Huskers Begin 2015 With Red/White Scrimmage

The Nebraska volleyball team will hold its annual Red/White Scrimmage on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online or over the phone by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED or at the Devaney Center ticket office beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. The match will be carried on the radio on Husker Sports Network affiliates (B107.3 FM in Lincoln and AM 590 in Omaha).

The scrimmage marks the first chance to see the 2015 Huskers in action. Nebraska returns all but one starter from last year’s team, which finished 23-10 and with a third straight trip to an NCAA regional final.

Head Coach John Cook has called for a loud and match-like atmosphere for Saturday night’s scrimmage. Fans are encouraged to cheer for the team on their half of the arena for each set, switching allegiances when the teams switch sides. Final rosters will not be decided until Saturday afternoon, but the teams will be evenly matched.

“We want it to treat this as much like a normal match as possible,” Cook said. “We especially want the fans to get involved and be loud, not just sitting and watching. We’ve got six players who have never played in a real match at Devaney, and we want them to experience the atmosphere before the season begins.”

Experienced Group Returns
The Huskers return two-time All-American Kadie Rolfzen and All-Big Ten selection Kelsey Fien at outside hitter, while senior captain Alicia Ostrander is coming off a breakout season. Nebraska also has a veteran group of middle blockers in Meghan Haggerty, Cecilia Hall and Amber Rolfzen. Junior libero Justine Wong-Orantes is the first player to lead the Huskers in digs as both a freshman and a sophomore, and Annika Albrecht and Sydney Townsend are back after solid freshman seasons in the back row. Sophomore Kelly Hunter, the nation’s top high school setter in 2012-13 by PrepVolleyball.com, is set to take the reins after redshirting last year. Outside hitter Olivia Boender is ready to step on the court for the Big Red after redshirting in her first year at NU.

Talented Newcomers Join the Fray
NU welcomes in one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, including outside hitter Mikaela Foecke (Fort Madison, Iowa), the No. 2 overall prospect by PrepVolleyball.com, and Kenzie Maloney (Louisville, Ky.), the publication’s top-ranked libero. Setter Brooke Smith (Weatherford, Texas) and middle blocker Tiani Reeves (Gothenburg, Neb.) also come highly acclaimed. Junior middle blocker Briana Holman, a first-team All-American at LSU last year, must sit out the 2015 season without her scholarship release from LSU.

Journey to Omaha
The Huskers are looking to get back to the NCAA Semifinals for the first time since 2008, and it comes with an added motivation this year as the NCAA Championship returns to the CenturyLink Center in Omaha. The last time the NCAA Championship was in Omaha was in 2008, when the Huskers fell to eventual champion Penn State in the NCAA Semifinal. The final was also hosted in Omaha in 2006, when NU beat Stanford to win the NCAA title before 17,209 fans for the program’s third national championship.

Huskers Enter Season Ranked No. 5
Nebraska enters the season ranked tied for fifth in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Nebraska tied Wisconsin with 1,275 points to share the No. 5 spot, the Huskers’ best ranking in the poll since Oct. 29, 2012. The Huskers are scheduled to play 11 of their 30 matches against teams ranked in the preseason top 25, including eight against teams ranked in the top 14. Nebraska also has five more matches scheduled against teams receiving votes. The Huskers have now been ranked in each of the AVCA’s 479 all-time polls, dating back to 1982, joining Stanford as the only teams to be ranked in every poll. Nebraska has been ranked in the top 10 in 426 of those 479 polls, the second-highest total of any team in the country.

Nebraska Picked Second in Big Ten Preseason Poll
The Huskers were picked to finish second by the Big Ten coaches in the conference’s preseason poll. Kadie Rolfzen and Kelsey Fien were named to the 14-member preseason All-Big Ten Team. Both were All-Big Ten performers in 2014, while Rolfzen was a third-team AVCA All-American for the second straight season with Fien earning honorable mention.

Huskers Made Third Straight Elite Eight Run in 2014
Nebraska went 23-10 overall and 14-6 in the Big Ten in 2014, good for a fourth-place finish. The Huskers reached their third straight NCAA regional final, joining Penn State, Stanford and Texas as the only schools to reach the final eight in the past three years. The Huskers also accomplished their nation-leading 20th trip to the Sweet 16 in the last 21 years.

Attendance Leaders Again
The Huskers led the nation in attendance in 2014 for the second straight year. NU’s average of 8,083 fans per match was 1,726 more than runner-up Hawaii and came one year after NU established an attendance record of 8,175. Nebraska also set a new single-match attendance record under the current Bob Devaney Sports Center configuration when 8,585 fans filled the arena as the Huskers defeated No. 3 Penn State on Oct. 3. The Huskers hold an NCAA women’s record 188-match regular-season sellout streak entering the 2015 season.

Rolfzen and Fien Lead Huskers Honors in 2014
Kadie Rolfzen led the Huskers in kills in 2014 with 3.55 per set. A junior from Papillion, Neb., Rolfzen is a two-time AVCA third-team All-American and All-Big Ten selection. She earned the Huskers’ nation-leading 77th AVCA All-America certificate and became the 27th Husker to earn multiple honors in her career last season. Kelsey Fien was an All-Big Ten selection in 2014 and AVCA honorable-mention All-American after a breakout junior year. She produced 3.21 kills per set and posted a team-best .303 hitting percentage in conference play.

Ostrander and Hunter Named 2015 Captains
Senior outside hitter Alicia Ostrander and sophomore setter Kelly Hunter were selected team captains for the 2015 season. Ostrander enjoyed a breakout role in 2014 with 2.49 kills pet set. After the volleyball season, she will join the Nebraska women’s basketball team for their season. A standout at both sports at Gordon-Rushville High School, Ostrander practiced with both teams over the summer. Hunter, a highly touted recruit out of Papillion, Neb., will take over the setter reins after redshirting in 2014 while Mary Pollmiller finished out her career.

Destination Omaha
The NCAA Championship returns to Omaha, Neb., for the third time ever and the third time in the last 10 years. Each of the previous two years, the Huskers have been able to reach the final four, winning the national title over Stanford in 2006 and falling in the NCAA semifinal to Penn State in 2008. Those two matches remain the most attended matches in NCAA volleyball history with 17,430 at the Nebraska vs. Penn State semifinal match in 2008 and 17,209 at the Nebraska vs. Stanford championship match in 2006. The Nebraska vs. UCLA match in the 2006 NCAA semifinal ranks No. 3 all-time (17,014).

2015 Television Schedule Announced
The Nebraska volleyball team will make at least 13 television appearances in the 2015 regular season. The Huskers are officially set to make six national TV appearances, with the possibility of a seventh likely. Nebraska will appear on the Big Ten Network at Penn State (Oct. 2), vs. Michigan State (Oct. 7), at Illinois (Oct. 17) and at Purdue (Nov. 4). The Oct. 24 home match against Wisconsin falls on a BTN Wildcard selection date and is likely to be televised as well. Nebraska’s matches against Texas and Oregon at the VERT Challenge in Austin, Texas on Sept. 4-5 will air on the Longhorn Network. NET Television will also continue its coverage of Nebraska volleyball in 2015 with at least four broadcasts. The in-state network will air home matches against Michigan (Oct. 10), Minnesota (Oct. 23), Rutgers (Oct. 30) and Maryland (Oct. 31). The final three home matches of the regular season – Indiana (Nov. 18), Illinois (Nov. 25) and Penn State (Nov. 28) – are set to be televised by either BTN or NET, which will be determined at a later date.