Huskers Head to Omaha to Face Washington

WASHINGTON vs. NEBRASKA
Date: Dec. 7
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Omaha, Neb.
Arena: CenturyLink Center
Live Stats: CSTV.com/Gametracker
Live Radio: B107.3 (Lincoln), 93.3 (Omaha), Husker Sports Network, Huskers.com
Web Stream: ESPN3.com

Following sweeps of UMES and Northern Iowa in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, the fourth-seeded Nebraska volleyball team heads to Omaha, Neb., for regional play. The Huskers will meet the 13th-seeded Washington Huskies on Friday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. (CT) at the CenturyLink Center. The winner between Nebraska and Washington will advance to Saturday's 5:30 p.m. (CT) regional final against BYU or Oregon.

The Huskers have been playing some of their best volleyball of late as they have posted four sweeps in the last five matches. In the first two NCAA tournament matches of the year, the Huskers have been attacking efficiently, hitting at a .455 clip against UMES and a .371 clip against Northern Iowa. Nebraska is making its 28th appearance in the regional round.

Washington is making its 11th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, and has had a successful run in the tournament so far. The Huskies opened the NCAA tournament by knocking off Central Arkansas in straight sets. The following night Washington came back to defeat Hawaii in five sets.

Friday night's match will be the fifth meeting between Nebraska and Washington. The all-time series is tied at two sets apiece, as the two teams last met in 2010 at the Seattle Regional, with UW getting the 3-1 win.

Nebraska's match with UW will be streamed on ESPN3.com. Fans can also listen to all the action on B107.3 in Lincoln, 93.3 in Omaha, select Husker Sports Network affiliates and on Huskers.com.

Last Time Out- Northern Iowa vs. Nebraska, 11/30/12

The fourth-seeded Nebraska volleyball team (25-6) closed out the Northern Iowa Panthers in a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-21) sweep on Friday night at the NU Coliseum to punch its ticket to the Omaha Regional next weekend.

The Huskers recorded their fourth sweep in the last five matches in front of 4,184 roaring fans in attendance for Nebraska's final match at the Coliseum.

Morgan Broekhuis led the Huskers on the night with 10 kills on 16 swings for a .625 hitting percentage. Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth each had nine kills, while Hayley Thramer recorded eight. Meghan Haggerty notched a career-high four aces on the night, while Lara Dykstra led Nebraska defensively with 13 digs.

The Huskers hit .371 as a team, while holding Northern Iowa to a .191 hitting percentage. NU out-blocked UNI 5-4 and held a 41-38 advantage in team digs.

Scouting the University of Washington Huskies

• UW is 25-6 on the season and has a 14-6 record in the PAC-12 Conference.
• The Huskies won their NCAA opener with a 3-0 sweep of Central Arkansas on Nov. 30. UW hit .347 for the night and totaled 13 blocks, nine coming from Amanda Gil.
• In the second round of the tournament, Washington overcame Hawaii in a 3-2 win. Krista Vansant had 16 kills and hit .297, while adding 10 digs. Cassie Strickland came up with a double-double (13 kills, 14 digs) and Kylin Munoz notched 15 kills and nine blocks.
• Washington's match with Hawaii marked the fourth time this season that the Huskies have been down a match point and come back to win. They were previously down match points at home to UCLA and Oregon and on the road at Cal.
• Krista Vansant leads the Huskies on the year with 408 total kills and an average of 4.00 kills per set, while Kaleigh Nelson 269 total kills and an average of 2.45 kills per set. The Huskies run a 6-2 system with Katy Beals totaling 649 assists and Jenni Noqueras with 610 assists on the year.
• Gil leads the Husky block with 192 on the season and an average of 1.81 blocks per set. Jenna Orlandini has 458 total digs for the Huskies and is averaging 4.13 digs per set.

