Huskers Look to Fix Boulder Road Woes

No. 5 Nebraska (23-2, 15-1) at Colorado (6-16, 3-13)
Saturday, Nov. 13 • Coors Event Center • 7:30 p.m. (CT)
Radio:  Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and KTWI 93.3 FM in Omaha, and on Huskers.com
Web Video: CUBuffs.com (Premium)
Live Stats: CUBuffs.com

The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team (23-2, 15-1 Big 12) will head to Boulder, Colo., to meet the Colorado Buffaloes (6-16, 3-13 Big 12) on Saturday night. Scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (CT) at the Coors Event Center, the match could mark the end of a series that dates back to 1987 with Nebraska moving the Big Ten and Colorado moving to the Pac-10 next season.

Boulder has been tough place for the Huskers to win as of late as Nebraska and Colorado have split the last four meetings on the Buffs' home court, including the 2006 national championship team's only loss.

The two teams are on the opposite ends of the Big 12 as the Huskers sit atop the standings with a 15-1 record, while the Buffaloes are 3-13 in conference and are ranked 10th.

The Buffs have been winless at home since beating Kansas on Sept. 25. Nebraska is 7-1 on the road this season in Big 12 play and has swept its last two league opponents.

There will be no TV coverage of the match, but CUBuffs.com will provide a live stream of the match and a premium subscription is required.

Fans can also listen to all of the action with John Baylor on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Twister 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans outside the network will also be able to catch the live audio feed for free on Huskers.com.

Scouting Colorado

• The Buffaloes enter Saturday night's match with a 6-16 overall record and a 3-13 conference record. Colorado has won just two league matches at home this season, including back-to-back five-set wins over Kansas State and Kansas in September.
• The Buffs don't have any players hitting over .300 on the year. Anicia Santos leads the team with a .294 hitting percentage.
• Kerra Schroeder leads the Buffaloes with 3.72 kills and 0.25 aces per set.
• NU Assistant Coach Erik Sullivan served as a assistant at Colorado from 2004-07.
• During Big 12 play the Buffs rank no higher than seventh in any statistical category and rank last in three categories, including assists (10.62), kills (11.34) and blocks (1.68).
• Colorado has 16 new players on their team from last season. Head Coach Liz Kritza brought in 11 freshman and five transfers.

The Last Meeting Between Nebraska and Colorado (Sept. 18, 2010)
The No. 4 Nebraska volleyball team made quick work of the Colorado Buffaloes in three sets in front of 4,113 fans at the NU Coliseum.

The Huskers caused the Buffs fits all night as Nebraska clocked in with a .363 hitting percentage, while the Nebraska defense held Colorado to .086 hitting. Lauren Cook and Sydney Anderson combined for 37 assists on the night, as Lindsey Licht and Brooke Delano tied for the match high in kills at 11 apiece. Hannah Werth was dangerous nearly every time she touched the ball, as the sophomore put away eight kills on just 11 swings to hit .727.

Kayla Banwarth posted more than 20 digs in a match for the sixth time in 2010 with a match-high 23 digs. As a team, the Huskers totaled 58 digs on the night with all 11 players charting at least one dig on the score sheet.

Scouting Nebraska

• The Huskers are ranked No. 5 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll for the second straight week. Nebraska have been ranked as high as No. 2 this season and have been in the top 10 all season.
• The Huskers are 21-0 this season when holding opponents below .200 hitting after the Huskers held Kansas State to .104 hitting. Nebraska is 2-2 when opposing teams hit above .200.
• After hitting a season best .423 against Kansas, the Huskers are 181-0 under Head Coach John Cook when they hit .300 or better.
• Nebraska is 9-1 on the road this season and 7-1 in Big 12 play, with its lone loss coming to Texas.
• The Huskers are 11-0 at home the season and have dropped just three sets all season at the NU Coliseum.
• After posting double-digit blocks in nine of their first 14 matches of the season the Huskers have hit double figured just three times in their last 11 matches.
• Junior middle blocker Brooke Delano entered the week with a nation-leading .437 hitting percentage and ranked fourth in blocks per set at 1.53.
• Nebraska has won the past three meeting with Colorado and holds a 21-4 all-time record on the road in Boulder.
• The Huskers enter the week ranked in the top-five nationally in three categories, including blocks (1st-3.10), kills (4th-15.05) and assists (4th-14.07) per set.
• Only four times this season has a team hit .200 or better against the Husker defense, including Florida (.270), Illinois (.216) and Texas twice (.272 & .252).
• During Big 12 play the Huskers are tops in opponent hitting (.144), as well as assists (14.36), kills (15.28) and blocks (3.17) per set.
• Under Head Coach John Cook, the Huskers improved to 297-8 when winning the first set of the match after their 3-0 win Kansas State. The last time Nebraska won the first set and then lost the match was during the 2009 NCAA Regional Final, when Texas won 3-1 after NU took set one, 25-21.
• Four Huskers have combined for 16 double-doubles on the season, including nine from Hannah Werth, three each from Tara Mueller and Lauren Cook and one from Sydney Anderson.
• Three Huskers have earned four All-America honors, including Sydney Anderson (2), Tara Mueller (1) and Brooke Delano (1).

