VB Preview: at #4 Penn State & Maryland

MATCH PREVIEW
• The No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team finishes the regular season on the road this weekend with a second straight Big Ten championship on the line. 
• The Huskers will battle the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday at 4 p.m. (CT) at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. That match will be televised on Big Ten Network with Michelle McMahon and Emily Ehman on the call. 
• Nebraska sits atop the Big Ten standings with an 18-0 conference record, while Penn State is in second place at 17-1 entering a Wednesday night match at Rutgers. A win at Rutgers would put Penn State at 18-1 heading into its final match of the season against Nebraska. The Huskers could clinch their second straight outright Big Ten title with a win over the Nittany Lions on Friday. 
• Nebraska will then head to College Park, Md., for a 6 p.m. (CT) match against the Maryland Terrapins at the XFINITY Center. That match will also air on BTN with Jack Kizer and Audrey Flaugh calling the match. 
• Nebraska has never played in Maryland’s 17,950-seat XFINITY Center main arena. In fact, this will be Maryland’s first match in the main arena since Oct. 26, 2019. Maryland’s attendance record of 4,522 was set in 2014 when Maryland hosted Penn State. 
• Huskers Radio Network with John Baylor and Lauren (Cook) West will broadcast all the action on their volleyball affiliate stations, on Huskers.com and on the Huskers App. 

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska is seeking its 36th all-time conference championship and fifth Big Ten championship. Since joining the Big Ten in 2011, the Huskers have been crowned Big Ten champions in 2011, 2016, 2017 and 2023. 
• John Cook is aiming for his 14th conference title in his 25th year as head coach at Nebraska. 
• Nebraska has won 25 matches in a row since a 3-0 loss at SMU on Sept. 3. Of those 25 wins, 20 have been sweeps. 
• The Huskers won 27 matches in a row last season, which was their longest win streak since winning 28 in a row spanning 2015-16. NU won 29 matches in a row in 2002 and again in 2006-07. John Cook’s longest win streak at Nebraska was 36 matches at the start of his career from 2000-01. 
• Nebraska is 7-0  against top-10 teams this season, which is the most top-10 wins in a regular season in school history. 
• Nebraska is 11-0 against ranked foes this season, as SMU was not in the AVCA Top 25 at the time of that match. 
• Since the Sept. 3 loss at SMU, Nebraska has won 27 straight sets on the road. 
• The Huskers rank eighth nationally and first in the Big Ten with a team hitting percentage of .295.
• The Huskers rank 12th nationally and first in the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage at .155. NU led the nation in opponent hitting percentage in 2022 and 2023. 
• Nebraska ranks seventh nationally in kills per set (14.39).
• Outside hitter Harper Murray is leading the Huskers with 3.29 kills per set and a team-high 27 service aces and is hitting .257. Murray also adds 2.28 digs per set. 
• Opposite hitter Merritt Beason is averaging 3.00 kills per set for the Big Red with 1.26 digs per set and 24 aces. 
• Middle blocker Andi Jackson is averaging 2.63 kills per set with a .445 hitting percentage, which ranks fourth in the nation.
• Middle blocker Rebekah Allick adds 1.79 kills per set on .355 hitting with 1.29 blocks per set. Allick has moved into the top 10 in school history in career blocks with 369. 
• Setter Bergen Reilly is averaging 11.20 assists per set, which ranks seventh in the nation and leads the Big Ten. She also adds 2.91 digs per set and has 20 aces. Reilly has 14 double-doubles and has been named Big Ten Setter of the Week five times this season, a school record. 
• Three-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Lexi Rodriguez guides the Husker back row with 3.80 digs per set. Rodriguez recently passed Kayla Banwarth for No. 2 all-time in career digs at Nebraska. Rodriguez now has 1,789 and is chasing Justine Wong-Orantes (1,890).  

