Huskers Sweep Sooners

Lincoln ? Jordan Larson had a match-high 16 kills, leading No. 1 Nebraska past No. 17 Oklahoma, 30-19, 30-26, 30-27, Saturday evening in front of a season-high crowd of 4,294 at the NU Coliseum.

Larson narrowly missed her 17th double-double of the season, totaling 16 kills on .324 hitting, nine digs and two blocks, as the Huskers improved to 22-0 on the season and 14-0 in the Big 12. The win gave the Huskers a three-match lead over both Oklahoma and Texas in the Big 12 standings and extended the Huskers’ home win streak to 49 matches.

Larson was one of three Huskers to reach double figures in kills on Saturday, as Sarah Pavan had 13 kills and a team-high six blocks, while Tracy Stalls had 10 kills on .444 hitting and three blocks. It was the seventh time that Stalls, who is fifth nationally in hitting percentage, has finished with at least 10 kills in a match this season.

The Huskers out-hit Oklahoma, .288-.178 and totaled 12 blocks in handing the Sooners (20-5, 11-3) only their second loss in the last 12 matches. Dani Busboom recorded a match-high 15 digs, the 19th straight match that she has been in double figures.

Despite the win, Nebraska Head Coach John Cook said there were numerous things the Huskers could take from Saturday’s match.

“The good news is that we now have something to build on in practice next week,” Cook said. “I think we let Oklahoma dictate how the match went, and that was unsettling. We let Oklahoma slow it down, and we lost our momentum after a strong start.”

I told them, ?Hey, you beat the second-place team in the conference. Nice job,’ but we need to learn from this for later on down the road so that we are always determining the level of play and how we want to play on our side of the net.”

The Huskers dictated the tempo in the opener, hitting .375 as a team in posting a 30-19 victory. Stalls got the Huskers going with six kills in nine swings, while Pavan and Mancuso had five and four kills, respectively. Nebraska took control with a surge midway through the game, using an 8-2 run to break a 13-all tie and take a 21-15 lead that forced OU to take a timeout. The Sooners pulled to within 23-17 on an Elaine Santos kill, but a block by Stalls and Pavan on Santos triggered a run of five unanswered points, as NU built a 28-17 lead two consecutive kills by Dani Mancuso.

While the Huskers’ flexed their muscles in game one, the Sooners showed spunk in game two before NU pulled away late for a 30-26 victory. Nebraska continued the momentum it gained in game one, using a 5-1 spurt to take an early 8-4 lead on a block by Larson and Mancuso. Oklahoma then fought back, running off four straight points to tie the game and beginning a stretch where the teams traded points. Neither team led by more than two points and the Sooners were up 23-31 after a Joanna Schmitt kill that forced NU to call timeout. The Huskers pulled to within a point on a Pavan kill before Stalls took over, recording consecutive blocks to give NU a 24-23 lead. Leading 26-25, Nebraska finally got control, as a Rachel Holloway kill and a Sooner error put the Huskers up by three points. OU closed to within 28-26 but a Larson kill and a block of Bridget Laplante by Pavan and Cooper sent NU to the locker room up 2-0.

Larson carried the offensive load for the Huskers in the finale, recording half of her 16 kills .429 hitting in a 30-27 win. Nebraska was fired up coming out of the locker room, using its defense to jump out to a quick 6-1 lead and quickly built an 11-3 cushion before the Sooners fought back. Oklahoma, which had gone to five games in four of their previous seven Big 12 road contests, began to chip away at NU’s advantage. The Sooners cut the lead to 14-10 on a Laura Tomes kill and pulled to within 16-13. Larson then sparked Nebraska to a 5-2 spurt, taking a 21-15 after a Stalls service ace and were seemingly in control. The Sooners quickly responded, scoring six of the next seven points to get within 22-21and force a Husker timeout. Leading 23-22, the Huskers began to pull away behind Pavan, who had two kills in a 4-1 spurt to make it 27-23. Trailing 29-24, Oklahoma fought off three match points before Mariana Blum’s foot fault ended the match and gave NU a hard-fought sweep, its 18th in 22 matches and sixth against a ranked foe.