Noting the Nebraska Cornhuskers

• Nebraska enters this Friday's match with a 25-6 record and as a No. 4 national seed. The Huskers are 15-5 in Big Ten play.
• Nebraska is the second-winningest program in Division I history with 1,165 wins and trails only UCLA (1,181) on the all-time list.
• Nebraska currently has 181 consecutive sellouts at the NU Coliseum, the longest sellout streak across all NCAA women's athletics. The Huskers averaged 4,522 fans per home contest last season.
• Nebraska has 10 players on its 2012 roster who were Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 selections, representing the top-50 players in that year's recruiting class. Five of the Huskers' last seven recruiting classes have ranked in the top five nationally, including the 2009 class that was ranked second by Prepvolleyball.com
• Nebraska continued its string of All-America success in 2011, as Gina Mancuso was named an AVCA All-American. Mancuso upped Nebraska's NCAA-leading totals to 35 players and 71 certificates. Nebraska has had at least one All-American every season since 1983, a total of 30 straight seasons, including 36 All-America awards in Cook's 12 years at Nebraska.

AVCA All-America Certificates

No.         School                   Awards

1.            Nebraska             71

2.            Stanford              65

3.            Penn State          54

4.            Hawaii                   52

5.            UCLA                     42

• Head Coach John Cook returns a loaded team in 2012 that lost only one starter from 2011 and returns eight letterwinners. His team finished 25-5 last season, while Cook has won over 91 percent (385-39) of his matches in 12 seasons as the Huskers' leader.
• In 2012, Nebraska is 16-1 when holding opponents below a .200 hitting percentage and is 9-5 when opponents hit .200 or better.
• Nebraska has posted double-digit blocks 18 times in 2012, including a season-high 16 against Michigan on Sept. 30.
• Nebraska is making its 31st consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Only Penn State and Stanford have more trips with each making their 32nd appearance this year.
• The Huskers have 85 all-time NCAA Tournament wins, second behind Stanford (100).
• Three of the four all-time meetings between the Huskies and Huskers have come in the NCAA tournament. UW won its first national title in 2005 by sweeping the Huskers, while Nebraska knocked the Huskies out of the 2008 tournament in five sets after being down 0-2 and Washington topped Nebraska 3-1 in 2010.

The Last Time Nebraska...

• Won a match 3-0: vs. Northern Iowa, Nov. 30, 2012
• Won a match 3-1: vs. Northwestern, Nov. 24, 2012
• Won a match 3-2: vs. Purdue, Nov. 10, 2012
• Lost a match 0-3: at Purdue, Nov. 12, 2011
• Lost a match 1-3: vs. Ohio State, Sept. 26, 2012
• Lost a match 2-3: at Minnesota, Nov. 16, 2012
• Had 100 kills in a match: vs. Texas Tech, Oct. 26, 1996
• Had 200 attacks in a match: vs. Iowa State (200), Oct. 21, 2009
• Had .500-or-more hitting pct.: vs. Kansas (.523), Oct. 10, 2001
• Had 10-or-more service aces: at Texas A&M (11), Nov. 5, 2008
• Had 40-or-more total blocks: vs. UCLA (41), Sept. 14, 1991
• Had 100-or-more digs: vs. USC (109), Dec. 11, 2004

The Last Time a Husker...

• Had 30-or-more kills: Sarah Pavan (31) at Kansas State, Nov. 3, 2007
• Had 10-or-more blocks: Brooke Delano (10) at Oklahoma, Sept. 29, 2010
• Had 25-or-more digs: Lara Dykstra (28) vs. New Mexico State, Aug. 26, 2011
• Had two players with 20-or-more kills: Tara Mueller (24) and Jordan Larson (21) at Washington, Dec. 13, 2008
• Had a triple-double: Greichaly Cepero (10 kills, 38 assists, 12 digs) vs. Texas Tech, Sept. 25, 2002

Nebraska...