Unfriendly Confines
Boulder, Colo., and the Coors Event Center has been unwelcoming to the Huskers over the past four seasons as NU has won just twice in its last four visits.

Riding a 17-match winning streak over the Buffs entering the 2006 match, Colorado upset the Huskers to hand Nebraska it's only loss of the season.

Two years later the Buffaloes won once again in a four-set match over the No. 2 Huskers, as it was the Huskers first loss of the season.

Now another two years later the Huskers will look to not let history repeat itself once more in Boulder. With a win it would mark the first time since the 2004 and 2005 seasons that the Huskers have won on the road in Boulder in consecutive seasons.

No Streaking
Colorado is the only Big 12 North program that the Huskers haven't won 20 or more consecutive matches against. In 55 all-time meetings the Huskers hold a 48-7 advantage, but their longest winning streak in the series is 17 matches. Against the other four Big 12 North schools, the Huskers shortest winning streak is 46 matches over Missouri.

In Need of an Assist?
Entering the season ranked ninth on Nebraska's career chart with 2,683 assists, senior Sydney Anderson's 519 assists this season have already moved her to fifth place on the career list with 3,202 dishes.

Against Texas Tech on Nov. 6 Anderson took over the No. 5 spot from Christy Johnson, who had totaled 3,183 assists from 1991-95.

On her way up the charts Anderson has also passed Rachel Holloway (2,861), Dani Busboom (2,873) and Lori Endicott (3,117). All together the four setters she has passed this season combined for six All-America honors.

Next up for Anderson is Val Novak, who sits fourth on NU's all-time charts with 3,303 assists.

Huskers Add Three for 2011
Nebraska Head Volleyball Coach John Cook announced the addition of three high school players to the Huskers' 2011 roster on Thursday, Nov. 11, including two Prepvolleyball.com's top-100 Senior Aces.

The class includes outside hitter/right side hitter Taylor Simpson (Colorado Springs, Colo.), libero/outside hitter Lara Dykstra (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and libero/defensive specialist Shelby Winkelmann (Rhineland, Mo.).

Simpson is rated as the No. 9 player in the country by Prepvolleyball.com, while Dykstra ranks 52nd.  Winkelmann led her prep squad to two state titles and holds the school record in kills (1,453).

Broekhuis Breakout
True freshman Morgan Broekhuis has started to find a rhythm as the 6-5 lefty is hitting .339 and averaging 2.42 kills per set over her past four matches, including a .538 performance at Kansas and a .438 showing against Kansas State.

In her first 12 conference matches this season she was hitting .179 with 2.02 kills per set.  During the run she had hit .300 or better just twice, with the top performance coming at home against Texas when she hit at a .333 clip.

Top Digger
With her second dig of the match against Texas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 6, senior libero Kayla Banwarth took over the top spot on the NU career digs chart with the 1,569th dig of her career. Banwarth broke Jennifer Saleauma's record of 1,568 digs.

Last season, Banwarth compiled 570 digs, which nearly broke Dani Busboom's 2006 single-season record of 580.

Delano Dialed In
Junior middle blocker Brooke Delano continues to swing a hot hand as she entered the week ranked No. 1 in the NCAA with a .437 hitting percentage (.436 after KSU match).

