Huskers Head to Tiger Classic

Tournament Schedule

No. 6 Nebraska (2-1) vs. UL-Lafayette (3-1)
Friday, Sept. 4 ? Baton Rouge, La. ? 11 a.m.
Radio: Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and KTWI 93.3 FM in Omaha, and on Huskers.com
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Video: HuskersNside (subscription required)

Nebraska at LSU (2-1) 
Friday, Sept. 4 ? Baton Rouge, La. ? 7:30 p.m.
Radio: Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and KTWI 93.3 FM in Omaha, and on Huskers.com
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Video: HuskersNside (subscription required)

Nebraska vs. Tulane (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 5
Baton Rouge, La. ? 12:30 p.m.
Radio: Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and KTWI 93.3 FM in Omaha, and on Huskers.com
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Video: HuskersNside (subscription required)

Fresh off a sweep of Creighton on Tuesday night, the sixth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team hits the road this weekend for three matches in Louisiana. The Huskers (2-1) travel to Baton Rouge for the LSU Tiger Classic, where they will take on UL-Lafayette, LSU and Tulane. Fans can follow all three matches on select Husker Sports Network Stations, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Twister 93.3 FM in Omaha, and on Huskers.com. Fans can also watch all of this weekend’s matches on HuskersNside (subscription required).

The action begins on Friday, as the Huskers open up tournament play with the Ragin’ Cajuns at 11 a.m.  before taking on host LSU in the tournament’s featured match at 7:30 p.m. The Huskers will wrap up tournament play on Saturday when they take on Tulane at 12:30 p.m.
Nebraska comes off its best offensive effort of the season, hitting .267 in a three-set sweep of Creighton Tuesday night. Middle blocker Jordan Wilberger continued her strong play, pounding a career-high 10 kills on .467 hitting, while All-American Tara Mueller had a match-high 13 kills on .333 hitting and eight digs. The Husker defense held the Bluejays to .155 hitting, as Kayla Banwarth recorded 10 digs, while Lindsey Licht totaled five blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs. The win was also the Huskers’ 88th consecutive home win, breaking the mark NU shared with Penn State.

The Huskers, who are in the middle of playing four matches in a five-day span, will be tested this weekend, as LSU and Tulane are both receiving votes in this week’s AVCA Coaches poll, while UL-Lafayette got off to a 3-0 start last week. LSU comes off a strong weekend effort, taking then-No. 5 Stanford to five sets in a loss before completing the weekend with a sweep of host Notre Dame. Tulane, which won the Conference USA title last season and was one of 16 national seeds in the NCAA Tournament, was scheduled to play in Omaha at Creighton’s tournament, but several members of the Green Wave team had flu-like symptons and Tulane withdrew.

Scouting this Week’s Opponents
Louisiana-Lafayette: The Huskers and Ragin’ Cajuns will square off for the first time Friday morning. Under second-year coach Heather Mazeitis, UL-Lafayette is 3-1 on the season, falling to Sam Houston State in the title match. The Ragin’ Cajuns bring back three starters and a libero from last year’s 8-20 team, but a pair of newcomers have begun their careers with strong efforts. Ariel Krolikowski, a freshman outside hitter from Grand Island, led ULL with 3.14 kills  and 2.57 digs per set. Fellow freshman Bethany Fogler also performed well in her college debut, averaging 2.79 kills, 1.00 blocks and 0.64 service aces per set.
Series History: The two teams have never met.

LSU: The host Tigers are 2-1 following a strong effort at the Shamrock Invitational last weekend. Head Coach Fran Flory is in her 12th season at LSU and is 200-133  in Baton Rouge and have won the SEC West in each of the past four seasons. The Tigers, who received votes in the AVCA Preseason poll got a dominant effort from Michele Williams last weekend, who averaged 2.85 kills and 1.46 blocks per set to earn tournament MVP honors.  The Tigers welcome back four starters from a team that reached the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
Series History: NU leads the all-time series, 7-0, but the two teams have played only twice since 1995, a 3-0 Husker sweep in New Orleans in 2003 and a 3-0 sweep in front of an NCAA regular-season record crowd of 13,412 at the Devaney Center last September.

