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LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team swept Northwestern 25-20, 25-11, 25-20 on Saturday night in front of 7,958 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Nebraska improved to 20-1 overall and 11-1 in the Big Ten. It marks the best start to a season by a Husker team since the 2008 squad began the season 20-0. The Huskers, who sit atop the Big Ten standings with eight matches remaining, joined the 2011 team as the only Husker squad to win 11 of their first 12 Big Ten matches.
Northwestern dropped to 8-16 overall and 1-11 in Big Ten play.
Kadie Rolfzen had a match-high 11 kills on .500 hitting with five digs and three blocks, while Mikaela Foecke added nine kills on .444 hitting with four blocks. Briana Holman tallied eight kills and a match-high six blocks. Andie Malloy had seven kills.
Kelly Hunter had 29 assists and nine digs. Kenzie Maloney - making her third career start at libero - also had nine digs.
Nebraska outhit the Wildcats .308 to .124 and a had a 7-4 edge in blocks and 37-31 advantage in digs.
Set 1: An ace by Brooke Smith, the first of her two on the night, was part of a 4-0 Husker run that put them ahead 13-7. A pair of kills by Kadie Rolfzen and Malloy made it 17-10. The Wildcats trimmed the Husker lead to 18-15 with a 4-0 spurt, but a Kadie Rolfzen kill ended the run, and Malloy followed to make it 20-15. The Huskers took the 25-20 win by hitting .519 in the first set.
Set 2: Nebraska led from start to finish, and a 4-0 run with a Maloney ace and Amber Rolfzen kill made it 11-5. The Huskers pulled away on Hunter's serve with a 6-0 run that included three kills by Foecke, an ace by Hunter and a stuff block by Kadie Rolfzen and Holman for a 21-9 lead. The final tally was 25-11 - NU's most decisive set in conference play this season - as the Huskers held Northwestern to -.133 hitting and posted four blocks.
Set 3: Nebraska led 11-10 before a Northwestern service error and hitting error made it 13-10. Holman blasted a kill and then combined with both Foecke and Kadie Rolfzen for blocks to help increase the Huskers' lead to 19-12. The Huskers finished off the sweep with the 25-20 win.
Up Next: Nebraska hits the road next week for a match at No. 10 Penn State on Friday at 7 p.m. (CT) on BTN. The Huskers will also play at Rutgers on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT).