Huskers Head to Michigan to Battle Spartans, Wolverines

The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team is back on the road this weekend for a pair of matches in Michigan. The Huskers will battle Michigan State on Friday at 7 p.m. (CT), then will make the trek to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Sunday at Noon (CT). The Huskers (9-4, 3-1 Big Ten) will be searching for win number 1,200 in program history this weekend. NU is 1,199-221-12 all-time entering the weekend, the second-highest win total in NCAA history behind only UCLA’s 1,207 wins.

Media Information
Friday’s match will air live on the Big Ten Network, but no viewing options are available for Sunday’s match at Michigan. Fans can 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 for both matches.

Series History
Nebraska is 12-2-2 all-time against Michigan State and is 4-2 against the Spartans since joining the Big Ten. Michigan State has won the last two meetings in East Lansing, including a 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 20-25, 25-19) victory on Oct. 12, 2013. The Huskers swept MSU in Lincoln on Nov. 15.
Nebraska is 8-2 against Michigan and 5-1 since 2011. Nebraska swept the season series last year, including a five-set win (25-13, 28-26, 10-25, 20-25, 15-8) over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Oct. 11, 2013. Michigan last beat Nebraska (3-2) on Nov. 2, 2012 in Ann Arbor.

Last Time Out
The Huskers knocked off No. 3 Penn State last Friday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, 3-1, before falling to Ohio State on Saturday, 3-2. The win over Penn State marked the first top-five win for the Huskers since a sweep of No. 5 Washington in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. NU had been 0-4 against top-five teams since then. Penn State also had not lost in three or four sets since the 2012 NCAA Semifinals. Kadie Rolfzen led the Husker attack with 13 kills against Penn State and 20 against Ohio State.

Up Next
Nebraska will be at home for the last time in October with matches against No. 24 Northwestern next Wednesday and No. 15 Illinois next Saturday.

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.54 kills per set and ranks sixth in the Big Ten. The 2013 AVCA All-American has three of Nebraska’s five double-doubles this season. Rolfzen has double-digit kills in nine of her last 11 matches with a career-high 21 against Texas.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.87 blocks per set and is coming off a season-high 18 against Ohio State, matching the most since Sept. 11, 2010 when NU had 19 blocks against Illinois. Meghan Haggerty is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.33 blocks per set.
• Amber Rolfzen is second on the team with 2.15 kills per set and is averaging 2.47 kills per set in Big Ten play with a .318 hitting percentage.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.91 per set and ranks ninth in the conference. She had a career-high 29 digs against No. 2 Texas on Sept. 20, the most by a Husker since Kayla Banwarth’s 32 against Baylor on Nov. 18, 2009.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 472 set assists for 10.04 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 34 blocks to rank second on the team. Pollmiller has 13 kills on 21 total attacks in her last three matches with no errors for a .619 attack percentage.
• Alicia Ostrander has averaged 2.72 kills per set in her last five outings.
• Freshman Annika Albrecht posted a career-high 20 digs last Friday against Penn State to lead the Husker defense and followed up with 18 - her second-best outing - against Ohio State on Oct. 4. Albrecht was averaging 2.08 digs per set entering last weekend but put up 4.2 digs per set against PSU and OSU.
• The Huskers are 229-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook. Nebraska is also 371-16 when winning the first set under Cook.
• John Cook is 139-40 (.777) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just over one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (422) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 210 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 193-17 record during the streak.

Scouting the Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State is 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten after splitting with Michigan last week. Chloe Reinig has a team-high 200 kills and 3.64 kills per set, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten. Allyssah Fitterer adds 155 kills (2.77 kills per set). Rachel Minarick averages 9.70 assists per set, while Kori Moster has a team-leading 4.57 digs per set to rank third in the Big Ten. Jazmine White leads the squad in blocks with 1.31 per set. Michigan State is third in the Big Ten in blocks (2.71 per set), aces (1.38 per set) and opponent hitting percentage (.161). The Spartans lost three key starters, including All-Americans Lauren Wicinski and Alexis Mathews, from last year’s team that finished 23-12 and reached the NCAA Round of 16.

Scouting the Michigan Wolverines
Michigan enters Friday’s match against Iowa with a 6-8 overall record and 1-3 mark in conference play. The Wolverines played non-conference play without all-region setter Lexi Dannemiller, who is putting up 10.44 assists per set since returning. Abby Cole has a team-high 183 kills for 3.27 kills per set. Tiffany Morales, a Big Ten All-Freshman team pick in 2012, has a team-best 230 digs (4.11 per set). Michigan has three starters and its libero back from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.