Houghtelling Leads Huskers to Ameritas Title

Lincoln ? Behind a season-high 15 kills from tournament MVP Christina Houghtelling, the top-ranked Nebraska volleyball team improved to 7-0 on the season with a 30-17, 30-25, 30-22 sweep of New Mexico State Saturday night at the Nebraska Coliseum.

Houghtelling, who missed all of the 2006 season after shoulder surgery, was dominant against the Aggies, hitting .519 on 27 swings and adding three blocks and nine digs. For the weekend, she averaged 4.17 kills per game on .535 hitting and 3.00 digs per game, as the Huskers collected their third tournament title in as many weeks heading into Wednesday’s Big 12 opener.

Houghtelling was joined by teammates Tracy Stalls and Rachel Holloway on the seven-member all-tournament squad.

Stalls finished with nine kills and set season bests in both hitting percentage (.692) and blocks (five) while hitting .654 in two matches this weekend. Holloway guided the Huskers to a season-high .409 hitting against the Aggies, while recording season bests in both kills (six) and blocks (four) and added eight digs.

Nebraska Head Coach John Cook was pleased with how the Huskers responded after the first match between Duke and Louisville pushed the start time back an hour. In that match, Louisville rallied from a 0-2 deficit and three match points to stun the No. 11 Blue Devils in five games.

"Today was a long day. I think our players had to wait around. It’s hard to keep your focus up that long waiting around," Cook said. "It’s good for us to practice that because when you play again in tournaments or the NCAA Tournament. Sometimes you have to wait around for a long match, so it was a good challenge for us."

The Huskers also experimented with the starting lineup, as freshman Tara Mueller made her first career start at libero. Mueller finished with eight digs and three assists in helping limit the Aggies to .161 hitting.

"We just felt like we wanted to give her a shot to see what she could do at libero," Cook said of Mueller, who started at libero for the U.S. Junior National Team but had seen time at outside hitter for NU this fall. "Tonight was a good night to try that. We felt like we needed to stir that up a little bit and let these guys compete."

The Huskers took the suspense out of game one, racing out to a 12-4 lead and never looked back in a 30-17 victory. Nebraska hit .351 as a team with Sarah Pavan and Stalls combining for eight kills, while limiting the Aggies to just .083 hitting. NU used an early 9-2 spurt to take control, extending the margin to eight points on a Pavan ace and forcing New Mexico State to take a timeout. The Huskers eventually pushed the advantage to double figures at 15-5 on a solo block from Holloway and cruised to the 13-point win.

Nebraska found itself in a tussle in game two before pulling away late in a 30-25 victory. The Huskers hit .531 and had one error in 32 swings, but struggled in slowing down New Mexico State’s Lindsey Yon. The Aggies outside hitter totaled eight kills in game two, leading NMSU to a .282 team hitting percentage. The game saw 13 ties and three lead changes, while neither team could sustain momentum until Tracy Stalls keyed NU’s decisive spurt. Stalls had two kills and a solo block in NU’s 4-0 run to give NU the lead for good, as she finished game two with four kills and three blocks. The Aggies eventually pulled to within 27-24, but a Pavan kill and a hitting error pushed the lead back to five points, helping NU take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.

In the finale, Nebraska relied on its outside attack of Houghtelling and Pavan to complete the sweep. Houghtelling had eight kills on 12 swings while Pavan finished with seven kills on .429 hitting, helping NU hit .366 as a team. Trailing 14-12, the Huskers ran off for straight points, including consecutive blocks by Stalls, to force a NMSU timeout. The Aggies got to within 17-16, but a Holloway kill triggered the Huskers to win three of the next four rallies to take a three-point lead and pulled away late for its sixth sweep in seven matches.

Yon led New Mexico State with a match-high 17 kills, as the Aggies fell to 7-2 on the year.

Nebraska returns to action Wednesday night, as they take on No. 7 Texas in the Big 12 opener for both teams. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be carried on the Husker Sports Network and televised on both NET and CSTV

Ameritas Players Challenge All-Tournament Team
Krystal Torres, New Mexico State, Libero
Carrie DeMange, Duke
Jana Matiasovaska, Louisville
Kim Oguh, New Mexico State
Rachel Holloway, Nebraska
Tracy Stalls, Nebraska
Christina Houghtelling, Nebraska, MVP

New Mexico State vs Nebraska (Sep 08, 2007)

• Box Score

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score The Automated ScoreBook New Mexico State vs Nebraska (Sep 08, 2007 at Lincoln, NE)

New Mexico State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 Callis, Anna........ 3| 6 6 22 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0| 6.5 9 Oguh, Kim........... 3| 5 4 13 .077| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 5.0 15 Gintant, Alyssa..... 3| 0 0 1 .000| 24| 0 1| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 27 Yon, Lindsey........ 3| 17 6 33 .333| 0| 1 0| 2| 4| 1 0 1| 0| 19.0 28 Altermatt, Krista... 3| 8 3 26 .192| 0| 0 1| 0| 8| 0 0 0| 0| 8.0 31 Simpson, Amber...... 3| 8 4 20 .200| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 2 1| 0| 9.0 1 Torres, Krystal..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 2| 0| 17| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 2 Rodgers, Brynja..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 16| 0 1| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 4 Phillips, Whitney... 3| 2 2 5 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0| 2.5 7 Akrie, Briana....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 10 Bostic, Jordan...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 13 Goodan, Kelli....... 3| 0 0 3 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 14 Steinmetz, Alex..... 2| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 3| 46 26 124 .161| 42| 1 7| 2| 38| 1 4 2| 0| 50.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0 Game K E TA Pct Sideout Pct 1 11 8 36 .083 13-29 44% GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 20 7 46 .283 20-30 66% New Mexico State.... (0) 17 25 22 7-2 3 15 11 42 .095 15-30 50% Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 7-0

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| 15 1 27 .519| 2| 0 0| 0| 9| 2 1 1| 0| 17.5 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 13 5 31 .258| 0| 2 1| 0| 4| 0 2 1| 0| 16.0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 7 1 16 .375| 2| 0 2| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0| 7.0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 9 0 13 .692| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 4 3| 0| 12.0 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 3| 6 1 9 .556| 39| 0 0| 0| 8| 1 3 0| 0| 8.5 15 Cooper, Kori........ 2| 5 1 9 .444| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 1 1| 0| 6.5 1 Griffin, Maggie..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 4 Licht, Lindsey...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 17 Gates, Amanda....... 1| 0 1 4 -.250| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 1| 0.5 19 Mueller, Tara....... 3| 0 0 1 .000| 3| 0 1| 1| 8| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 3| 55 10 110 .409| 47| 2 4| 1| 42| 5 12 7| 1| 68.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0 Game K E TA Pct Sideout Pct 1 18 5 37 .351 14-18 77% Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum) 2 18 1 32 .531 20-25 80% Date: Sep 08, 2007 Attend: 4116 Time: 1:26 3 19 4 41 .366 16-23 69% Referees: Joan Powell, Marty Prochko

1 2 3 Total Tie scores 1 12 5 18 Lead changes 1 3 3 7