Husker Post 13th Straight Sweep of Texas Tech

Lincoln - The No. 3 Nebraska volleyball team finished the first half of the Big 12 schedule at a perfect 10-0 following a 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-11, 25-13) of the Texas Tech Red Raiders Wednesday night at the NU Coliseum. The win marked the 27th straight win for the Huskers in the series and the 13th straight sweep.

"We challenged our players to have great serving and passing tonight," Head Coach John Cook said. "Except for maybe two breakdowns tonight, we had a great night with six aces and no errors."

Now 18-1 overall and 10-0 in the Big 12 Conference, the Husker offense was on fire all night as they hit a season best .390. Setters Sydney Anderson and Lauren Cook combined for 46 assists while Brooke Delano and Hannah Werth each put away 11 kills and Lindsey Licht added 10, with all three NU attackers hitting .400 or better on the night. Werth also chipped in 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.

Kayla Banwarth's match-high 18 digs along with four blocks each from Allison McNeal and Werth held the Red Raiders to .108 hitting, including a .000 hitting percentage in the third set.

"Texas Tech threw a new lineup at us and it took us a bit to adjust," Cook said. "I thought we did a good job though of adjusting and that just shows how well we prepare."

The Huskers and Red Raiders traded the first six rallies in set one before the Huskers put up a 12-3 run and opened up a 15-6 lead. Nebraska then committed two consecutive errors to let Texas Tech get back within seven, but the Huskers quickly answered with kills from McNeal and Licht to extend the lead back to nine. The Red Raiders would get no closer than seven down the stretch as Nebraska coasted to a first set win, 25-14.

Anderson and Cook combined for 16 assists in the first set to help the Huskers hit .405 as Nebraska charted 18 kills on 37 swings. The Husker defense posted 24 digs, including eight from Banwarth, and held the Red Raiders to .143 hitting.

Texas Tech again kept the set close early in set two as they were down one, 7-6, following the first 13 rallies. Tara Mueller then notched her third kill of the match and served four straight points, including an ace, to double-up the Red Raiders, 12-6.

With Nebraska still up six, 13-7, the Red Raiders got a kill from Amanda Dowdy and a block from Barbara Conceicao to get within four, but Texas Tech would quickly be down seven, 16-9, following consecutive kills from Delano, Mueller and Werth. The Huskers again kept the Red Raiders at bay the rest of the way and ended the set with a kill and block from Delano on back-to-back rallies to take set two, 25-15.

The Nebraska offense got even hotter in set two as they hit .481 with three Huskers hitting .600 or better. The Husker defense kept up the pressure as well with McNeal and Werth each posting two blocks to help hold the Red Raiders to .161 hitting.

Dowdy opened the scoring in set three with a kill but Nebraska followed with five straight, including two kills and a block from McNeal, to take a 5-1 lead and force a Texas Tech timeout. The Red Raiders bounced back with a 5-0 run of their own out of the break to tie the set before Licht ended the run with a kill from Cook. Conceicao and Miara Cave posted a block on the following play to once again tie the set, 6-6, resulting in a timeout from Nebraska.

The Huskers responded with a 9-2 run following the timeout to take a 15-8 lead as Delano put away her 10th and 11th kills of the match and Anderson added her second ace. The Red Raiders took the next two rallies, but the lead was soon back to seven following Anderson's second kill of the season and a kill from Werth.

The Huskers failed to relax and again dominated down the stretch to take set three, 25-13, with Anderson ending the night with her third ace of the match.

The Huskers will open the second half of the Big 12 schedule on Saturday night with a 7 p.m. match against the Missouri Tigers. The match will be show on NET and a live on Huskers.com. Fans can also listen to all of the action with John Baylor and Dianne Mendenhall on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Twister 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans outside the state will be able to listen to a live audio feed for free on Huskers.com.