Huskers Visit Spartans on Wednesday

The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team heads to East Lansing, Mich., for a Wednesday matchup against Michigan State at 6 p.m. (CT). The match will be broadcast online with a BTN Plus ($) subscription.

John Baylor and Diane Mendenhall will have the radio call on Husker Sports Network (107.3 FM in Lincoln and 105.9 FM in Omaha). A free live audio stream and live stats are available at Huskers.com.

Nebraska (20-4, 11-3 Big Ten) has won four straight matches by sweep. Last week, the Huskers swept No. 16 Purdue and Indiana on the road, building on sweeps of Rutgers and Maryland at home on Oct. 30 and 31. At Indiana on Saturday, the Huskers hit .366, their second-best hitting percentage in conference play. Over their last four matches, the Huskers are hitting .336 and holding opponents to .110. Last season, Nebraska started an eight-match win streak on Halloween weekend, also sweeping Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue and Indiana. Nebraska is still third in the Big Ten standings, one match behind Penn State and two behind Minnesota.

Michigan State (14-11, 6-8 Big Ten) is tied for eighth in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans are returning home for the first time since Oct. 24. Michigan State has lost five matches in a row with the last four coming on the road. The Spartans were swept at Minnesota and Wisconsin last weekend.

Series History: Nebraska is 15-2-2 all-time again Michigan State, including a 3-1 (23-25, 25-15, 28-26, 25-15) win in Lincoln on Oct. 7. In that match, the Huskers had eight service aces and 13 blocks while holding the Spartans to .132 hitting. Kadie Rolfzen had 18 kills, while Amber Rolfzen had seven kills and eight blocks. The Huskers have won four straight against the Spartans, including a 3-1 win in East Lansing last year.

Up Next: The Huskers finish their four-match road stretch at Maryland on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT).

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten with a .167 opponent hitting percentage in conference play.
• Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten with 15.92 digs per set overall.
• Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten with 14.30 kills per set overall.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.92 blocks per set in conference play.
• Nebraska ranks third in the Big Ten with a .266 hitting percentage overall.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 1.28 aces per set in conference play.
• Nebraska enters the match having won four straight sweeps. The Huskers have never won five straight Big Ten matches by sweep. The last run of at least five straight sweeps at any point was at the beginning of the 2012 season.
• Two-time All-American Kadie Rolfzen is putting up a team-best 3.28 kills per set along with 2.63 digs per set.
• Libero Justine Wong-Orantes averages 4.60 digs per set, third-most in the Big Ten. Wong-Orantes has 4.92 digs per set in 14 conference matches to rank second in the league.
• Middle blocker Amber Rolfzen leads the team with 116 blocks. Her 1.61 blocks per set is first in the Big Ten and ninth nationally.
• Setter Kelly Hunter guides the Husker attack with 11.34 assists per set to rank third in the Big Ten.
• True freshman outside hitter Mikaela Foecke averages 2.94 kills per set and has won two Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week honors.
• Outside hitter Kelsey Fien, an All-Big Ten performer in 2014, is averaging 2.49 kills per set.
• Senior middle blocker Cecilia Hall is putting up 1.70 kills per set and 1.02 blocks per set on the season.
• Sophomore Annika Albrecht is tied for the Big Ten lead with 30 service aces. She served six aces in a three-set win over Rutgers on Oct. 30, one shy of the school record for aces in a match.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State is hitting .234 for the season and holding opponents to .199. Brooke Kranda leads the team with 3.15 kills per set. Rachel Minarick averages 8.98 assists per set, while Abby Monson adds 3.32 digs per set. Alyssa Garvelink is the team’s top blocker at 1.10 per set.

ROLFZEN ECLIPSES 1,000 CAREER KILLS
Junior outside hitter Kadie Rolfzen became the 21st Husker to reach 1,000 career kills when she did so against Wisconsin on Oct. 24. Rolfzen is just the ninth Husker to do so before her senior season and the first since Jordan Larson as a junior in 2007.