SCOUTING REPORT: PENN STATE
• No. 4 Penn State enters a Wednesday match at Rutgers at 27-2 overall and 17-1 in Big Ten play. 
• Under third-year head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, the Nittany Lions have already won their most matches in a season since going 33-2 in 2017. 
• Penn State has won 19 matches in a row at Rec Hall dating back to Nebraska’s 3-2 reverse sweep win last year on Nov. 3.
•  Jess Mruzik, a second-team All-American in 2023, leads Penn State with 4.28 kills per set and is hitting .260 with 2.37 digs per set. 
• Camryn Hannah adds 3.59 kills per set on .291 hitting. 
• Freshman setter Izzy Starck is averaging 11.00 assists per set in guiding Penn State to a .289 hitting percentage. 

SCOUTING REPORT: MARYLAND
• Maryland enters a Friday night match at Rutgers with a 13-16 overall record and 4-14 mark in Big Ten action. 
• Samantha Schnitta leads the country with 81 service aces this season. She also paces the Terrapins offensively with 3.37 kills per set. 
• As a team, Maryland leads the Big Ten and ranks eighth nationally with 2.00 aces per set. 

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 28-11 all-time against Penn State and has won the last seven matches. The Huskers are 14-1 against the Nittany Lions since 2015. 
• In the last meeting between the teams on Nov. 3, 2023 at Rec Hall, Penn State won the first two sets 25-15 and 25-23, but Nebraska answered 25-18, 25-20, 15-13 to win the match. Merritt Beason had a career-high 27 kills and hit .426, and Harper Murray had 15 kills and hit .379. 
• Nebraska is 19-0 all-time against Maryland. The teams only played once last year with Nebraska winning 3-0 in Lincoln on Oct. 27. The only time the Huskers have played at Maryland in the last four season was Oct. 2, 2022, a 3-1 Husker win. 

SERVE AND PASS
• Nebraska has allowed just 58 service aces this season, which leads the nation. The next closest team is Pittsburgh with 67 aces allowed.

BALANCED ATTACK
• Nebraska has seven different players averaging between 1.79 and 3.29 kills per set.
• Six different players have led the Huskers in kills in a match this season.
• Setter Bergen Reilly ranks seventh nationally averaging 11.20 assists per set. 
• Nebraska’s attack has been one of the best in the nation this season. The Huskers rank eighth in hitting percentage (.295) and seventh in kills per set (14.39). 

HOME SWEET HOME
• Nebraska has won 41 home matches in a row dating back to Dec. 1, 2022, which is the longest active streak in the nation. 
• The Huskers’ home win streak is its longest since moving into the Devaney Center in 2013. 
• Nebraska’s longest all-time home win streak was 88 matches from 2004-09. 

RODRIGUEZ AMONG ALL-TIME GREAT NU LIBEROS
• Lexi Rodriguez is in her final year of a stellar career as the Huskers’ libero. A four-year starter and a three-year team captain, Rodriguez will go down in history as one of the all-time greats in Nebraska volleyball history. 
• Rodriguez has 1,789 career digs entering Friday’s match, which ranks No. 2 in school history. U.S. Olympian Justine Wong-Orantes is the career leader in digs at NU with 1,890. 
• On Sept. 30, Rodriguez was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. She averaged 4.71 digs per set in the first weekend of conference play, helping the Huskers hold UCLA and USC to season-low hitting percentages at the time. 
• On Nov. 11, Rodriguez earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for the seventh time in her career, as she averaged 4.17 digs per set to help the Huskers to strong defensive performances in sweeps at No. 12 Oregon and Washington. 
• Rodriguez is a three-time AVCA All-American, earning first-team honors in 2021 and 2023, and second-team honors in 2022. She will look to join Kadie Rolfzen (2013-16) and Sarah Pavan (2004-07) as the only four-time All-Americans in program history. 
• Rodriguez made her mark instantly as a freshman in 2021, earning AVCA National Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Over the last two seasons, Rodriguez has guided the Huskers to the No. 1 defense in the country, earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year again in 2023 to become the fifth player in Big Ten history to receive the honor twice in a career. 

