Huskers Remain Perfect with Win over No. 3 Texas

Behind a career-high 17 kills from Lindsey Licht, No. 2 Nebraska remained undefeated with a 3-1 victory (25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18) over third-ranked Texas Saturday night at the NU Coliseum.

Licht shined brightest in front of a sellout crowd and a national-television audience, as the sophomore right side hitter pounded home 17 kills and hit a career-best .500 on 30 swings. The performance easily topped her previous career best of 10 set twice this season. The 6-foot-5 sophomore also chipped in three blocks in helping Nebraska complete an impressive first week of Big 12 action with wins at No. 18 Kansas State and third-ranked Texas.

Licht was one of several Huskers who turn in strong performances against the Longhorns (6-2, 0-1 Big 12), as three Huskers recorded double-doubles in the match. All-American Jordan Larson posted her third double-double of the year with a match-high 19 kills and 11 digs while sophomore Tara Mueller chipped in 14 kills ? one off her career best ? and 11 digs for her first career double-double.

Sophomore setter Sydney Anderson was the third Husker to record a double-double, as the sophomore finished with a season-high 53 assists and 10 digs, while guiding the Huskers to a .319 hitting percentage. It was the third time in the last four matches NU hit over .300 and made more impressive by the fact that Texas had limited its first seven opponents to a combined .143 hitting percentage.

Nebraska’s defense was once again solid, limiting UT to just .258 hitting after Texas entered the contest leading the league in hitting percentage at .316.. Sophomore libero Kayla Banwarth keyed the NU defense with a team-best 15 digs and also added a career-best five assists and two key serving aces in the decisive third set.

The win extended the Huskers’ home winning streak to 76 matches, while Texas remains winless in 13 attempts in the NU Coliseum since the Big 12 was established in 1996. Nebraska now has a national-best five wins over ranked teams this season.

Texas was led by outside hitter Destinee Hooker, who totaled 14 kills and middle blocker Lauren Paolini, who chipped in 12 kills and hit .800 on 15 swings. Ashley Engle also chipped in 12 kills and 11 digs in a losing effort.

The Huskers played nearly flawless in the first set, hitting .429 as a team in posting a 25-17 victory.  Nebraska took control in the late stages of the set, closing with a 9-0 flurry behind the play of Licht and Larson. The duo totaled four kills apiece in the set, as the Big Red committed only one hitting error. Nebraska fell behind early 7-4, only to run off three straight points to tie the set at 7-all on an Anderson kill and eventually took a 12-10 lead kills from Licht and Kori Cooper. Texas roared back with three straight points, regaining the lead at 13-12 on a Lauren Paolini kill. The teams then traded points before Licht ignited a 9-0 run for the Big Red. Leading 19-17, the sophomore drilled two straight kills before combining with Amanda Gates on a block of Juliann Faucette to put the Huskers up 21-17.  Mueller, who ran off the final eight points in the set, served up an ace before Larson took over two kills in the final three points to close a strong opening set. 

Texas used the strong play of its middle blockers in the second set, evening the match up with a 25-21 victory. Paolini and Jennifer Doris were a perfect 7-fo-7 in swings, helping the Longhorns hit .462 on 26 swings. Texas, which never trailed, jumped to an early 8-4 lead to force an early Husker timeout. The Longhorns continued to build on the lead, extending the margin to 18-12 on a Doris solo stuff before the Huskers fought back. Nebraska, which hit .312 in the set, behind four kills from Cooper and Licht, won six of the next nine rallies to pull within 21-18 on a Longhorn miscue. Unfortunately for the Huskers, Texas would answer right back, as a beautiful shot by Ashley Engle snuffed the rally and put UT ahead by four points. NU closed to within three points on two more occasions, the last being 24-21 on a Cooper kill, but a Husker service error sent the teams to the locker room tied at one apiece.

In the third set, the Huskers rode the arm of Larson to a 25-23 victory. The senior All-American had seven kills in the set alone, including the final two swings to give Nebraska 2-1 lead in sets. Trailing 7-6, a solo block by Anderson on an apparent overpass keyed a run of four straight Husker points, as consecutive Banwarth aces gave NU a 10-7 lead and forced a Longhorn timeout. Nebraska eventually pushed the lead to 17-13, but Hooker brought UT back with, keying a 5-1 spurt to tie the score at 18 on her service ace. Texas led 22-21 and had the momentum, but two straight kills from Licht, including one of a picture perfect assist from Mueller, put NU ahead 23-22. Larson then put the Huskers up 24-22 with a kill before closing out the set moments later, tooling the block for her seventh kill of the set.

The Huskers fired up the offense again in the finale, hitting .341 as a team in rolling to a 25-17 win. NU’s outside attack was the difference, as Mueller, Larson and Licht combined for 16 kills of the Huskers’ 21 kills in the set. Down 9-7, the Huskers took over the set with a decisive 7-1 spurt, capped by a Banwarth kill that made it 14-10 and brought the sellout crowd of 4,193 to its feet. Texas fought back, pulling to within 16-13 on an Engle kill, but Larson took over, keying a 3-1 spurt with three kills to push the lead to 19-14. UT fought to within 20-16, but kills from Cooper and Mueller pushed the lead back to six points, ending UT’s hopes of sending the match to a fifth set.

