Huskers Host Texas in Top-10 Showdown

The ninth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team finishes non-conference play on Saturday when No. 2 Texas visits the Devaney Center at 2 p.m. for a top-10 showdown. The Huskers will be looking to avenge last year’s season-ending loss to the Longhorns. Texas swept Nebraska in Lincoln to advance to the NCAA Semifinals. The Huskers (6-2) are riding a six-match win streak but will face a tough task when the unbeaten Longhorns take the floor on Saturday. Texas has dropped just one set so far this season (to then-No. 11 Florida) and returns the nucleus of last year’s NCAA Semifinals team. Fans parking at the Devaney for Saturday’s match will NOT need to leave Devaney at any point to make way for football parking. All football parking at Devaney will be for general admission use.

Media Information
The Huskers will be on NET for the second of five times this season when they host Texas on Saturday afternoon. The match will also stream online on BTN Plus, which fans can purchase for $9.95 for one month’s access. Fans can also listen to the action with John Baylor and Diane Mendenhall on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and The Wolf 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans inside and outside the state of Nebraska will also be able to catch the live audio feed on Huskers.com for free.

Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series, 30-20, but Texas has won the last three matchups, including a five-set thriller in Austin last September and a sweep on Dec. 14 in Lincoln to advance to the NCAA Semifinals. In the last nine matchups between the teams, six have gone four sets and one has gone five sets - last year’s 20-25, 25-19, 27-25, 21-25, 15-12 Texas win.

Last Time Out
The No. 9 Nebraska volleyball team rallied from a slow start to defeat the Creighton Bluejays 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20) in the first meeting between the teams since 2011 before 8,060 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night. The Huskers improved to 6-2 with their sixth straight win. Creighton fell to 6-4. Kadie Rolfzen led the Huskers with a season-high 16 kills and added 10 digs and five blocks. Alicia Ostrander provided a big spark off the bench, coming on in the middle of the third set and finishing with seven kills and two blocks. She hit a career-best .353 and gave the Huskers a boost when they had just let Creighton back into set three. Amber Rolfzen had seven kills and seven digs, and Kelsey Fien had six kills. Meghan Haggerty had five kills and six of Nebraska’s season-high-tying14 blocks. Mary Pollmiller had 39 assists and eight digs, and Justine Wong-Orantes had 18 digs. The Huskers hit .134, the lowest they’ve hit in a match that they’ve won in the John Cook era (dating back to 2000). They were able to secure the win by holding the Bluejays to a .126 hitting percentage. Both teams had 31 attacking errors, but the Bluejays had 12 service errors to just four for the Huskers.

Up Next
The Huskers begin Big Ten play next week with a home-and-home series with Iowa. The teams will meet in Lincoln on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and will then play on Saturday in Iowa City at 7 p.m.

Noting the Huskers
• If Saturday’s match were to go five sets, it would be unfamiliar ground for both teams of late. Dating back to last season, Nebraska has played 18 straight matches that have finished in three or four sets. Meanwhile, Texas has played 29 straight matches without going five sets. Nebraska’s last five-setter was at Minnesota on Nov. 10, 2013. Texas’ last match that came down to the wire was vs. Nebraska on Sept. 22, 2013 in Austin. The Longhorns are 28-1 since that five-set win.
• Nebraska has won six matches in a row. The Huskers’ longest winning streak last season was eight matches, from Oct. 23-Nov. 16.
• Nebraska hit .134 against Creighton, the lowest it has hit and still won in the John Cook era, dating back to 2000.
• Kadie Rolfzen’s 16 kills against Creighton were a season best for the AVCA All-American. Her 42 attacks in the match were also a season high. She has posted 14 or more kills in four of her last six matches.
• Junior outside hitter Kelsey Fien has played in seven matches this season and has led NU in kills in four of them. For the season, Fien is averaging a team-high 3.32 kills per set.
• Melanie Keil’s eight blocks against Denver last Friday was not only a career high for the sophomore, it was also the top mark by any Big Ten player in a three-set match this season.
• Annika Albrecht leads all Big Ten freshmen in aces with 11 (0.41 per game) and ranks fourth in the conference among all players.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.85 blocks per set, and the Huskers’ 29 solo blocks are the most by any Big Ten team.
• The Huskers have just one solo block against them all season. The next closest Big Ten teams are Penn State and Michigan at five.
• The Huskers rank third in the Big Ten in digs per set (14.89). Justine Wong-Orantes (3.85 per set) and Kadie Rolfzen (3.00) lead the Big Red. Wong-Orantes is coming off a season-high 19 against Colgate last weekend and followed up with 18 against Creighton on Wednesday.
• The Huskers have held three opponents to single-digit sets so far this season, matching last year’s season total. The Huskers have beaten Eastern Kentucky 25-7, Bakersfield 25-8 and Colgate 25-9. Nebraska held two opponents to single digits in 2012 and one in 2011.
• Nebraska is 6-0 this season when recording as many or more service aces than its opponent.
• With its No. 9 ranking, Nebraska has appeared in every one of the AVCA’s 466 all-time weekly polls. NU and Stanford are the only two programs to appear in every AVCA poll, dating back to its inception in 1982.
• Nebraska has spent a nation-leading 419 weeks in the top 10 after making its return to the top 10 this week at No. 9.
• The Huskers are 227-0 under Cook when hitting .300 or better.
• NU is 369-15 (.961) when winning the first set under Cook.
• Nebraska is 138-39 against ranked teams under Cook (.780).
• Just over one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (419) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 206 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 191-15 record during the streak.

Scouting the Texas Longhorns
No. 2 Texas is 7-0 on the season, having dropped only one set all season - 28-26 in set two against No. 11 Florida on Sept. 6. The Longhorns have swept three straight matches since then - against Arizona, Central Florida and Florida A&M - all at the West Longhorn Classic last weekend. Texas has had a week off to prepare for Saturday’s match.

Texas possesses a balanced attack with six players registering more than 30 kills but none surpassing 46 so far this season. Two-time AVCA first-team All-American Haley Eckerman has a team-high 46 kills (2.56 per set) to lead the Longhorns. Eckerman also ranks sixth nationally with 0.67 aces per set. Amy Neal has 45 kills and leads the team with 2.81 kills per set. Pilar Victoria is not far behind with 39 kills (2.79 per set), and Khat Bell has chipped in 39 kills as well (2.05 per set). The Longhorns’ primary setters are sophomores Chloe Collins (121 assists) and Nicole Dalton (116 assists). Freshman Cat McCoy leads the team in digs with 86.

The Longhorns are hitting a healthy .307 as a team to rank eighth nationally. They are holding opponents to a .117 clip through seven matches. Texas ranks second nationally with 3.36 blocks per set. The Longhorns are led at the net by Molly McCage (28 blocks), second-team All-American Chiaka Ogbogu (25) and Sara Hattis (24).

Texas went 27-3 last season and reached the NCAA Semifinals. The Longhorns return five starters and nine letterwinners from that squad. Texas is one of 15 remaining unbeaten teams and is seeking its first 8-0 start since 2009, when it started 18-0 and reached the NCAA Finals.