Huskers Set to Face Long Beach State on Saturday

MATCH PREVIEW
• The No. 4 Nebraska volleyball team welcomes Long Beach State back to the Devaney Center this Saturday for a 7 p.m. matchup. The two teams played last year at the Devaney Center with Nebraska winning 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-14). 
• Saturday’s match will be televised on Nebraska Public Media and streamed on B1G+ (subscription required). Larry Punteney and Nancy Metcalf 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 (6-0) has won its first six matches of the season for the fifth year in a row. The Huskers started 7-0 in 2022, 6-0 in 2021, 6-0 in 2020-21, and 7-0 in 2019. 
• Nebraska was the last NCAA Division I program to drop a set this season when Creighton won set three of NU’s 3-1 win on Sept. 6. The Huskers had opened the season with 17 consecutive set wins. 
• The Huskers, who led the nation in defense in 2022, have held their six opponents this season to a combined .052 hitting percentage, which ranks first nationally. The first five Husker opponents hit below .100, while Creighton managed to hit .109 on Wednesday in a 3-1 Husker win. 
• The Big Red is averaging 3.00 blocks per set, which ranks 11th in the country. 
• Two-time All-America junior libero Lexi Rodriguez paces the Husker defense with 3.84 digs per set. 
• Freshman outside hitter Harper Murray leads the Husker attack with 3.05 kills per set on .301 hitting. 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 3.05 kills per set and 1.89 digs per set. 
• Sophomore middle blocker Bekka Allick ranks ninth nationally with 1.64 blocks per set. 
• Freshman middle blocker Andi Jackson is off to a strong start as a Husker, averaging 2.25 kills per set on a team-high .500 hitting percentage, which ranks 12th nationally. Jackson is also contributing 1.50 blocks per set. 
• Freshman setter Bergen Reilly is putting up 9.16 assists and 2.89 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: LONG BEACH STATE
• Long Beach State (3-3) opened the season with a 3-1 upset of then-No. 1 Texas in Long Beach. The Beach were then swept by Loyola Marymount before bouncing back with a 3-1 win over Indiana. LBSU proceeded to lose to Washington and UCLA by 3-1 scores before sweeping Omaha on Thursday night (25-21, 25-16, 25-21) in the Beach’s first road match of the season. 
• Setter Zayna Meyer was a preseason All-Big West selection. Meyer has averaged 9.68 assists and 2.41 digs per set so far this season. 
• Katie Kennedy averages 2.59 kills per set and is hitting .298. Elise Agi contributes 2.90 kills per set in 10 sets played this season.  
• Libero Savana Chacon leads the team with 4.18 digs per set and nine aces this year. 
• The Beach are hitting .180 this season and allowing opponents to hit .209. 
• Tyler Hildebrand is in his second year as head coach at Long Beach State, his alma mater. Hildebrand was an assistant coach for Nebraska’s 2017 NCAA Championship team and returned as an associate head coach in 2020-21. 

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska swept Long Beach State last year in Lincoln to improve to 5-4 in the all-time series. Long Beach State last beat the Huskers on Sept. 1, 2001, 3-1 in Long Beach.

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 823 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 (662-98). 
• 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 307 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.
• On Sept. 6, Nebraska broke its Devaney Center attendance record since the arena was reconfigured for volleyball in 2013. A crowd of 8,656 turned out to see the Nebraska-Creighton match. Over the summer, 402 seats were added to the Devaney Center, increasing the capacity to 8,309. 

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.