Huskers Sweep Kansas

Lincoln ? Hannah Werth and Brooke Delano combined for 25 kills, leading the ninth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team to a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-20, 25-21) over Kansas Wednesday evening.

Werth powered a match-high 15 kills on .448 hitting ? her best performance in Big 12 action ? and nine digs, while Delano came up with one of her best matches of the season. The sophomore totaled 10 kills on a career-best .600 hitting and added five blocks and five digs, as the Huskers improved to 11-4 on the season and 4-2 in Big 12 action.

Nebraska enjoyed a well-rounded attack, as All-American Sydney Anderson dished out 36 assists, while helping five Huskers finish with at least six kills in NU’s first sweep since Sept. 19. Nebraska hit .275 as a team, its best performance in Big 12 action, and out-blocked Kansas (9-6. 2-4 Big 12), 8-2 on the night, as Delano, Lindsey Licht and Kori Cooper had at least three blocks apiece.

Nebraska showed a balanced attack in pulling away midway through the first set in posting a 25-20 victory. NU out-hit the Jayhawks, .231-.146, as four players had three kills apiece for the Big Red, while Anderson dished out 11 assists and added three digs. The teams battled back and forth until Nebraska used a 6-1 spurt to turn a 14-all deadlock into a 20-15 advantage. Delano started the run with a kill before combining with Anderson on a block to put NU ahead by two points. After a Jayhawk kill, Nebraska ran off four straight points, taking its largest lead of the match at 20-15 after a KU hitting error.  Kansas trimmed the lead to 21-17, but a Werth kill and a Jayhawk hitting error quickly pushed the lead back to six points.

Nebraska got its offense untracked in the second set, hitting .417 in posting an identical 25-20 victory to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room. Delano took over the set late and finished with four kills in as many swings and three blocks, while Werth totaled five of her 15 kills on .625 hitting in the set. The Huskers used a 4-1 spurt to break open a one-point lead, taking an 11-7 lead after a Tara Mueller kill and led 14-11 after a Gina Mancuso ace before the Jayhawks made a run. Kansas ran off four straight points and took a 15-14 lead after an ace by Allison Mayfield that forced a Husker timeout. Delano and Werth then took over, sparking a run of three unanswered points with a kill and a block apiece to give the Huskers a 17-15 lead. KU stayed close, pulling to within 19-18, but a Lindsey Licht kill and Jayhawk error made it a 21-18 advantage. KU was within 22-19 before Delano came through with a kill and block to put NU within set point. Delano then closed out the set with her fourth kill of the set.

In the finale, the Huskers overcame a rocky stretch and performed its best down the stretch in a 25-21 victory. Werth came up big with seven kills on .462 hitting, as NU out-hit the Jayhawks, .200-.027. It looked like NU was going to put the set away early, as Nebraska used an early 6-1 spurt to race off to an early 9-3 lead. Kansas roared back, winning eight of ht next 10 rallies to tie it up at 11 apiece on a Karina Garlington kill. With the score tied at 14, Kansas took advantage of a run of Husker miscues and built an 18-15 lead after NU’s fourth service error of the set. Nebraska then found another level, as kills by Delano and Werth and an ace by Mueller quickly tied the score at 18 and forced the Jayhawks’ second timeout. KU would lead for the final time at 19-18, but Nebraska ran off three straight points on a pair of Werth kills and a Jayhawk mistake then made it 21-19. Nebraska then won the rally of the night, as NU was forced to scramble and Werth kept the ball alive with a sprawling one-armed dig that went back over net, only to see KU hit it into the net to give NU a four-point lead. That play seemed to sap the energy from Kansas, as the Huskers closed out the set a few points later.

Allison Mayfield led Kansas with 13 kills and 12 digs in a losing effort, as the Jayhawks remained winless all-time against Nebraska in 84 meetings.

Nebraska returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 10, when the Huskers host Kansas State at the NU Coliseum. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be carried on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com. The match will also be shown statewide on NET-1 and NET-HD.

Coach John Cook
“I thought we did a good job tonight. We had a little let up in game three, but I love how we competed at the end of the games tonight. We played really good volleyball from 20 on and that’s something we’ve been doing all year. Our hitting errors were down, our serving errors were still too high, but I thought we made progress tonight. I thought Sydney (Anderson) was good tonight, following our game plan, setting our middles. You look at Hannah’s (Werth) numbers. One of the reasons Hannah’s numbers are so good is because she was setting Brooke (Delano) everywhere from every position. It completely freezes the block when that happens. Hannah was one-on-one all night.”

On Brooke Delano
“You have to remember, Brooke has played 17 (13 last year) college matches even though she’s been here for a while. But she was literally out all last year, or for most of the year last year, so I think our thought of putting her in the middle in that one position is paying off.”

“Brooke is a competitor and Brooke brings great energy and spirit to the court. That’s one of the reasons in spring we were thinking of playing her at one of the opposites or all the way around because of that. She’s a competitor and I love her spirit. She scored points when she was serving, she made digs, she blocked, she hit, so that was a great job by her.”

On how the team competed
“I loved our fight at the end of that game and there were a couple of great rallies there that symbolized that we were not giving this game away. I have not seen that throughout the year. I’ve seen that a couple of moments here and there ? game five against Oklahoma ? but it was good to see us. We kind of dug ourselves in a little hole there with some errors and to dig out of that is going to be huge for us to know that we can play that hard and that well, especially when we get behind a little bit.

 Outside Hitter Hannah Werth
On returning after the bye weekend
“I think the four days off definitely helped. It was great coming back to the Coliseum and having our fans, especially after the Oklahoma match, so it was a warm welcome. It was good.”

On having Kori Cooper back to full strength
“I think she’s been doing a great job. She has really stepped up for us, especially in the Oklahoma match, from then on. It’s great having her on the court and everyone feels her leadership. She’s the solo captain. Everybody else has been doing a great job of stepping up as well. Just having her energy and passion for the game on the floor is great. Everybody feeds off of it.”

On beating Kansas in three sets
“It is great getting it done in three and playing to our potential.”

Middle blocker Brooke Delano
“I think we played well. It felt good. We all wanted to play again and it’s been quite a long time since we’ve played in the Coliseum, so everybody’s energy and everything was great.”

On serving
“I think it went well. We still have a couple of things to work on and improve, but I think serving has been better than it usually is. I think we did well.”