Husker Defense Shuts Down Tigers

Lincoln - The No. 3 Nebraska volleyball team continued to stay atop the Big 12 Conference on Wednesday night at the Hearnes Center with a 3-0 win (25-21, 25-18, 25-16) over the Missouri Tigers.

The Huskers hit .326 on the night to extend their record to 177-0 under Head Coach John Cook when hitting better than .300. The squad played solid defense as well to hold the Tigers to a dismal hitting percentage of .094. Tara Mueller tied her career best with five blocks, while Brooke Delano led all players with six stuffs and Kayla Banwarth notched a match-high 18 digs.

Offensively, Sydney Anderson fueled the Huskers all night with 22 assists as Delano also led Nebraska in kills with 14 on a career best .875 hitting. Four other Huskers had at least five kills, including Lindsey Licht, Jordan Wilberger, Gina Mancuso and Morgan Broekhuis.

The Tigers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in set one before Nebraska responded with wins on five of the next six rallies to take the lead at 6-5. With the teams then tied at 7-7, Missouri reeled off three straight to take a three-point lead, which they would continue to hold over the next six rallies.

After a kill from Licht ended the Tigers' run, Banwarth served five straight points for the Huskers to build Nebraska's first two-point lead of the set. The Tigers would answer with two consecutive kills from Lisa Henning and Paola Ampudia to tie the set, but they would fail to take the lead as Anderson capped a 4-0 Husker run to push the lead to 19-15 and force a Missouri timeout.

The Tigers clawed back following the break with wins in five of the next eight rallies to cut the Husker lead to 22-20 and force a timeout from the Huskers. The stoppage served its purpose as Wilberger and Mancuso put home two straight kills to put the Huskers at set point, 24-21. Following a point from Missouri, Licht ended the set with a kill from Lauren Cook, 25-21.

The Huskers held the advantage at the net in set one with a .303 hitting percentage, including four kills on four attacks from Delano, while the NU defense held Missouri to .179 hitting.

The Huskers kept the points coming in set two with a kill from Mancuso and a solo stuff from Delano to start the set. The teams then matched each other as Nebraska was unable to create more than a two-point separation over the next 14 rallies until Anderson connected with Wilberger and Delano on consecutive kills to extend the Husker lead to four, 11-7, and force a timeout from the Tigers.

The Tigers took two of the first three rallies out of the break before Nebraska took a commanding 20-11 lead behind four kills from four different Huskers and a combo block from Mueller and Wilberger. Nebraska continued to coast at 23-13, but the Tigers then caught fire and won five straight rallies to cut the Husker lead in half. Missouri would get no closer as Wilberger and Mancuso ended the Tigers' hopes of a comeback with two straight kills, resulting in a 25-18 set two win for Nebraska.

Nebraska kept up the defense pressure in set two as Missouri committed eight errors on 36 swings to hit .000 for the set.

Missouri came out firing set three with a 5-1 lead, but Mueller then showed off her defensive kills following a Missouri error with three straight blocks to tie the set at 5-5. Missouri regained the lead on the next rally with a kill from Ampudia and would continue to hold a slight advantage at 9-7.

The Huskers then turned up the intensity with an 11-0 run, as Anderson dished out eight assists, including five to Delano, during the stretch to swing the momentum in Nebraska's favor at 17-9. The Tigers were outmatched the rest of the way and Banwarth ended the match with her first kill since the Iowa State match on Sept. 15.

The Huskers will now return to the NU Coliseum for a Saturday night showdown with the Texas A&M Aggies at 7 p.m. The match will be carried live on NET and a free video stream will be available on Huskers.com. Fans can also listen to all of the action with John Baylor and Diane 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 also be able to catch the live audio feed for free on Huskers.com.