Lincoln, Neb. – The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team improved to 3-1 on the season with a 3-1 (25-14, 25-13, 20-25, 25-20) win over the Villanova Wildcats on Friday evening at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. In front of 8,321 fans, the Nebraska Athletic Department also honored former head coach Terry Pettit prior to the match with a special court dedication ceremony.

Kadie Rolfzen made her first career start for the Huskers and posted a match-high 14 kills on 29 swings for a hitting percentage of .345. Kelsey Robinson tallied 13 kills and a team-high 19 digs, while Amber Rolfzen had nine kills. Mary Pollmiller paced the offense with 36 assists, while Cecilia Hall notched four blocks.

Nebraska hit .242 for the match, while Villanova was held to a .145 hitting clip. The Huskers out-blocked Villanova 9-8 and out-dug the Wildcats 67-54.

The Huskers took an early lead in the first set, using a 4-0 run to go up 9-3 on a kill by Pollmiller and force Villanova to call a timeout. The Huskers made it 16-10 on a kill by Robinson, while NU closed out the first set with five straight points to win 25-14.

Kadie Rolfzen tallied five kills in the first set, while Hall and Haggerty both had three kills. Nebraska hit .312 in the set, while Villanova hit just .160.

A kill by Amber Rolfzen put the Huskers up 9-4 in the second set, while NU went on to take a 12-5 lead on an attack error by Villanova. Robinson helped Nebraska to a 20-11 lead, while NU went on to finish out the second set with a 25-13 win.

The Huskers hit at a clip of .636 in the second set, led by Kadie Rolfzen and Robinson, who each had five kills. Pollmiller totaled 10 assists for the set and the Huskers posted two team blocks. Villanova hit just .038 for the set.

NU would open the third set with a 5-0 lead, but the Wildcats would use the momentum to tie the set at 12-12 on an attack error by the Huskers. The two teams exchanged leads, but Villanova went up 18-14 and forced Nebraska to call a timeout. The Huskers fought off Villanova for five set points, but the Wildcats prevailed to win the set 25-20.

Robinson and Fien led NU in the third set with three kills each, but the Huskers hit just .106 as a team. Nebraska out-dug Villanova 24-22, but had only four team blocks to the Wildcat’s five blocks.

Nebraska responded in the fourth set, taking a 5-4 lead on an early error by Villanova. The Wildcats came back to go up 9-6 and force NU to call a timeout, but the Huskers answered as they tied the match at 12-12. Villanova took the lead at 18-16, but Nebraska used three consecutive points to go up 19-18. The Huskers didn’t look back from there, winning the fourth set 25-20.

Kadie Rolfzen and Pollmiller both had four kills in the set. The Huskers hit .154 as a team, while Villanova hit .095. Both team had two blocks each.

 

Nebraska returns to action tomorrow as the Huskers are set to face Georgia at 1 p.m. at the Devaney Center. The match will be streamed on Huskers.com with a HuskersNside subscription.