The Huskers return to action Wednesday night, as they host the Kansas Jayhawks. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be carried on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com and also televised by NET Television.

Nebraska Head Coach John Cook 
Opening Statement
“The Coliseum was rocking tonight. Our team fed off of it, and they gave a great effort tonight. I don’t know how the Husker nation could be any more proud of this team. They were unbelievable tonight, their effort and their commitment to go to the next play, just hanging in there and battling every point.”

On the match
“Well you guys saw a great example tonight of high level volleyball when two teams are very good. When it comes down to 25 points, somebody is going to make a run somewhere to break it open, and in game one Tara (Mueller) broke it open for us.  In game two, Destinee (Hooker) broke it open for them and that was the difference in those two games.  In game three and four, we found a couple spots to get two three point runs. Kayla (Banwarth) had a couple, Tara had a couple more, (Amanda) Gates had a couple.  A three- or four-point run turns it.  You get the momentum and it’s tough to come back from that. Those runs are huge and that was our goal tonight was not to give up big runs to Texas because they are so hard to defend.”

On the play of Jordan Larson
“She has been doing this all year and it’s great to see a senior with that much poise and that’s the biggest thing with Jordan.  She got blocked straight down a couple times tonight. In the past that would have affected her, but tonight she just comes back and makes another great play.  You’re seeing a mature poised player who is the senior leader on this team who’s doing a great job of setting the tone and doing what this team needs to do to be successful.

On the play of Lindsey Licht
“We need that from her every night.  Our game plan was to go behind Sydney (Anderson) and Lindsey did a great job. We have to have balance so they can’t load up on Jordan (Larson) and Tara (Mueller).”

Nebraska Setter Sydney Anderson
On the amount of wow moments she has had at Nebraska thus far
“Every day is a wow moment for me.  Something new and something exciting for me every day and I look forward to it.”

Nebraska Right Side Hitter Lindsey Licht
On if she considers this match her coming out party
“I don’t really know if it was a coming out thing, but I just really took a lot of time to visualize and come out strong tonight.”

On if she felt more comfortable as the match went on
“I definitely think my confidence really showed.  I really felt like I could do a lot of things with the sets that Sydney (Anderson) was giving me.  She was giving me perfect sets that I could do anything with. I really owe a lot of my success tonight to her because she put the ball there for me.”

Nebraska Outside Hitter Jordan Larson
On what the team has done over the first ten matches
“Us seniors try to prepare them for the season and just how intense it was going to be.  They have stepped up to the plate. I think it really comes down to how Sydney is moving the ball around.  We have so many different players coming from everywhere. Everybody is a setter.  You saw people make some unbelievable sets tonight. It’s amazing to be out there and play with people who want to play.”

Texas Coach Jerritt Elliott
Opening Statement
“It was a fun environment to play in; it was a good test for our team. I thought we had some opportunities in game three to go up 2-1, but we weren’t able to do that, and Nebraska is a very steady team. (They) played some exceptional defense and was very good in the serving pass game. I thought we did some really nice things and there are a lot of areas we can work on.

On Nebraska’s runs
Game one really hurt us. We got some rotation match-ups and rotation one hurt us bad. We gave up some big runs in that rotation. It was 17-all and we gave up eight straight points. In game four, we gave up a four-point run. We gave up two or three point runs with that rotation a lot tonight. Out of system, we weren’t able to bounce back in those rotations and get a good pass and then committed some unforced errors that weren’t necessary.

On the momentum
The two big momentum swings were the overpass we missed where (Sydney) Anderson blocked. I think that was at 22-21 or 21-20. We had an opportunity to score with our blocking match-ups, and I think we made a wrong set selection that could have given us a big point. (Lindsey) Licht was the difference. I told my team before tonight, I thought that was the one we had to stop, and we didn’t do a good job of it at all. She had a great night and we weren’t able to contain her. (She) was the difference maker in the match.

On the reason he believed Licht would be the difference
I wish she could have reversed that trend (after Wednesday’s match at Kansas State). I think it’s home environment, I think it’s coming out to prove that she is worthy. I know she’s had a lot of pressure on her to be the next (Sarah) Pavan, and I think she’s done an exceptional job. I just felt like in watching all the matches we have on them, and when she plays well they do some pretty good things. All year long, we’ve been defending the outside hitters pretty well and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.

Texas Middle Blocker Lauren Paolini
On the atmosphere tonight
Every time we come here it’s just a great atmosphere to play in. There are so many people and the crowd is just really into it, I think it really energizes the game. We’re all into it. It’s almost like a championship match at the beginning of the season.

On what they were able to do well
Our passing was really good. I was able to get the ball a lot in that. Towards the end of the game, it kind of got shaky and we weren’t able to get the ball to the net. We didn’t have our three-option passes to get everybody in the offense involved.