BEASON BACK TO LEAD HUSKER ATTACK AGAIN
• Opposite hitter Merritt Beason is providing 3.00 kills per set this season with 24 aces. 
• Beason put together a sensational season in 2023 - her first as a Husker after transferring from Florida - earning AVCA first-team All-America honors and AVCA North Region Player of the Year, becoming just the second Husker (Kelly Hunter) to earn that honor. 
• In 2023, Beason averaged a team-leading 3.76 kills per set on .282 hitting with 2.05 digs per set. She was named Big Ten Player of the Week four times and was the AVCA National Player of the Week on Oct. 23 after averaging 4.25 kills per set and 1.75 digs per set in wins against Northwestern and top-ranked Wisconsin. 
• Beason was the MVP of the NCAA Lincoln Regional after 19 kills, 11 digs and a career-high eight blocks in a regional final win over Arkansas. 

VERSATILE MURRAY HIGHLIGHTS SOPHOMORE CLASS
• Sophomore outside hitter Harper Murray is the team leader in kills with 3.29 per set and adds 2.28 digs per set and 27 aces, the most on the team.
• Along with Bergen Reilly, Andi Jackson and Laney Choboy, Murray made an instant impact at Nebraska in 2023, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, AVCA North Region Freshman of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team and AVCA All-America Third Team honors. 
• Murray finished her freshman campaign with 3.23 kills per set, the highest kills per set average by a Husker freshman since Kadie Rolfzen (3.46) in 2013. One of the Big Ten’s best six-rotation players, Murray also added 2.07 digs per set with a team-high 36 aces. She was a three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week. 

REILLY SETS THE TONE
• Sophomore setter Bergen Reilly ranks seventh nationally with 11.20 assists per set this season, and she has 14 double-doubles.
• Reilly was the Big Ten Setter of the Year in 2023, becoming the first freshman to win the award since it originated in 2012. Reilly was also an AVCA second-team All-American and an All-Big Ten first-team selection. 
• Reilly led all Big Ten setters with 10.51 assists per set in 2023, and she has received nine career Big Ten Setter of the Week honors, including five this season on Sept. 2, Sept. 16, Oct. 14, Nov. 18 and Nov. 25. 
• Reilly was named Best Setter at the season-opening AVCA First Serve Showcase in Louisville, Ky., as she guided the Huskers to a 3-1 win over No. 9 Kentucky with 39 assists and 11 digs. 

JACKSON IN ACTION
• Sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson has elevated her game to new heights in 2024, as she is averaging 2.63 kills per set with a .445 hitting percentage, which ranks fourth in the nation. 
• Jackson was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 28 after averaging 1.57 blocks per set in wins against Illinois and Michigan, along with 3.00 kills per set on a .417 hitting percentage. 
• Jackson showed enormous athleticism and potential the first time she stepped on the floor as a Husker, and she followed through with a strong debut season that included AVCA All-Region, All-Big Ten Second Team, and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. 
• Jackson averaged 2.01 kills per set and 1.09 blocks per set with a .399 hitting percentage in 2023, which ranked third in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation. Her hitting percentage was the best ever by a Husker freshman and ranked seventh all-time in the rally scoring era. 
• Along with Reilly, Jackson helped the U.S. U21 National Team win the gold medal at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Toronto this summer, hitting .654 throughout the tournament with 39 kills and 10 blocks. 

ALLICK BRINGS THE BLOCK
• Junior middle blocker Rebekah Allick is putting up 1.29 blocks per set so far this season. Offensively, she has provided 1.79 kills per set on .355 hitting. 
• Allick’s career 1.27 blocks per set ranks No. 3 in school history in the rally scoring era. 
• Allick has 369 career blocks entering Friday’s match, which ranks 10th in school history. 
• In the season-opening victory over Kentucky, Allick had 11 kills and hit .667 while tying her career high with 12 blocks. Her performance earned her Best Middle Blocker and Most Valuable Player honors at the AVCA First Serve Showcase. She averaged 1.90 blocks per set in the first three matches of the season, which earned her Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
• Allick was again named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 7 after 2.00 blocks per set in sweeps at Illinois and vs. Iowa. 
• Allick is a two-time AVCA All-Region and All-Big Ten second-team selection. Last season, she averaged 1.76 kills per set with a team-high 1.50 blocks per set, which ranked second among Big Ten players and seven in the nation. Her 1.50 blocks per set was also the No. 2 mark in school history in the rally scoring era. 
• Allick was at her best at the end of the 2023 season, registering a career-high 12 blocks in the NCAA regional final win over Arkansas and 10 blocks in the NCAA semifinal sweep of Pittsburgh. 