Last Matchup: No. 2 Nebraska thrilled an NCAA record crowd with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-20 sweep of LSU. The Huskers were proficient offensively, hitting .387 on the match after committing just three hitting miscues through the first two sets. All-American Jordan Larson paced an efficient night for the Husker offense, pounding 14 kills while attacking at a .375 clip. Lindsey Licht added 10 kills on 22 swings, while Sydney Anderson dished out 33 assists and added nine digs. NU also got solid efforts out of middle blockers Kori Cooper and Amanda Gates, who combined for 12 kills on .435 hitting and six blocks.

Tulane: The Green Wave come off their best season in program history, going 28-6 and reaching the second round of the NCAAs. Tulane is now coached by Sinisa Momic, as Liz Kritza took the Colorado job following last year. Tulane welcomes back three starters and its libero from its Conference USA title team. Visnja Djurdjevic was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2008, averaging 2.42 kills and 2.38 digs per game. Jenn Miller is a retuning all-conference performer, averaging 3.90 digs per set from the libero position.
Series History: The Huskers are 3-0 all-time against Tulane, including a 2-0 mark under John Cook. NU also swept Tulane, 3-0, in New Orleans in 2003 and recorded a 3-0 victory last September in San Luis Obispo.

Last Matchup: Tara Mueller tied a career high with 15 kills, leading the Huskers to a 3-0 sweep of Tulane (25-17, 25-15, 25-20) at Cal Poly last September. Mueller tied a career high for the second time this season and joined Sydney Anderson and Jordan Larson on the all-tournament team.  Anderson helped the Huskers out-hit the Green Wave, .280-.108, as she dished out 29 assists and added two blocks and a pair of service aces. Larson added a team-best 12 digs and seven kills. NU used strong serving throughout the match, racking up seven aces, including three by senior Rachel Schwartz and two apiece from Anderson and Kayla Banwarth.

Quick Hits
?-Nebraska is 21-2 on the road competing in regular-season tournaments under John Cook. The Huskers have won the last five tournaments they have participated in dating back to the 2002 season.

?-The trip to Baton Rouge this weekend marks NU’s first trip to Louisiana since 2003, when the Huskers competed in the Sugar Bowl Classic. It also is the third time the Huskers have competed in Baton Rouge, as NU went 3-0 in the 1994 Tiger Classic and 5-0 in the 1983 LSU Invitational.

Husker Potential Starters
 MB - #15 Kori Cooper: 6-2, Sr., Amarillo, Texas - Senior co-captain who returned to action in 2009 following knee surgery. She totaled six kills on .455 hitting and four blocks against No. 16 Michigan on Aug. 28. Cooper was named first-team All-Big 12 and honorable-mention All-American after averaging 2.09 kills  on .396 hitting and 0.88 blocks per set. She has a career .366 hitting percentage, which ranks sixth among all players with at least 500 kills. Cooper has 40 career matches where she has hit .400 or better (with a minimum of 10 swings) and hit a personal-best .396 in 2008 to rank second in the Big 12 and 10th nationally.

-or- MB - #6 Jordan Wilberger: 6-1, So., Scottsbluff, Neb. - Walk-on who has played exceptionally well the last two contests, averaging 2.00 kills per set on a team-best .522 hitting. She had a career night against Creighton on Sept. 1, coming up with 10 kills on .467 hitting. Wilberger came off the bench against No. 11 Minnesota on Aug. 29 to deliver six kills on .625 hitting and three blocks in her first action of the year. She started NU’s last seven matches at middle blocker and averaged 1.12 kills on .338 hitting and 0.85 blocks per set in 2008. Wilberger had a season-high seven kills on .700 hitting against Liberty in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

MB/RS - #8 Brooke Delano: 6-2, So., Bellevue, Neb. - Sophomore who has started at middle blocker in NU’s first three matches. She had a solid night against Creighton on Sept. 1, putting down six kills and adding four blocks in the sweep of Creighton. She earned a spot on the AVCA Showcase All-Tournament team, as she averaged 2.62 kills on .348 hitting and 0.88 blocks per set. Delano had career bests in kills (14), blocks (five) and hitting percentage (.400) in the victory over No. 11 Minnesota. Delano appeared in 13 matches in 2008,  averaging 1.00 kill, 0.67 blocks and 0.81 digs per set before undergoing season-ending surgery. Her best match of the year came in her first career start at No. 17 Kansas State on Sept. 17. In that match, she established season bests for kills (seven), digs (16) and blocks (four).