• Is 355-71 (.833) when winning a first set under John Cook and 45-29 (.608) when it loses the opening set
• Has spent 406 weeks in the top 10 and were ranked in the top 10 for 115 consecutive weeks (2004-Sept. 5, 2011)
• Nebraska has currently been ranked in the top 10 for 25 consecutive weeks (Sept. 12, 2011-present)
• Is 214-0 under John Cook when hitting .300 or better

Huskers Earn Big Ten Weekly Honors

Nebraska senior Lauren Cook, junior Hayley Thramer and freshman Meghan Haggerty have all been honored by the Big Ten Conference with weekly Big Ten Awards. Cook was named the Big Ten Co-Player and Setter of the Week three times, while Haggerty has earned four Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors and Hayley Thramer has earned one Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award.

Cook guided the Husker attack to wins over Saint Louis (3-0), No. 1 UCLA (3-2) and Notre Dame (3-0) during the first weekend of play. She notched double-doubles in all three matches, including 56 assists and 22 digs against the Bruins. Cook averaged 10.7 assists, 4.4 digs and 0.4 blocks per set. She also tabbed 27 assists against Saint Louis and 35 against Notre Dame, helping Nebraska hit .365 against the Fighting Irish.

She earned Setter of the Week honors again after averaging 11.30 assists and 2.1 digs per set in road wins over No. 12 Purdue (3-0) and Indiana (3-2). She led the Huskers to a .348 hitting percentage on the weekend, including a .361 clip against the Boilermakers.

Cook tallied the honor for the second consecutive week after averaging 11.6 assists and 2.3 digs per set in wins over No. 10 Minnesota (3-1) and Wisconsin (3-0). She led the third-ranked Huskers to a .361 hitting percentage for the weekend, including a .396 clip against the Badgers, where she dished out 37 assists.

Haggerty earned Big Ten honors after she hit .545 against UC Irvine, recording seven kills on 11 swings to go along with four blocks to help Nebraska to a 3-0 victory. She also averaged 2.3 kills and 1.3 blocks per set. She earned the award for the second consecutive week after helping Nebraska to the 2012 Ameritas Players Challenge team title. She hit .600 for the week as the Huskers beat Oklahoma (3-0) and No. 19 Kentucky (3-1). She recorded an .818 hitting percentage against the Sooners, posting nine kills on 11 swings. She also averaged 2.4 kills and 1.6 blocks per set.

She was named Freshman of the Week again after posting 12 kills on .333 hitting and seven blocks in Nebraska's five-set win over No. 1 Penn State on Sunday. She also tallied five blocks and seven kills against Ohio State on Friday, as she averaged 1.3 blocks and 2.1 kills for the weekend. Haggerty helped the Huskers to two wins against Indiana and Purdue, hitting .342 over the two matches and averaging 1.9 kills and 0.9 blocks per set. She also posted eight blocks and seven kills against the Hoosiers and recorded 10 kills against Purdue.

Thramer earned the accolade after leading the Husker defense in wins over No. 21 Purdue (3-2) and Indiana (3-1). She notched 17 blocks over the two matches, an average of 1.9 per set, including 10 against the Boilermakers. Thramer also recorded seven blocks, including two solos, against the Hoosiers.

Mancuso Named Senior CLASS Award Finalist

Nebraska senior outside hitter Gina Mancuso was named one of 10 finalists for the 2012 Senior CLASS Award for women's volleyball on Friday, Oct. 19. A 2011 AVCA All-American, Mancuso leads the Huskers in kills in 2012 and has nine double-doubles on the year. She was named a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-District VII selection in 2011, also earning academic All-Big Ten accolades. She is a three-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, serving as the community outreach officer for the 2011-12 school year. 

Huskers Named All-Big Ten

Four Nebraska volleyball players were honored recently as the 2012 All-Big Ten Team and All-Freshman Team were announced.  Lauren Cook, Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth claimed first-team All-Big Ten selections, while Meghan Haggerty earned All-Freshman honors and Allison McNeal was selected as a Sportsmanship Award honoree.

All-Mideast Region Teams Announced

The Nebraska volleyball team had four players earn all-region honors on Tuesday from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Seniors Lauren Cook, Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth were named to the 14-member Mideast Region first-team, while freshman Meghan Haggerty was named honorable mention.

