Huskers Take on Big Ten Leader Wisconsin

The No. 14 Nebraska volleyball team continues a four-match road stretch with a 4 p.m. match at No. 5 Wisconsin on Sunday on ESPN2. The Huskers (12-6, 6-3 Big Ten) have split their Big Ten matches each of the last three weeks, winning the first and dropping the second each week, but will look to reverse that trend in Madison. Nebraska came back from a 2-0 deficit to topple No. 25 Minnesota on Wednesday, while Wisconsin swept Iowa at home. The Badgers (17-2) lead the Big Ten with an 8-1 conference record and have not let up since their run to the NCAA national championship match last season. Sunday’s match will mark NU’s seventh match against a ranked opponent this season. After Sunday at Wisconsin, the Huskers will have faced the current Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 teams in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Media Information
Sunday’s match will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed online at WatchESPN.com. Fans can also listen to the action with John Baylor and Lindsay Peterson 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. Live stats will be available at Huskers.com as well.

Series History
The Huskers lead the all-time series 17-1-1 with Wisconsin’s lone win coming on Oct. 28, 1978. The Huskers have won 17 straight after the series began with a tie and a Wisconsin victory, but last year’s matches went five and four sets, respectively. Nebraska won 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-19) in Madison on Nov. 8. Kadie Rolfzen had 19 kills and 17 digs, while Amber Rolfzen had eight kills and nine digs.

Last Time Out
The 14th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit for an epic 3-2 (21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-7) comeback win at No. 25 Minnesota on Wednesday. The Huskers found themselves in a deep hole after dropping the first two sets and falling behind 16-13 in the third set. But just as they did at Minnesota in 2011, the Huskers roared back to win the match in five. Behind the arm of Kelsey Fien, the Huskers rallied to the 25-21 third-set victory, controlled the fourth set and ended the match on a dominating 8-0 run. Kadie Rolfzen had 17 kills and 14 digs to lead the Huskers, while Fien had 14 kills over the last three sets off the bench. Mary Pollmiller had a season-best 54 assists.

Up Next
Nebraska will take on Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. (CT) and Maryland on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. (CT).

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.48 kills per set and ranks seventh in the Big Ten. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has five of Nebraska’s nine double-doubles this year and has 15 or more kills eight times this season.
• Alicia Ostrander is second on the team with 3.02 kills per set and is averaging 3.17 kills per set in Big Ten play. Ostrander has double-digit kills in eight of the last 10 matches.
• Kelsey Fien is third on the team in kills per set with 2.78. After not playing in the previous two matches, Fien came off the bench and led Nebraska’s comeback at Minnesota Wednesday with 14 kills over the final three sets, including seven kills on 10 attacks in the momentum-changing third set.
• Middle blocker Cecilia Hall has given Nebraska a boost in the middle with 15 kills and 15 blocks over her last two matches. Hall had a career-high nine kills at Minnesota.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.86 per set and ranks ninth in the Big Ten.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 676 set assists for 10.24 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 49 blocks to rank second on the team.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten and 16th nationally with 2.8 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is third in the Big Ten with 1.26 blocks per set. The Huskers have outblocked or matched their opponent in blocks in 10 straight matches.
• The Huskers are third in the Big Ten in digs with 14.6 per set. The Huskers are 12-1 when outdigging their opponents and 0-3 when getting outdug.
• Sunday’s match marks the return of Nebraska head coach John Cook to Madison, where he was the head coach at Wisconsin from 1992-98. Cook led the Badgers to a 161-73 record at Wisconsin and two Elite Eight appearances.
• The Huskers are 8-1 in matches played on Monday through Friday this season, while they are 4-5 in matches on Saturday or Sunday.
• Nebraska is 6-1 away from the Devaney Center this season, the lone loss coming at Michigan on Sunday, Oct. 12.
• The Huskers are 229-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook.
• Nebraska is 373-16 when winning the first set under Cook.
• John Cook is 140-41 (.773) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just under one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (425) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 212 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 194-18 record during the streak.

Scouting Wisconsin
The fifth-ranked Badgers are atop the Big Ten standings with an 8-1 conference record and a 17-2 overall record. Wisconsin is riding an eight-match win streak with four of those wins coming against opponents currently ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Badgers have also won five straight matches by sweep and are 8-1 at home this season. Wisconsin leads the league in digs (16.53 per set) and set assists (13.59), and the Badgers are in the top three in hitting percentage (.284), opponent hitting percentage (.159) and kills (14.62). The Badgers possess a balanced attack, as Ellen Chapman is the only Badger in the top 15 of the Big Ten in kills at 3.06 per set. Setter Lauren Carlini sets up the Badger attack with 11.39 assists per set to rank second in the conference. She also ranks fourth in aces. Taylor Morey is the Big Ten leader in digs with 5.33 per set.