RS - #4 Lindsey Licht: 6-5, Jr., Aurora, Colo. - Licht returns for her second year on the right side and is averaging 1.73 kills and a team-high 1.18 blocks per set to rank sixth in the league in blocks. Licht led NU with five blocks, including a pair of solos, and added five kills against Creighton on Sept. 1. She had seven kills and four blocks in both of NU’s Runza/AVCA Showcase matches. She started on the right side in 2008, averaging 2.56 kills and 0.90 blocks per set to rank among team leaders in both categories. She reached double figures in kills in 14 matches, including a career-best 17 kills on .500 hitting against No. 3 Texas on Sept. 20, 2008. Licht was named to the Seattle Regional All-Tournament team, averaging 2.12 kills and 1.38 blocks per set.

L - #2 Kayla Banwarth: 5-10, Jr., Dubuque, Iowa - Banwarth is in her third year as NU’s starting libero and is fourth in the Big 12 with 4.85 digs and also chips in 1.27 assists per set. Banwarth, who has reached double figures in digs in NU’s last nine contests dating back to last year, had 10 digs and helped the Huskers hold Creighton without an ace on Sept. 1. She had career highs in digs (32) and assists (6) in the win over No. 11 Minnesota, as her 32 digs ranked third in school history. Banwarth was third in the Big 12 in digs per set (4.12) in 2008, while her 470 digs ranked third in school history. Banwarth reached double figures in digs in 29 matches last season, including five matches with at least 20 digs.

S - #1 Sydney Anderson: 6-0, Jr., Salt Lake City, Utah - Anderson is a returning AVCA All-American who has been chosen as one of the 2009 captains. Anderson earned a spot on the 2009 Runza/AVCA Showcase all-tournament team and is averaging 9.64 assists and 2.18 digs per set. She dished out 36 assists and added three kills and five digs in NU’s sweep of Creighton on Sept. 1. Anderson had 46 assists and 11 digs in Nebraska’s win over No. 11 Minnesota. She averaged 11.60 assists, 2.05 digs and 0.29 aces per set in 2008, ranking eighth nationally in assists and among the Big 12 leaders in service aces. She totaled eight double-doubles in 2008, as Nebraska ranked in the top-15 nationally in kills and assists per set and hitting  percentage.

OH - #19 Tara Mueller: 6-0, Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz. - Mueller is a returning All-American at outside hitter and is averaging 3.18 kills and 2.73 digs per set. Mueller had 13 kills and eight digs in NU’s sweep of Creighton on Sept. 1. She had a match-high 17 kills and tied a career high with 16 digs in the win against No. 11 Minnesota. She averaged 3.51 kills and 2.37 digs per set in 2008, ranking sixth in the Big 12 in kills per set. She totaled eight double-doubles, setting career highs of 24 kills and 16 digs against No. 5 Washington on Dec. 13, 2008. Mueller was the Most Outstanding Player of the Seattle Regional, averaging 4.00 kills and 3.25 digs per set in wins over Washington and Michigan. Mueller has two career matches with at least 20 kills, as she also totaled 20 kills against Kansas State in 2008.

OH - #44 Hannah Werth: 6-1, Fr., Springfield, Ill. - Werth enrolled at Nebraska in January and is battling for the starting outside hitter role. She made her second start of the year against Creighton on Sept. 1, totaling eight kills on .273 hitting, eight digs and a service ace  against the Bluejays. She started the season opener against No. 16 Michigan and totaled five kills and eight digs in two sets. She started all three spring matches, totaling a match-high 15 kills at Hawaii in her Husker debut. She was the MVP of the 2008 AVCA/Under Armour High School All-America match at the Qwest Center. Werth was a  first-team All-American by Volleyball Magazine and the AVCA after totaling 606 kills on .414 hitting, 252 assists, 220 digs and 54 aces. She finished her career with a state record 2,022 kills and was the  Gatorade Illinois High School Player of the Year in 2008.

