, it’s hard for them to score all the points for us. That way we can have a balanced attack, and it’s hard for any team to defend us, and it leaves a lot of hitters one-on-one a bunch, so that really helps the offense.”

Nebraska Outside Hitter Sarah Pavan
On motivation taken from the game
“This was a big game for us tonight. Playing a top-20 team at their place and being able to win in three games is a huge deal. We’re very, very happy with how we performed tonight and we have been getting better every game. Just going into the week to come, we’re going to build on this and hopefully continue to get better.”

Nebraska vs Missouri (Oct 11, 2006)

• Box Score
• Short Box Score

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score Nebraska Volleyball #1 Nebraska vs #15 Missouri (Oct 11, 2006 at Columbia, Mo.)

Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Schwartz, Rachel.... 3| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 2| 1| 10| 0 0 0| 0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 16 2 30 .467| 1| 1 4| 1| 8| 0 4 0| 0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 14 3 32 .344| 2| 0 1| 1| 14| 0 2 1| 0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 9 5 16 .250| 0| 1 1| 0| 1| 0 8 0| 0 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 3| 3 3 13 .000| 49| 0 1| 0| 8| 1 2 1| 1 15 Cooper, Kori........ 3| 4 1 8 .375| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0 1 Griffin, Maggie..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 3| 9 1 20 .400| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 2 0| 0 18 Busboom, Dani....... 3| 1 0 1 1.000| 4| 0 2| 2| 13| 0 0 0| 1 TEAM................ | | | | 1| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 56 15 121 .339| 56| 2 11| 6| 57| 1 21 2| 2

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5 Game K E TA Pct 1 19 6 44 .295 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 18 4 32 .438 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 31 16-0, 8-0 Big 12 3 19 5 45 .311 Missouri............ (0) 25 22 29 13-5, 7-2 Big 12

Missouri | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Wang, Lei........... 3| 4 1 8 .375| 30| 1 0| 0| 9| 0 0 0| 1 3 Vander Kooi, Jessica 3| 11 5 32 .188| 4| 2 1| 0| 12| 0 2 3| 1 4 Hantouli, Amanda.... 3| 3 3 13 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0 6 Klein, Julianna..... 3| 6 3 21 .143| 0| 0 3| 0| 2| 2 2 0| 0 10 Yang, Na............ 3| 5 6 28 -.036| 1| 0 1| 1| 1| 0 0 1| 0 13 Wilson, Nicole...... 3| 13 3 26 .385| 0| 1 1| 0| 1| 1 3 0| 1 5 Booth, Abbie........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 4| 0 0 0| 0 8 Herzog, Brittney.... 2| 0 1 2 -.500| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 9 Ailes, Tatum........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 3| 1 0| 0| 15| 0 0 0| 1 11 Wilson, Megan....... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 1| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 42 22 130 .154| 38| 6 7| 2| 48| 3 8 5| 4

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 10 8 48 .042 Site: Columbia, Mo. (Hearnes Center) 2 15 8 37 .189 Date: Oct 11, 2006 Attend: 6105 Time: 1:39 3 17 6 45 .244 Referees: Marty Prochko, Erik Fisaga ID-435987