An All-American in 2009, Delano has hit .500 or better 11 times in 2010, including two matches where she hit over .700.

In her eight matches in the month of October Delano hit at a .490 clip, with her worst match coming against Texas A&M where she still fired at .333. She hit .500 or better four times, including a .875 performance against Missouri.

The hot streak has continued into November as she hitting .411 through three matches, including a .647 (12-1-17) performance against Kansas.

Delano is looking to become just the fourth Husker in school history to hit .400 or better in a season. Tracy Stalls was the last Husker to do so when she set the NU single-season record in 2007 when she hit .473. Stalls also hit .400 in 2006.

The Great Wall
The Husker defense has shutdown opposing hitters all season and for it the Huskers entered the week ranked No. 1 in the country in blocks with 3.10 per set. Nebraska has posted double-digit stuffs in 11 matches this season, including 15 or more three times. It is an impressive feat as the Huskers have played more than three sets only nine times this year and to a fifth set just twice.

During Big 12 play the Huskers have been even tougher on opposing attackers with 3.167blocks per set.

Along with Brooke Delano's conference-best 1.53 blocks per set, which ranked fourth nationally entering the week, Jordan Wilberger and Lindsey Licht join Delano on the Big 12 top-10 list with 1.20 and 1.15 blocks per set, respectively.

Since Head Coach John Cook took over at Nebraska in 2000, the Huskers have earned the NCAA blocking title five times, including 2000, '01, '02, '04 and '05.

Proving Her Werth
Sophomore Hannah Werth has come alive for the Huskers of late as she is averaging 3.44 kills and 3.00 digs per set while also hitting .323 over her last eight matches, including a .474 performance at Kansas State. In her first 17 matches of the season Werth was hitting .205 and averaging 2.58 kills per set. Over the eight-match run Werth leads the team in kills and ranks second in digs.

Playing as One
It is all about the team at Nebraska and it shows this season as the Huskers entered the week ranked in the top-15 nationally in four categories, including three top-five rankings. What makes the feat even more impressive is the fact that Nebraska only has one player that ranks in the top 50 of any individual national category as Brooke Delano entered the week ranked first nationally in hitting percentage and is fourth in blocks per set.

As a team the Huskers are first in blocks (3.10), fourth in kills (15.05), fourth in assists (14.07) and are 15th in hitting percentage (.280).

Passing the Test
The Huskers have fared well this year against the nation's top-50 RPI teams with a 10-2 record. The Huskers, who are third in the latest RPI standings, have posted wins over No. 2 Illinois, No. 12 Texas, No. 13 Dayton and have two wins over No. 16 Iowa State.

Kills Keep Coming
The 2010 Huskers ranked first in the Big 12 Conference and fourth nationally with 15.05 kills per set, but Nebraska doesn't have one player on the individual Big 12 top-10 list or national top-50 list.

Five Huskers average at least two kills per set, including Brooke Delano (2.94), Lindsey Licht (2.90), Hannah Werth (2.86), Tara Mueller (2.20) and Morgan Broekhuis (2.07).

During Big 12 play, Werth leads the team with 3.09 kills per set.

November to Remember
The Huskers are looking for a repeat performance of last season's 7-0 November that helped propel the Huskers getting within one win of the Final Four. Nebraska currently holds a one-match lead over Texas and a perfect November would secure the Huskers their 31st conference title and their 12th in the Big 12 era.

Since Head Coach John Cook took over in 2000, the Huskers have posted a perfect record in November six times, including three straight seasons from 2000-02.

Short Trips
The Huskers have made quick work of their opponents of late with nine sweeps in their past 10 matches. Overall this season Nebraska has posted 16 sweeps, including 11 during Big 12 play.

Head of the CLASS
Nebraska senior setter Sydney Anderson was named one of 10 finalists for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award on Monday, Oct. 11 for women's volleyball.

A two-time AVCA All-American, Anderson was named to the preseason All-Big 12 list and is a two-time captain for the Huskers.

Fans can vote every day for Sydney at www.SeniorCLASSaward.com.

Mighty Middles
Nebraska's middle blockers have been a force both offensively and defensively this season. Brooke Delano. Jordan Wilberger and Allison McNeal all average at least one block per set and each average 1.40 kills or more per set.