Sweet Success

After a pair of sweeps in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Nebraska volleyball team is making its 28th straight trip to the Sweet 16. Overall The Huskers have qualified for regionals in 29 of their 31 all-time trips to the postseason. The last time the Huskers didn't advance to a regional was last year when Kansas State knocked off the Huskers in five sets, prior to that it was 1983 when they were bounced in the first round by Western Michigan (1-3).

It's Routine

A trip to the NCAA Tournament goes along with breathing at Nebraska and this year is no different as the Huskers are making their 31st straight trip to the national tournament as the No. 4 overall seed.

The 2012 season also marks the ninth straight season that the Huskers have opened the NCAA Tournament at home. In 30 previous appearances, the Huskers have started the postseason on the road just twice, as they played in Kalamazoo, Mich. in 1983 and were sent to East Lansing, Mich. in 2003.

Nebraska, Hawaii and UCLA are all making their 31st trip this season, while only Stanford and Penn State have longer resumes with 32 appearances each.

Tournament Tough

The Huskers have been hard to beat in the NCAA Tournament and their 85-27 (.759) record proves it.

Haggerty's Impressive Debut

Nebraska freshman Meghan Haggerty became just the eighth true freshman to start a season opener during Coach John Cook's career at Nebraska. She posted a team-high 17 kills against UCLA, notching a .600 hitting percentage (17-2-25). Her 17 kills were the most by a Nebraska middle blocker since Tracy Stalls tallied 17 (17-2-26) against UCLA during the 2006 National Semifinal match. 

She did not let up after her opening-weekend dominance. Haggerty posted nine kills on 11 swings for a .818 hitting percentage against Oklahoma on Sept. 6. With just one more kill she would have ranked 10th all-time on Nebraska's single-match individual hitting percentage list. She has been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times in 2012.

She posted 11 kills on 25 swings against Penn State, notching five total blocks. In addition, she recorded six blocks against Ohio State. Haggerty recorded a stellar .700 hitting percentage against Michigan State, tabbbing eight kills on 10 swings. She notched a .778 clip against Illinois, posting seven kills on nine attacks and zero errors.

Against No. 1 competition, Haggerty has posted 29 kills, a hitting percentage of .469 and 10 blocks.

Haggerty Leading the Huskers in Hitting Efficiency

With Haggerty's .345 hitting percentage on the season and 447 total attacks, she leads the Huskers in hitting percentage on the season. She is the first freshman to lead a Nebraska team in hitting percentage since Amber Holmquist in 1999.

Tough Competition

With the match against Washington this Friday, Nebraska will be taking on its 14th top-25 team this season.

The Huskers hold an 9-4 record against top-25 teams, losing to No. 4 Penn State, No. 25 Iowa State, No. 20 Ohio State and No. 14 Minnesota, but topping No. 1 UCLA and No. 19 Kentucky at the Coliseum, No. 24 Ohio State, No. 24 Michigan State, No. 12 Purdue, No. 10 Minnesota, No. 25 Illinois, No. 1 Penn State and No. 21 Purdue.

Werth Notches 1,000 Kills and Digs, Climbs Nebraska Records

Nebraska senior outside hitter Hannah Werth tallied 17 digs against the UCLA Bruins, surpassing the 1,000 career dig mark, becoming just the 11th Husker to reach that milestone. She has a total of 1,331 career digs, and ranks fourth all-time on the Nebraska career digs list.

 
Werth surpassed the 1,000 career kill mark in 2012; she has 1,264 career kills and is 10th on Nebraska's all-time list. She is also one of four Huskers, joining Jennifer Saleaumua, Jordan Larson and Eileen Shannon, to record 1,000 career digs and kills.

Mancuso Hot Against Top Competition

Gina Mancuso posted 16 kills against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Oct. 28. With that mark, she has at least 10 kills in all but one (Illinois- nine kills) of the Huskers' matches against ranked teams this year.

