Husker Sweep Past Hawaii in Front of Record Crowd

Lincoln ? The venue was different but the result was the same as the top-ranked Nebraska volleyball team swept past No. 11 Hawaii, 30-22, 30-16, 30-24, Sunday in front of an NCAA regular-season record crowd of 13,396 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Playing a home match away from the friendly confines of the NU Coliseum for the fourth time this season, Nebraska (19-0) remained the lone unbeaten team in the country while extending its home court winning streak to 66 in a row and sweeping an opponent for the 17th consecutive match.

Hawaii fell to 16-4 with the loss and saw its 13-match winning streak snapped at the hands of the Huskers.

The crowd of 13,396 broke the NCAA regular-season attendance mark of 13,081 set earlier in the year between Nebraska and Penn State at Qwest Center Omaha.

"It’s pretty awesome to sit down there and look up," Nebraska Coach John Cook said. "This was a historic crowd, and it’s great for the sport of volleyball. Probably what I’m most proud of is that it’s really a tribute to this team and these kids. These are all great students; they’re great people. They give back to this community. They represent everything you want in a college student-athlete. It really started blossoming with this senior class."

One of those seniors paced the Huskers, as middle blocker Tracy Stalls led NU with 13 kills on a match-high .522 hitting. It marked the first time Stalls had led NU in kills since September of 2006. Fellow middle blocker Kori Cooper added nine kills, while senior Sarah Pavan, playing her first match as Nebraska's all-time kill leader, put down 11 kills. Hawaii's Jamie Houston recorded a match-high 16 kills, but also committed a match-high eight errors.

Nebraska hit .322 for the match, while Hawaii managed a hitting percentage of just .140. NU also totaled six aces and held the Rainbow Wahine without an ace.

"I thought we took Hawaii out of the match with their serving," Cook said. "They just never could really get in a rhythm after about mid-way through that first game. I thought our serving really controlled the match."

Game one was tight throughout, as neither team led by more than two points before the Huskers recorded a strong finish. Leading just 17-16, NU scored four consecutive points en route to ending the game on a 13-6 run to claim a 30-22 victory.

Nebraska got its middles going early in game one, as Stalls and Cooper combined for six of the Huskers’ first seven kills. Stalls finished with six kills in only 10 swings, while Cooper added three kills on six attacks. The play of the middles helped NU hit .250 in the opening game, while the Husker defense held Hawaii to .079 hitting, despite being out-blocked, 4-3, and out-dug, 19-14.

The Huskers carried the momentum of a strong game one finish to the start of game two, as Nebraska scored the first eight points with sophomore setter Rachel Holloway at the service line. Nothing could stop the Huskers’ momentum, not even a Hawaii timeout, as Nebraska rattled off three consecutive points following the break before the Wahine finally got on the board with a Houston kill.

Houston’s kill got Hawaii going, igniting a 3-0 run that pulled UH to within 8-3. The Wahine would get no closer than five the rest of the way though, as Nebraska effectively put the game away with a 7-0 run that put the Huskers in front, 18-6. Nebraska led by as many as 15 before cruising to a 30-16 win and a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Strong serving was the story of game two, as NU ran off runs of 8-0 and 7-0 behind the serving of Holloway and Houghtelling, respectively, while totaling five aces. The Huskers hit .333 in game two, led by four kills from Pavan. Hawaii recorded just nine kills on only .107 hitting.

The Huskers again used a quick start to take command of game three. Hawaii burned its first timeout trailing 13-8 following three straight Nebraska points. NU continued to maintain at least a four-point advantage until a quick 2-0 spurt pulled the Wahine to within 18-15.

Just as it did in the first two games, Nebraska finished the match strong, stretching the three-point advantage into an eight-point lead before a late Hawaii rally made the final score, 30-24. The Huskers hit a match-high .390 in the third game, totaling 20 kills on only 41 swings.

Holloway paced the offense throughout the night by totaling 39 assists.

NU next travels to Austin, Texas, for another top-10 showdown when the Huskers face sixth-ranked Texas on Wednesday night in a battle for first place in the Big 12 Conference. The match will be on the Husker Sports Network and shown regionally on Fox Sports Midwest.

The Automated ScoreBook #11 Hawai'i vs #1 Nebraska (Oct 21, 2007 at Lincoln, NE)

Hawai'i | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Sanders, Juliana.... 3| 6 1 12 .417| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 3 1| 0 2 Kaufman, Amber...... 3| 2 2 10 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0 3 Hittle, Tara........ 3| 2 3 15 -.067| 0| 0 0| 4| 12| 0 1 0| 0 8 Houston, Jamie...... 3| 16 8 38 .211| 0| 0 1| 0| 8| 0 1 0| 0 10 Brandt, Stephanie... 3| 0 0 1 .000| 27| 0 2| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 3 13 Cubi-Otineru, Aneli. 3| 9 8 25 .040| 0| 0 1| 1| 8| 0 1 0| 0 4 Gregory, Kari....... 2| 2 0 5 .400| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0 6 Keefe, Jessica...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0 7 Ka`aihue, Elizabeth. 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 11| 0 0 0| 0 11 Mafua, Dani......... 2| 0 0 1 .000| 7| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 1 18 Lee, Jayme.......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 37 22 107 .140| 36| 0 5| 6| 47| 0 8 1| 4

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 12 9 38 .079 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 9 6 28 .107 Hawai'i............. (0) 22 16 24 16-4 3 16 7 41 .220 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 19-0

Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Houghtelling, Chris. 3| 7 3 18 .222| 0| 2 2| 0| 7| 1 0 0| 0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 11 4 26 .269| 0| 1 1| 0| 4| 0 3 0| 0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 8 2 20 .300| 2| 1 1| 0| 15| 0 1 0| 0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 13 1 23 .522| 1| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 3| 3 0 9 .333| 39| 2 0| 0| 4| 0 2 1| 2 15 Cooper, Kori........ 3| 9 4 19 .263| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 4 1| 0 1 Griffin, Maggie..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 2 Banwarth, Kayla..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0 4 Licht, Lindsey...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 5 Schwartz, Rachel.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 1| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 51 14 115 .322| 45| 6 7| 0| 41| 1 12 2| 2

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 18 7 44 .250 Site: Lincoln, NE (Devaney Center) 2 13 3 30 .333 Date: Oct 21, 2007 Attend: 13396 Time: 1:34 3 20 4 41 .390 Referees: Joan Powell, Tom Pingel