Huskers Set to Battle Bluejays in Lincoln on Wednesday

MATCH PREVIEW
• The No. 4 Nebraska volleyball team will host No. 16 Creighton on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers will be playing the Bluejays in Lincoln for the first time since 2019. 
• Wednesday’s match is Nebraska’s annual Red Cross match. The Red Cross will be collecting cash and digital donations at each Devaney entrance.
• The Huskers and Bluejays are set for a BTN national television broadcast. The match will be streamed on FoxSports.com and the FoxSports app. Larry Punteney and Emily Ehman will be on the call.  
• The Huskers Radio Network will broadcast all the action on their radio affiliates, including 107.3 FM in Lincoln and AM 590 in Omaha. A live audio stream will be provided at Huskers.com and on the Huskers app. 
• John Baylor is in his 30th season doing play-by-play for the Husker volleyball program. Lauren (Cook) West, a former All-America setter for the Huskers, will provide color commentary.

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska (5-0) has swept all five of its opponents this season, including a 3-0 triumph over Omaha in front of a record-breaking crowd of 92,003 at Memorial Stadium, on Volleyball Day in Nebraska last Wednesday night. 
• The Huskers, who led the nation in defense in 2022, have held their five opponents this season to a combined .037 hitting percentage, which ranks first nationally. All five Husker opponents have hit below .100 this season, which is the first time in the John Cook era that Nebraska has held five straight foes under .100 hitting. 
• The Big Red is averaging 3.13 blocks per set, which ranks fifth in the country. 
• Two-time All-America junior libero Lexi Rodriguez paces the Husker defense with 3.93 digs per set. 
• Freshman outside hitter Harper Murray leads the Husker attack with 3.20 kills per set on .306 hitting, to go with 1.80 digs per set and a team-best six aces. Murray was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Aug. 28 after averaging 3.67 kills per set with a .343 hitting percentage at the Ameritas Players Challenge. 
• Junior opposite hitter Merritt Beason, a Florida transfer, contributes 2.73 kills per set and 1.93 digs per set. 
• Sophomore middle blocker Bekka Allick leads the nation with 1.91 blocks per set. 
• Freshman middle blocker Andi Jackson is off to a strong start as a Husker, averaging 2.58 kills per set on a team-high .581 hitting percentage, which ranks second nationally. Jackson is also contributing 1.50 blocks per set. 
• Freshman setter Bergen Reilly is putting up 8.80 assists and 2.93 digs per set. Reilly became just the second true freshman setter to be a day one starter under John Cook (Nicklin Hames). 
• Nebraska had a successful opening weekend, going 3-0 with three sweeps at the Ameritas Players Challenge. Murray (most outstanding player), Rodriguez and defensive specialist Laney Choboy were all named to the All-Tournament Team.

SCOUTING REPORT: CREIGHTON
• Creighton is off to a 5-1 start with its only loss coming in five sets to Duke. The Bluejays swept No. 20 Purdue on opening weekend. 
• Creighton ranks second nationally in kills per set (15.61) and in digs per set (18.91). 
• Ava Martin leads the team with 4.48 kills per set, while Norah Sis adds 4.13 kills per set. 
• Libero Ellie Bolton is averaging 4.78 digs per set, and setter Kendra Wait paces the Bluejays attack with 11.9 assists per set. Creighton is hitting .253 and allowing opponents to hit .176 this year. 

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 21-0 all-time against Creighton, though two of the matches were in 1980 and the other 19 wins have come since Creighton restarted its program in 1994. The Huskers edged the Bluejays in five sets last year at the CHI Health Center in Omaha. The teams have not played in Lincoln since 2019.  
• John Cook is 18-0 against Creighton all-time as head coach at Nebraska.  

HUSKERS RANKED NO. 4 IN AVCA COACHES POLL
• Nebraska is ranked fourth in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week.
• The Huskers have been ranked in the top 10 a total of 545 times, which is also the most in NCAA history.
• Nebraska has appeared in all 606 AVCA Coaches Polls it has been eligible for since it was established in 1982. Nebraska is the only program to be ranked in every eligible poll all-time.
• Nebraska’s 606 consecutive weeks of being ranked is the longest active streak in Division I for any sport, leading Connecticut women’s basketball and North Carolina women’s soccer.
• Nebraska has been ranked No. 1 in 102 all-time polls, the most in NCAA history. 

