Huskers Fall to No. 19 Ohio State, 3-1

Lincoln, Neb. - The top-ranked Nebraska volleyball team dropped its first match of the season Saturday night to No. 19 Ohio State, 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 13-25) at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers (12-1, 3-1 Big Ten), the only unbeaten team remaining in Division I entering the match, had their 28-match win streak come to an end at the hands of the Buckeyes (12-4, 2-2 Big Ten), who have beaten the Big Red in the last three meetings. 

Kadie Rolfzen had 13 kills and six digs for the Huskers. Amber Rolfzen had eight kills, seven blocks and five digs. Kelly Hunter had 36 assists, five blocks and five digs. Justine Wong-Orantes had 18 digs, passing Jennifer Saleaumua for the second-most in NU career history with 1,578. She now trails only Kayla Banwarth's 1,706 career digs. 

Ohio State got 11 kills from its setter Taylor Hughes in addition to her 41 assists and eight digs. Luisa Schirmer had a team-high 16 kills with 12 digs. All-American Taylor Sandbothe had 12 kills and nine blocks. 

The Buckeyes outhit NU .273 to .175 and had a 62-53 advantage in digs.  

Set 1: Both teams struggled to find their serves in the first set, as they combined for eight errors early in the set. Nebraska rallied from a 10-9 deficit to go up 12-10 with a kill by Kadie Rolfzen and a block by Kadie and Amber Rolfzen. Kills by Andie Malloy and Hunter, as well as an ace by Annika Albrecht, put NU ahead 17-12 via a 4-0 run. Hunter was in on back-to-back blocks as the Huskers extended the lead to 19-13, forcing Ohio State's second timeout. Sydney Townsend continued the run after the timeout with an ace, and the Huskers won a rally that included some incredible digs and culminated in a stuff by Hunter and Briana Holman that made it 21-13, bringing the Devaney Center crowd of 8,368 to its feet. Nebraska finished off the set in front, 25-17. The Huskers hit .286 and held Ohio State to .000. 

Set 2: NU took an 8-4 lead after a 5-0 run that included two Hunter/Amber Rolfzen blocks and a Hunter kill. The Buckeyes fought back to within 10-9 before another kill by Hunter sparked a 3-0 spurt that put Nebraska back in front by four, 13-9. But Ohio State cut it to 14-13 with back-to-back kills by Sandbothe and Hughes. The Buckeyes claimed the lead at 17-15 on back-to-back kills by Hughes and one by Madison Smeathers. The Huskers evened the set at 18-18 after a block by Mikaela Foecke and Holman, but Ohio State went right back in front with a pair of kills for a 20-18 lead. Ohio State closed out the set with a 25-21 win to level the match.   

Set 3: A Kadie Rolfzen kill put the Huskers ahead 5-3 before Ohio State ran off three straight points to take a 6-5 lead. The Buckeyes took a 15-13 lead into the media timeout, but afterward Amber Rolfzen and Foecke smashed kills after a Buckeye service error to put NU on top 16-15. Ohio State scored the next two to go up 17-16 and pushed the margin to two at 21-19 on Hughes' ninth kill. The Buckeyes pulled away down the stretch to win 25-21, finishing the set on a 10-5 run. While NU hit .312 in the set, Ohio State hit .536 with 18 kills.  

Set 4: Ohio State, with all the momentum on its side, never trailed in the fourth set and pulled away for the 25-13 win. In the final frame, the Buckeyes hit .346 and limited the Huskers to -.057. Ohio State had five blocks in the set, including one solo and four assisted by Sandbothe.  

Up Next: The Huskers are home for a pair of matches next weekend. NU hosts Indiana on Friday at 7 p.m. on NET, and Purdue on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN2.