FRONT ROW DEPTH    
• Front row depth is one of the strengths for the 2024 Nebraska volleyball team.
• While middle blockers Andi Jackson and Rebekah Allick have started most of the matches at that position, Leyla Blackwell, a transfer from San Diego, has played in 12 matches and made four starts and is putting up 2.45 kills per set on a .444 hitting percentage with 1.35 blocks per set. 
• Blackwell had nine kills and seven blocks and hit .600 earning the start on Oct. 12 vs. Rutgers. She also had seven kills and three blocks and hit .429 while stepping in for a sidelined Andi Jackson at Illinois on Oct. 3. 
• On the pin, Taylor Landfair has started 17 matches and Lindsay Krause has started 12 matches.
• Landfair, a senior transfer from Minnesota, is averaging 2.58 kills per set and had 13 kills in the 3-0 win at Wisconsin on Nov. 1, which tied her season high. She also had 13 kills against UCLA on Sept. 27 and at Oregon on Nov. 7. 
• In her senior season, Krause is averaging 2.40 kills per set and has 15 service aces. 
• Krause was instrumental in Nebraska’s 3-2 win over No. 9 Creighton on Sept. 10 with a team-high 17 kills, five blocks and six digs. She also had 13 kills in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Aug. 30 and nine kills in a sweep of Stanford on Sept. 18. 

HALL OF FAME COACH COOK IN YEAR 25 AT NU    
• Nebraska head coach John Cook is in his 25th season as the Nebraska volleyball head coach in 2024. He has led the Huskers to four national championships, 11 final fours, 13 conference championships and 22 top-10 final rankings since 2000. 
• Cook has 878 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 .877 win percentage (717-101). 
• On Sept. 10, 2024, the Huskers defeated No. 9 Creighton 3-2 for Cook’s 695th win at Nebraska, which moved him past Terry Pettit for most wins all-time as the Nebraska volleyball head coach. 
• Under Cook, the Huskers have achieved 68 AVCA All-Americans and 20 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, both among the best in the nation. He is a three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, earning the prestigious honor in 2000, 2005 and 2023, and an eight-time conference coach of the year, including Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2016, 2017 and 2023.
• In 2023, Cook was voted AVCA National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading a young Nebraska team with no seniors to its first Big Ten title since 2017. The Huskers finished the regular season 28-1 overall, their best regular season record since going 28-1 in 2005. After going 26-6 last year and missing the NCAA regional finals for the first time since 2011, the Huskers started over with a starting lineup featuring four true freshmen and a junior transfer (Beason). Cook’s Huskers won their first 27 matches of the season and held the No. 1 ranking from Oct. 23 through the end of the regular season. Despite having no seniors on the roster for just the second time in Cook’s time at Nebraska - as well as starting a true freshman at setter for only the second time in Cook’s tenure - the Huskers earned the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and the sixth time overall under Cook.
• Cook was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2017, joining former Husker volleyball coach Terry Pettit in the hall.

THREE HUSKERS SELECTED IN PVF DRAFT
• Nebraska seniors Merritt Beason, Lindsay Krause and Leyla Blackwell were selected in the 2024 Pro Volleyball Federation Draft on Nov. 25. 
• Beason was selected No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Vibe, who traded with the Indy Ignite to select Beason with the first pick. The Atlanta Vibe are coached by former Husker Kayla Banwarth, who was hired in July. 
• Krause was selected by the Omaha Supernovas in the third round with the No. 19 overall pick. A Papillion, Neb. native, Krause will play for her hometown team after a four-year career at Nebraska.
• Blackwell was picked by the San Diego Mojo in the fourth round with the No. 26 overall pick. A San Diego native, Blackwell came to Nebraska this year after three seasons at San Diego.