AVCA HALL OF FAMER JOHN COOK IN 24TH SEASON AT NEBRASKA
• Nebraska head coach John Cook is in his 24th season as the Nebraska volleyball head coach in 2023. He has led the Huskers to four national championships, 10 final fours, 12 conference championships and 21 top-10 final rankings since 2000. 
• Cook has 822 career wins and is one of the all-time winningest coaches in NCAA history. Since taking over the program in 2000, Cook has led the Huskers to a nation-leading .871 win percentage (661-98). 
• Under Cook, the Huskers have achieved 64 AVCA All-Americans and 20 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, both among the best in the nation. He is a two-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, earning the prestigious honor in 2000 and 2005, and a seven-time conference coach of the year, including Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017, his first and second Big Ten honors with the Huskers in their Big Ten era (2011-present).
• Cook is one of only two active coaches - and one of six all-time - to be a two-time AVCA National Coach of the Year and was honored in 2008 by USA Volleyball, receiving its All-Time Great Coach Award.
• Cook was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2017, joining former Husker volleyball coach Terry Pettit in the hall. 

HUSKER VOLLEYBALL SETS ATTENDANCE RECORDS
• It was a record-breaking night at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 30 when Nebraska hosted Omaha in an outdoor volleyball match. The attendance of 92,003 set a record for the largest crowd to watch a women’s sporting event in the United States. The crowd of more than 92,000 also surpassed what is widely regarded as the world-record attendance for any women’s sporting event.
• The previously recognized world record was 91,648 fans in an UEFA Champions League match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg on April 22, 2022, at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain. The previous record for an American women’s sporting event was 90,185 in USA’s FIFA World Cup Final against China on July 10, 1999, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
• Along with the two records mentioned above, the Huskers shattered a pair of NCAA records, exceeding the previous records for any NCAA volleyball match and an NCAA volleyball regular-season match. 
• Entering the match, the largest-ever crowd for any NCAA volleyball match was 18,755 when Nebraska played Wisconsin in the NCAA Final at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 18, 2021. The largest NCAA volleyball regular-season attendance was 16,833 when Wisconsin hosted Florida at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., on Sept 16, 2022.
• The Husker volleyball program has sold out 306 consecutive regular-season matches. Nebraska’s sellout streak is an NCAA women’s record. The Huskers have led the nation in attendance every season since moving into the Bob Devaney Sports Center in 2013.
• Nine of the top 10 crowds in NCAA volleyball history are matches that have involved the Huskers. 
• Of the 15 largest NCAA volleyball regular-season crowds, 14 have been Nebraska matches.

MURRAY NAMED BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK ON AUG. 28
• Nebraska freshman outside hitter Harper Murray was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Aug. 28 by the conference office.
• In her first collegiate matches, Murray led the Huskers to a 3-0 record at the Ameritas Players Challenge. The Ann Arbor, Mich., native averaged 3.67 kills per set with a .343 hitting percentage. She also posted 2.33 digs per set and totaled six blocks, five aces and four set assists. 
• Murray had nine kills on .350 hitting with five blocks and four digs in her collegiate debut against Utah State. She followed with 10 kills on .389 hitting with seven digs and three aces. Murray finished the weekend with 14 kills on .310 hitting with 10 digs for her first collegiate double-double. 

SEASON PREVIEW
• Nebraska is coming off a 26-6 (16-4 Big Ten) season and second-place finish in the Big Ten. The Huskers advanced to an NCAA regional semifinal, where they lost to Oregon in five sets. NU ended the year at No. 9 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, its 11th straight year finishing in the top 10 of the AVCA poll. 
• Nebraska had a nation-leading opponent hitting percentage of .128 in 2022. Junior libero and co-captain Lexi Rodriguez is back to lead the Huskers defensively once again. Rodriguez is a two-time AVCA All-American and All-Big Ten selection. 
• Sophomore middle blocker Bekka Allick was named to the AVCA All-Region Team in 2022 after finishing her first season as a Husker with 1.89 kills per set, 1.01 blocks per set and a team-high .326 hitting percentage. Allick was an All-Big Ten Second Team and a unanimous All-Big Ten Freshman Team member. 
• Junior opposite hitter Merritt Beason was an All-SEC and AVCA All-Region selection as a sophomore at Florida in 2022 before transferring to Nebraska and being named a team captain for the 2023 season. In her sophomore season at Florida, Beason helped the Gators win a share of the SEC Championship by averaging 3.35 kills per set with a .261 hitting percentage.
• Junior outside hitter Lindsay Krause averaged 2.25 kills per set with a .269 hitting percentage and totaled 44 blocks and 45 digs last season. Over the final 12 matches of the season, Krause averaged 2.72 kills per set with a .359 hitting percentage. 
• Ally Batenhorst posted 2.33 kills per set to go with 1.06 digs per set in 2022. The junior outside hitter was named to the Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team after 15 kills and 12 digs against No. 9 Oregon in the NCAA regional semifinal.