Schmitt was the only Sooner to reach double figures, totaling a team-high 13 kills and chipping in eight assists in a losing effort, the Sooners’ 19th straight loss to Nebraska dating back to 1997. 

The Huskers return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 8, as they travel to Iowa State. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. from Hilton Coliseum and fans can listen to the match on B107.3 FM and on Huskers.com.

Nebraska Volleyball #17 Oklahoma vs #1 Nebraska (Nov 04, 2006 at Lincoln, NE)

Oklahoma | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Jackson, Rachel..... 3| 3 0 5 .600| 39| 1 0| 0| 7| 1 1 0| 0 4 Tomes, Laura........ 3| 9 3 24 .250| 1| 0 1| 0| 2| 1 3 0| 0 6 Weiland, Sarah...... 3| 8 4 18 .222| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 3 0| 0 8 Schmitt, Joanna..... 3| 13 4 35 .257| 1| 0 4| 1| 8| 0 0 0| 0 9 Laplante, Bridget... 3| 7 5 24 .083| 0| 0 0| 0| 7| 0 1 0| 0 12 Santos, Eliane...... 3| 7 7 19 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 2 0| 0 3 Stadel, Anna........ 1| 0 1 2 -.500| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 10 Monsen, Anna........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 1| 10| 0 0 0| 0 13 Blum, Mariana....... 2| 0 0 2 .000| 0| 0 3| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0 14 Sharp, Hannah....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0 TEAM................ | | | | 1| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 47 24 129 .178| 46| 1 9| 3| 41| 3 10 0| 0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 12 6 39 .154 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 17 11 45 .133 Oklahoma............ (0) 19 26 27 20-5, 11-3 Big 12 3 18 7 45 .244 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 22-0, 14-0 Big 12

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 0 .000| 0| 1 1| 0| 8| 0 0 0| 0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 13 6 30 .233| 0| 0 2| 0| 3| 2 4 0| 0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 16 5 34 .324| 4| 1 1| 0| 9| 1 1 3| 0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 10 2 18 .444| 0| 1 0| 0| 2| 1 2 0| 0 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 3| 5 2 10 .300| 44| 0 0| 0| 6| 1 2 0| 0 15 Cooper, Kori........ 3| 4 2 8 .250| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 5 0| 0 1 Griffin, Maggie..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 3| 6 3 18 .167| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 1| 0 18 Busboom, Dani....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 15| 0 0 0| 0 TEAM................ | | | | 1| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 54 20 118 .288| 51| 3 4| 1| 46| 5 14 4| 0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 21 6 40 .375 Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum) 2 15 7 40 .200 Date: Nov 04, 2006 Attend: 4294 Time: 1:37 3 18 7 38 .289 Referees: Gary Houghton, Marty Prochko

Short Box Score

Short Box Score (Match) Nebraska Volleyball #17 Oklahoma vs #1 Nebraska (Nov 04, 2006 at Lincoln, NE)

Nebraska def. Oklahoma 30-19,30-26,30-27

Oklahoma (20-5, 11-3 Big 12) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Schmitt, Joanna 13-0-0; Tomes, Laura 9-0-4; Weiland, Sarah 8-0-3; Santos, Eliane 7-0-3; Laplante, Bridget 7-0-1; Jackson, Rachel 3-1-2; Totals 47-1-8.0. (Assists) - Jackson, Rachel 39. (Dig leaders) - Monsen, Anna 10; Schmitt, Joanna 8

Nebraska (22-0, 14-0 Big 12) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Larson, Jordan 16-1-2; Pavan, Sarah 13-0-6; Stalls, Tracy 10-1-3; Mancuso, Dani 6-0-0; Holloway, Rachel 5-0-3; Cooper, Kori 4-0-5; Schwartz, Rachel 0-1-0; Totals 54-3-12.0. (Assists) - Holloway, Rachel 44. (Dig leaders) - Busboom, Dani 15; Larson, Jordan 9; Schwartz, Rachel 8

Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum) Date: Nov 04, 2006 Attend: 4294 Time: 1:37 Referees: Gary Houghton, Marty Prochko