Huskers Roll Past Jackrabbits

Lincoln, Neb. ? The Nebraska volleyball team was dominant in opening defense of its national title, as the second-ranked Huskers cruised to a 30-13, 30-14, 30-13 sweep of South Dakota State in front of 4,189 fans in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the NU Coliseum.

Nebraska hit at least .367 in every game, while South Dakota State hit negative in each of the three games. The Huskers also recorded 12 blocks, while the Jackrabbits were unable to record a single stuff.

On the match, NU hit .378, while SDSU committed 24 errors and recorded just 19 kills en route to a season-low -.052 attack percentage.

Tracy Stalls and Sarah Pavan paced the potent Nebraska offense with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Jordan Larson added eight kills on 12 swings without an error. Larson also added a season-high five aces, as six different Huskers contributed to Nebraska’s season-high 10 aces.

The Huskers improved to 28-1 with the win, while South Dakota State wrapped up its season with a 25-11 record and the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in any sport. Amy Anderson and Mackenzie Angner had five kills apiece, while Anderson hit .462 and was the only Jackrabbit who finished with a hitting percentage above .000.

Nebraska cruised to the victory in game one. The Huskers led just 8-7early before scoring 22 of the final 28 points to earn the 30-13 victory. Led by a defense that forced seven errors ? including three blocks ? on South Dakota State’s first 17 swings, NU held South Dakota State to -.061 hitting as the Jackrabbits had more errors (eight) than kills (six).

Game two was nearly a mirror image of game one, as the Huskers hit .386 for the second straight game while winning 30-14. It was tight early, as it was tied at 6-all before the Huskers went on 6-0 run with Pavan at the service line to jump ahead 13-7. Nebraska added a 12-1 run moments off the serving of Rachel Holloway and Stalls later that pushed the lead to 26-10 and capped an impressive stretch where NU scored 20 of 24 points. Stalls closed out the game-two win with her ninth kill of the night.

Much like the first two games, game three was close early before the Huskers pulled away. After South Dakota State pulled to within 8-7, Nebraska had runs of 6-0 and 8-0 while scoring 16 of the next 18 points. When the stretch was over, NU led 23-9 and the Huskers never looked back while completing the sweep with a 30-13 win.

Nebraska advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where the Huskers will host Wichita State at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The match will be televised in the state of Nebraska on NET, while a free video stream will also be offered on Huskers.com.