-or- OH - #7 Gina Mancuso: 6-1, Fr., Omaha, Neb. -
Mancuso is one of the contenders to start on the outside in 2009. She made her first start against No. 11 Minnesota, totaling nine kills, 13 digs and four blocks against the Golden Gophers. Mancuso was the Gatorade and Volleyball Magazine National High School Player of the Year in 2008, totaling 721 kills on .452 hitting and 373 digs at Papillion-LaVista High School. She was a three-time all-state performer who ranks second in state history with 2,371 career kills and she also totaled 1,320 digs in high school. She led the Nebraska Juniors to the 2009 Junior Olympic 18-and-under title, earning MVP honors. Her older sister, Dani, started on NU’s 2006 NCAA title team.

Creighton Recap
The sixth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team used a career night from middle blocker Jordan Wilberger to subdue Creighton, 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-16) at the Nebraska Coliseum.  Wilberger totaled a career-high 10 kills on .467 hitting and two blocks, as the Huskers established an NCAA record with their 88th consecutive home win.  Wilberger, whose previous career high was seven kills set last year against Liberty, is hitting .522 in the last two matches, as the Huskers (2-1) rebounded from an opening-night loss to Michigan.  Tuesday’s win helped NU break the previous NCAA home win streak mark of 87 that Nebraska shared with Penn State between 1995 and 2000. The Huskers have not lost a home match dating back to 2004.  

 All-American Tara Mueller joined Wilberger in double figures with a match-high 12 kills on .333 hitting, as Nebraska’s offense turned in a balanced effort. Freshman Hannah Werth and sophomore Brooke Delano added eight and six kills, respectively, while Lindsey Licht added five kills and a match-high five blocks. Sydney Anderson dished out 36 assists, as the Huskers hit .267, including .355 in the finale.
 Alicia Runge led Creighton (1-2) with eight kills, as the Bluejays were held to .155 hitting.

Huskers Hold NCAA Home Win Streak Mark
With the Sept. 1 victory over Creighton, the Nebraska volleyball team etched its mark into NCAA history. Nebraska has won 88 straight home matches dating back to Sept. 11, 2004, breaking the NCAA record of 87 that Nebraska shared with Penn State. Of the 88 home wins, only two have gone to five sets, and both matches were against Missouri (2005 and 2007).  The Huskers are also 27-0 against ranked foes, including 10 wins against teams ranked in the top 10.

NU is the only program to have a pair of home win streaks of at least 60 matches, as Nebraska also won 63 consecutive home matches between 1999 and 2002. The Huskers are 501-32 (.940) all-time at home and have lost just six home matches this decade.

The Huskers will look to extend the mark next weekend, as they host the Ameritas Players Challenge against Virginia, BYU and UCLA.

Husker Quick Sets
?-Nebraska’s No. 3 preseason ranking marked the fifth time in the last six seasons the Huskers have been ranked third or better.
?-Nebraska’s middle blockers have enjoyed the early part of 2009, as Brooke Delano (14 kills against Minnesota) and Jordan Wilberger (10 kills against Creighton) have already set new personal bests.
?-Outside hitter Tara Mueller is averaging 3.75 kills and 3.00 digs per set over the Huskers’ last two matches.
?-Sydney Anderson is 25 assists away from reaching 1,500 in her Nebraska career.
?-Tara Mueller is 37 kills away from collecting her 500th career kill. She has topped the Huskers in kills in each of the past two matches.
?-Nebraska’s loss to Michigan marked the Huskers’ first regular-season non-conference loss since 2004. Prior to Friday’s setback, the Huskers had won their last 39 regular-season non-conference matches.
?-Five players made their Husker debuts last weekend, including outside hitters Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth, setter Jessica Yanz, middle blocker Allison McNeal and defensive specialist Megan Pendergast. Werth became the first freshman to start a season-opening match since Jordan Larson in 2005 and just the fifth true freshman to start a season opener under John Cook since he took over in 2000. 
?-Kayla Banwarth’s 32 digs against Minnesota on Aug. 29, marked the third-best performance in school history and Nebraska’s highest total in the rally scoring era. Over the last two seasons, only one player in the Big 12 ? Missouri’s Caitlyn Vann ? had more digs in a match than Banwarth did against Minnesota.
 As a team, Nebraska totaled 92 digs against Minnesota - its highest single-match total since recording 109 digs against USC in 2004.
?-The Huskers are now 12-1 in matches after a loss in the same season (Cook’s other seven losses have come in the NCAA Tournament).

