No. 1 Nebraska Sweeps No. 11 Duke

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Lincoln ? Behind a double-double from All-American Jordan Larson, No. 1 Nebraska improved to 6-0 on the season with a 3-0 sweep of No. 11 Duke Friday night in the first round of the Ameritas Players Challenge.

Larson, who picked up her 30th career double-double, led the Huskers with 16 kills and 14 digs, helping the Huskers to their fifth sweep of the year. It was Larson’s fourth double-double in the Huskers’ last five contests, all of which have come against ranked foes.

Larson was one of three Huskers to finish in double figures, as All-Americans Sarah Pavan and Christina Houghtelling chipped in 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Houghtelling, who is averaging 3.36 kills per game on .349 hitting over her last four matches, fell one dig shy of a double-double, totaling 10 kills on .562 hitting and nine digs along with a pair of aces.

"I feel a lot more confident," Houghtelling said of her performances in recent weeks. "It was just different coming back. It’s something you really can’t explain in words. In that game situation, I was a little hesitant because I hadn’t been in that game situation for a while. Things are fine now."

With her 12 kills on Friday, Pavan moved past three-time All-American Nancy Metcalf for sole possession of third place on NU’s career kills list with 1,608, bettering Metcalf’s total of 1,603 from 1997 to 2001.

The Huskers hit .336 as a team against Duke, as Houghtelling and Tracy Stalls (nine kills on .615 hitting) combined for most of the damage against a Blue Devil squad that had lost just one ? a five-game setback at fourth-ranked USC ? in their first six matches.

With Friday’s win, the Huskers will meet New Mexico State, a 3-2 winner over Louisville earlier Friday, in the championship match Saturday at 7 p.m. Nebraska will look for its 59th consecutive home win and move past Florida for sole possession of fourth place on the NCAA all-time consecutive home wins list.

Behind 15 kills from Carrie DeMange, Duke hit .228 in the losing effort, the highest by a Nebraska opponent this season.

"I thought Duke is a really nice team," Cook said. "They pass really well. That setter and those middles do a great job. I’m impressed with them."

Nebraska got out of the gates quickly, hitting .371 as a team in posting a 30-24 victory in the opener. The Huskers show a balanced offense with four players recording at least four kills, including four kills in as many swings for Stalls. Leading 9-8, kills from Larson and Houghtelling ignited a 5-1 spurt for Nebraska, as the Huskers pushed the margin lead to 14-9 on a Pavan kill. NU eventually got the lead to 21-14 on a Larson kill, only to see the Blue Devils respond with six of the next seven points to get within 22-20 on a Jenny Shull ace. Up 23-31, kills by Stalls, Houghtelling and Pavan capped a quick spurt, giving the Huskers breathing room and a five-point lead.

Duke came out quickly in game two, scoring five of the first seven points, but could not sustain the momentum in a 30-20 Husker victory. The Huskers out-hit Duke, .350-.188, as Pavan slammed home five kills on nine swings. After spotting the Blue Devils an early lead, the Huskers used runs of 5-2 and 4-0 to take a 13-8 lead after a Larson kill. Duke would eventually pull to within 14-12 on a Rachael Moss ace, but two straight Kori Cooper kills and a Larson ace pushed the margin back to five, and NU was never threatened again in taking a 2-0 lead to the locker room.

In the finale, Larson’s seven kills on .462 hitting sparked the Huskers 30-23 victory to complete the sweep. The Huskers relied on an early 6-0 spurt to take an 8-4 lead after Houghtelling and Stalls combined on a block of Sue Carls. The Blue Devils hung tough throughout the game, erasing a six-point deficit to pull within a point on several occasions, the last being at 20-19 after a Husker error. Stalls then took over the match for the Big Red, as her kill sparked a run of four straight points, as she ran off three straight points from the service line to extend NU’s lead to 24-19. The Blue Devils made one last run, pulling to within 25-23 on a DeMange kill, but the Huskers closed the match by scoring the final five points to complete the sweep.

In the evening’s first match, Kim Oguh totaled a match-high 27 kills, leading New Mexico State to a 3-2 (20-30, 30-23, 24-30, 30-16, 21-19) victory over Louisville. Lindsey Yon and Amber Simpson had 18 kills apiece for the Aggies, who improved to 7-1 with the win. Jana Matiasovska led Louisville (3-4) with 31 kills on .370 hitting.

The Huskers and New Mexico State are slated for a 7 p.m. first serve and fans can listen to the match on the Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and KHUS 93.3 FM in Omaha.

 

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                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
             #11 Duke vs #1 Nebraska (Sep 07, 2007 at Lincoln, NE)



   Duke                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Ali Hausfeld........  3|  4   0   6  .667| 35|  0   3|  0|  6| 1  2  1|  3|   6.0
7  Juliana Traut.......  3|  3   1  10  .200|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|   3.0
9  Rachael Moss........  3| 10   8  29  .069|  2|  1   2|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|  11.0
11 Sue Carls...........  3|  4   3  20  .050|  3|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  0  0|  0|   5.0
12 Jourdan Norman......  3|  8   2  18  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|  10.0
15 Carrie DeMange......  3| 15   4  25  .440|  1|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0|  15.0
2  Becci Burling.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  Claire Smalzer......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
6  Jenny Shull.........  3|  0   0   6  .000|  1|  2   0|  3|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
8  Brittany Staffeil...  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 44  18 114  .228| 42|  3   9|  4| 40| 3  4  1|  4|  52.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  16  7  39  .231  18-30  60%   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  5  32  .188  13-29  44%   Duke................ (0) 24 20 23  5-2
   3  17  6  43  .256  13-30  43%   Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30  6-0

   Nebraska               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Houghtelling, Chris.  3| 10   1  16  .562|  1|  2   1|  1|  9| 0  1  0|  0|  12.5
9  Pavan, Sarah........  3| 12   4  27  .296|  0|  1   1|  0|  6| 1  0  1|  0|  14.0
10 Larson, Jordan......  3| 16   5  33  .333|  3|  1   1|  1| 14| 0  1  0|  0|  17.5
11 Stalls, Tracy.......  3|  9   1  13  .615|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
12 Holloway, Rachel....  3|  2   0   6  .333| 38|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
15 Cooper, Kori........  3|  4   4  18  .000|  3|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  3  2|  0|   5.5
1  Griffin, Maggie.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  Licht, Lindsey......  1|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
5  Schwartz, Rachel....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
17 Gates, Amanda.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 55  16 116  .336| 49|  4   4|  3| 45| 1 10  3|  0|  65.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  18  5  35  .371  18-24  75%   Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum)
   2  19  5  40  .350  14-21  66%   Date: Sep 07, 2007   Attend: 4131   Time: 1:30
   3  18  6  41  .293  13-23  56%   Referees: Marty Prochko, Joan Powell

                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       3   4   3    10
                        Lead changes     0   2   2     4