• A two-time third-team All-American, Rolfzen continues to be one of the top six-rotation players in the Big Ten with 3.28 kills and 2.63 digs per set this season.
• Rolfzen earned the first Big Ten Player of the Week award of her career on Nov. 2 after 3.7 kills and 2.5 digs per set vs. Rutgers and Maryland, including a career-best .692 hitting percentage vs. Maryland.
• Rolfzen has a team-high 34 career double-doubles (nine this season) and was the Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 21.
• Rolfzen is a two-time All-Big Ten selection and academic All-Big Ten honoree.

WONG-ORANTES GAINING RECOGNITION
Junior libero Justine Wong-Orantes ranks sixth in school history with 1,249 career digs. Wong-Orantes is in the midst of one of the best defensive seasons by a Husker all-time:

• Wong-Orantes has 396 digs on the season for an average of 4.60 per set, which would be the fourth-best single-season mark in school history. Assistant coach Dani Busboom Kelly holds the school record at 5.04 digs per set in 2006. Current U.S. National Team member Kayla Banwarth holds the other top marks: 4.96 in 2009 and 4.81 in 2010.
• Wong-Orantes has played in every set in 69 consecutive matches dating back to her freshman season in 2013.
• Wong-Orantes surpassed 1,000 career digs at Iowa State on Sept. 19, becoming the fastest Husker to reach 1,000 digs, doing so in just 75 matches.
• Wong-Orantes was named the espnW National Player of the Week after a career-high 30 digs in a comeback win at No. 1 Penn State on Oct. 2.
• Wong-Orantes earned two Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week awards in the month of October, the most recent following 27 digs at Illinois, a career high for a three-set match.

POSITION SWITCH PAYS OFF FOR AMBER ROLFZEN
Junior Amber Rolfzen made a position switch from outside hitter to middle blocker in the offseason, and the return has been significant.

• Rolfzen leads the Big Ten in blocking and ranks fifth nationally with 1.61 blocks per set.
• Rolfzen’s block average is the best by a Husker since Melissa Elmer’s school-record 2.17 in 2005.
• Rolfzen posted at least five blocks in eight straight matches from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23. The last Husker to do that was three-time All-American Melissa Elmer in 2005.
• Rolfzen was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 12 following a pair of eight-block matches along with a season-best 12 kills against Michigan.
• Rolfzen again earned the weekly defensive honor on Nov. 2 after matching her season high of eight blocks against Maryland, averaging 2.0 blocks per set in sweeps of the Terrapins and Rutgers.

HUSKERS TURN TO SOPHOMORE SETTER HUNTER
Redshirt sophomore Kelly Hunter coordinates the Husker attack with 11.34 assists per set. The Papillion, Neb., native - who was high school teammates with Husker twins Kadie and Amber Rolfzen - has helped the Huskers play at a faster tempo this season and has the Huskers hitting .266 on the season after hitting .236 in 2014. Although she played sparingly in 16 matches as a freshman in 2013, Hunter is seeing the first regular match action of her career after redshirting last year behind senior Mary Pollmiller. Hunter’s impact was felt immediately as the season began:

• Hunter was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week on Aug. 31 and the Nebraska Invitational MVP on opening weekend after a 50-assist, 11-dig, eight-kill performance against Pittsburgh.
• Hunter had a career-high 57 assists and nine kills in a 3-2 comeback win against Oregon on Sept. 5.
• Hunter has notched 50 or more assists five times this season.
• Hunter has seven double-doubles this season, including two last weekend against Minnesota and Wisconsin.

FRESHMAN FOECKE MAKES INSTANT IMPACT
True freshman Mikaela Foecke, PrepVolleyball.com’s No. 2 recruit, has been an impact player for the Huskers since the beginning of the season. Foecke is second on the team in kills per set (2.94) and service aces (18).

• Foecke is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, earning the honor in back-to-back weeks on Sept. 14 and Sept. 21. Her first honor came after hitting .632 vs. Georgia Tech with 12 kills and no errors. Her second honor came following 13 kills and four digs in back-to-back matches at Creighton and Iowa State.
• Foecke had a career-high 22 kills in a 3-2 comeback win at Penn State on Oct. 2.
• After switching from the right side to her more natural left side, Foecke recorded six consecutive matches of double-digit kills from Sept. 5 to Sept. 19.
• Foecke served five aces in back-to-back sweeps at Northwestern and Illinois on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17.