Saying Goodbye to the Coliseum

The 2012 season marks the Huskers' final season in the NU Coliseum before the team will move to the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Coliseum has been the home for Nebraska volleyball since 1975 and provides a unique home-court advantage for NU.

Nebraska Too Much for Iowa

Nebraska held Iowa to 36 total points in their 3-0 win over the Hawkeyes on Nov. 21. Iowa's point total on the evening marked the lowest total by a Husker opponent in three set matches during the rally scoring era. The next closest mark in three set matches was Alabama A&M's 37 points against the Huskers in 2005. Duquesne totaled 39 points in their match with the Huskers earlier this year on Sept. 7.

Fear the Coliseum

In 40 all-time first or second round matches in the Lincoln the Huskers have posted 32 sweeps. Nebraska has been taken to four sets six times and five sets just four times. The last time NU was forced to play five sets was in 2011 against Kansas State. Prior to 2011, South Carolina took Nebraska to five sets in 2000,  Weber State took NU to five in 1988 and Penn State did so as well in 1986.

During Big Ten play at the NU Coliseum the Huskers lost just 11 sets all season.

Fantastic Five

The 2012 senior class has been the latest group to continue Nebraska's winning tradition. The team held Senior Night on Saturday, Nov. 24 during the final regular-season match of the season when the Huskers hosted Northwestern.

The group of Lauren Cook, Paige Hubl, Gina Mancuso, Allison McNeal and Hannah Werth has guided the team to an appearance in a NCAA Regional Final, three wins over No. 1 teams, the first Big Ten Conference title in school history and a Big 12 Conference title.

Huskers Named to Ameritas Players Challenge All-Tournament Team

Three Huskers earned a spot on the 2012 Ameritas Players Challenge All-Tournament Team including Gina Mancuso, Lauren Cook and MVP Hannah Werth.

Cook Reaches Milestones

The Huskers' match against the UC Irvine Anteaters was Head Coach John Cook's 400th match at Nebraska, he holds a 385-39 record at the helm of the Huskers. Nebraska's match with Michigan on Friday, Nov. 2 was Cook's 650th career match as a head coach.

Efficient Hitters

Nebraska has hit better than .300 in 16 out of 30 matches in 2012, including a .383 hitting percentage against Oklahoma, a .391 hitting percentage against No. 24 Michigan State, a .396 hitting percentage against Wisconsin, a .471 hitting percentage against Iowa and a .455 hitting percentage against UMES.

Hot in September and November

Historically, the Huskers' two best months are September (303-28) and November (227-23), as they have all-time winning percentages of .915 and .908, respectively. NU has lost only seven matches in September since 2004, including none from 2005-08. After eight wins in September in 2012, the Huskers are 126-10 in the month under Head Coach John Cook. 

How the Huskers Rank

As of Dec. 1, Nebraska ranked third in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.296) and second in assists (13.11). NU is also second in blocks (2.63), third in opponent hitting percentage (.194), seventh in digs (14.16) and fourth in kills (14.03). Individually, Meghan Haggerty is eighth in the conference in hitting percentage (.345), while Hayley Thramer is fifth in blocks (1.19), Gina Mancuso is 10th in kills (3.43) and ninth in aces (0.28) and Lauren Cook is fourth in the conference in assists (11.12).

As of Nov. 25, the Huskers rank 49th nationally in assists per set (13.03) and are 10th in hitting percentage (.290), 26th in blocks per set (2.68) and 48th in kills per set (13.97). Individually, Cook ranks 36th in assists per set (11.04).

Huskers Elect Team Captains

Nebraska seniors Lauren Cook, Paige Hubl and Hannah Werth were selected as the 2012 team captains for the Huskers.

Busboom-Kelly Returns to Nebraska

Dani Busboom-Kelly joined Head Coach John Cook's staff in July of 2012 after spending the previous season at Louisville. After successful coaching stints at Louisville and Tennessee, Busboom-Kelly returned to Nebraska where she was a standout libero and setter for the Huskers.