Banwarth is Digging the Libero Spot
If the first week of the season is any indication, junior Kayla Banwarth is going to enjoy a record-breaking 2009 campaign. The junior libero has 53 digs in NU’s first three contests and is fourth in the Big 12 with 4.83 digs per set. Banwarth was spectacular against No. 11 Minnesota on Aug. 29, coming up with a career-high 32 digs, the best single-match total by a Husker since 1993. She is one of only five players in school history to produce a 30-dig match.

Delano Dominating the Middle
One encouraging sign from the first week of action was the emergence of sophomore Brooke Delano at middle blocker. Delano, who was forced to miss the last month of the season following surgery, has come back better than ever. She tied for the team lead in kills in the opener against Michigan on Aug. 29, and collected a career-best 14 kills and five blocks in the win over Minnesota one night later. Her kill total against the Gophers was the highest by a Husker middle blocker since 20007 and doubled her previous career best.

Cooper Returns to Health
For senior middle blocker Kori Cooper, the 2009 opener couldn’t come fast enough. She missed the final month of the year following season-ending knee surgery last Nov. 20. A co-captain and four-year starter at middle blocker, Cooper is a career .362 hitter and ranks seventh among all players in hitting percentage with at least 500 kills.

Huskers Picked Second in Big 12 Race
The Nebraska volleyball team was tabbed second in the Big 12 coaches’ preseason volleyball poll released on Aug. 14. The Huskers, who went 31-3 and shared the Big 12 title with Texas last year, received 93 points, including three first-place votes by the league coaches. Texas, which joined Nebraska in the 2008 NCAA Semifinals, received eight of the 11 first-place votes, and 98 total points, as coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. Iowa State, Texas A&M and Baylor round out the top five.

Three Huskers - Sydney Anderson, Kori Cooper and Tara Mueller - were preseason All-Big 12 selections. All three are returning first-team all-conference picks from a year ago, while Anderson and Cooper were unanimous all-conference picks. Anderson averaged 11.60 assists, 2.05 digs and 0.29 service aces per set last season, ranking among Big 12 leaders in assists and aces in her first season as a Husker. Cooper averaged 2.09 kills and 0.88 blocks per set, while ranking 10th nationally with a .396 hitting percentage. Mueller earned second-team AVCA All-America honors after averaging 3.51 kills and 2.37 digs per set in 2008.

Huskers on Television
Volleyball fans will have ample opportunities to see the Huskers on television, as 13 regular-season matches are slated for TV broadcast. In addition to last weekend’s Runza/AVCA Showcase, NET will carry eight more matches beginning with the Sunday, Sept. 13 contest against UCLA at the Devaney Center. Nebraska will also be featured three times in the Big 12’s television package.
 NU has enjoyed the bright lights of TV, going 44-5 in televised matches over the past four years, including  a 17-2 mark in 2008.

Huskers Shine against Ranked Foes
 NU is 95-16 (.856) against ranked opponents under John Cook. The Huskers are 18-8 (.692) against top-five teams under Cook, including a 14-4 mark since the start of the 2005 season.

Nebraska Coliseum: Sold Out for 2009
 It took just 30 minutes to sell out the entire 2009 ticket allotment at the Nebraska Coliseum on Aug. 5. It marked the third straight year it has taken under an hour to sell out the season allotment.  The announcement guarantees that Nebraska’s NU Coliseum sellout streak will continue this fall, hitting 133 matches in 2009. 

The Huskers will carry a streak of 121 consecutive sellouts at the NU Coliseum into the Ameritas Players Challenge opener against Virginia. The Huskers are 115-6 at home during the sellout streak. Nebraska’s streak marks only the second time in NCAA history that a women’s sport has enjoyed a sellout streak of at least 100 matches, joining UConn women’s basketball, which had a streak of 113 straight regular-season sellouts between 1999 and 2005.

The sellout streak - which is the longest ever by an NCAA women’s college program - began with a 10-match stretch to close the 2001 campaign, and has carried over through the last seven seasons. The last non-sellout came on Sept. 25, 2001, against Creighton.

Husker Roster Well Stocked for 2009
Nebraska has 13 players on its 2009 roster who were Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 selections, representing the top-50 players in that year’s recruiting class. In all, five of the Huskers’ last six recruiting classes have ranked in the top five nationally. In 2009, Prepvolleyball.com rated the Huskers’ incoming recruiting class second nationally.

Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 Members
Year Players
2006 Sydney Anderson, Kori Cooper, Jessica Yanz
2007 Kayla Banwarth,  Lindsey Licht, Tara Mueller,
 Brooke Delano
2008 Allison McNeal, Kaitlynn James
2009 Gina Mancuso, Hannah Werth, Megan Pendergast,
 Hayley Thramer

Nebraska: All-American U
Nebraska continued its string of All-America success in 2008, as Jordan Larson, Sydney Anderson and Tara Mueller were all named AVCA All-Americans. The trio upped Nebraska’s NCAA-leading totals to 31 players and 65 certificates. Nebraska has had at least one All-American every season since 1983, a total of 27 straight seasons, including 30 All-America awards in Cook’s nine seasons at Nebraska.

Most AVCA All-Americans
No. School Awards
1. Nebraska  65
2. Stanford  59
3. Hawaii  46
4. Penn State  44
5. UCLA  40

Nation’s Best Since 2000
John Cook has been amazingly successful during his Husker tenure, posting a 283-20 record (.934 winning pct.) to lead all programs this decade. A two-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, Cook has enjoyed greater success in the Big 12, going 172-8 in conference matches over the past nine seasons. NU has won eight Big 12 titles, including each of the past five years and has won 30-or-more matches in eight of the past nine years.

NCAA Best Winning Percentages This Decade
No. School Record Pct.
1. Nebraska 283-20 .934
2. Florida 278-30 .903
3. Hawaii 277-35 .888
4. Penn State 273-38 .878
5. Stanford 260-50 .839
As of Sept. 1

Huskers in the Polls
The Nebraska program is a fixture in the AVCA Coaches poll. The Huskers are ranked sixth in this week’s poll and have been ranked in all 386 polls since its inception in 1982.   NU is one of only two schools to hold that distinction, joining Stanford. Nebraska has now been ranked in the top 10 for 352 weeks, second only to Stanford’s 355 weeks in the top 10, as Stanford fell out of the top 10 on Monday. The Huskers have been ranked in the top 10 for 83 consecutive polls dating back to the start of the 2004 campaign.

The Huskers head all programs at the top of the all-time polls, spending 81 weeks all-time at No. 1, including an incredible 26-poll stretch over the 2006 and 2007 seasons. The 81 weeks at No. 1 are 30 more than runner-up UCLA in that category.  NU has spent 62 weeks at No. 1 since the start of the 2000 season. That total is more than any other program has spent in the top spot since the AVCA Poll began in 1982.

Playing in Front of NCAA Record Crowds
In addition to the NU Coliseum sellout streak, the Huskers played in front of the largest regular-season crowd in NCAA history. In 2008, Nebraska drew a sellout crowd of 13,412 to the Bob Devaney Sports Center for its match against LSU, breaking the NCAA regular-season attendance mark of 13,081 set by NU against Hawaii in 2007. In fact, all eight of the largest regular-season crowds in the sport’s history have involved the Huskers.

The Huskers will make another run at an NCAA record on Sunday, Sept. 13, as the Huskers host UCLA at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. As of this week, 11,500 tickets have already been sold for the matchup between the Huskers and Bruins, putting it among the largest crowds in NCAA regular-season history.

Read to Succeed Book Drive Set for Sept. 13
The Nebraska volleyball program is teaming up with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the annual Read to Succeed Book Drive on Sunday, Sept. 13, as part of the Ameritas Players Challenge at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.  Husker student-athletes will be collecting books prior to the Huskers’ 2 p.m. match against UCLA and all books that are collected will go to families of children from Title 1 Lincoln Public Schools to promote a lifelong love of reading. In addition, all fans who bring books or a cash donation for the Read to Succeed Book Drive on Sept. 13, will be eligible to win an autographed volleyball from the 2009 Huskers.

Huskers Rank Second All-Time in Wins
The Nebraska volleyball program is one of only six Division I programs to win 1,000 matches in program history. The Huskers’ 1,062 wins are second only to UCLA’s 1,084 wins. Nebraska will face both UCLA and BYU, which is fourth all-time in wins with 1,033, at the Ameritas Players Challenge next weekend in Lincoln.