Huskers Visit Big Ten Newcomers
The 14th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team heads to the East Coast this weekend to battle the two Big Ten newcomers, Rutgers and Maryland. The Huskers will face Rutgers on Halloween on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) in Piscataway, N.J. Nebraska will then head down the coast to take on Maryland on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) in College Park, Md.
The Huskers are 12-7 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten, putting them sixth in the Big Ten standings at the midway point. NU is coming off a split of its Big Ten matches last week, the fourth straight week the Big Red has won its first match of the week and dropped its second. Nebraska came back from an 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 at No. 25 Minnesota last Wednesday. The Huskers were swept at No. 5 Wisconsin on Sunday. John Cook is in his 15th season as head coach at Nebraska and is 425-55 leading the Huskers.
Rutgers (7-16, 0-10 Big Ten) enters the week in last place in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights dropped a pair of 3-2 matches to Maryland last week. Rutgers was swept in its first eight Big Ten matches before playing Maryland. CJ Werneke is in his seventh year at the helm.
Maryland enters Friday’s match against Iowa 9-12 overall and 2-8 in the Big Ten, placing them 12th in the league standings. Both wins came in five sets against Rutgers last week, snapping an 11-match losing streak after the Terrapins started the season 7-1. Former Penn State assistant Steve Aird is in his first year as head coach.
Media Information
Friday’s match at Rutgers will be streamed online with a BTN Plus subscription. Saturday’s match at Maryland will not have a broadcast available. Fans can also listen to the action with John Baylor and Lindsay Peterson on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and The Wolf 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans inside and outside the state of Nebraska will also be able to catch the live audio feed on Huskers.com for free. Live stats will be available at Huskers.com as well.
Series History
Rutgers won the only meeting between the teams back on Dec. 8, 1978, 2-0 (16-14, 16-8). Rutgers is the only Big Ten school the Huskers have never beaten.
Nebraska is 3-0 all-time against Maryland. The Huskers last beat the Terrapins, 3-0, on Sept. 12, 2004 in Lincoln.
Up Next
Nebraska now returns home for four straight matches beginning Wednesday, Nov. 5 against Purdue.
Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.46 kills per set and ranks seventh in the Big Ten. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has 15 or more kills eight times this season. Rolfzen is also second on the team in digs with 2.76 per set.
• Alicia Ostrander is second on the team with 2.92 kills per set and is averaging 3.00 kills per set in Big Ten play. Ostrander has double-digit kills in eight of the last 11 matches.
• Kelsey Fien is third on the team in kills per set with 2.80. After not playing against Northwestern and Illinois, Fien came off the bench last week and averaged 3.29 kills per set and hit .333. Her play sparked the Huskers’ 3-2 comeback win at Minnesota.
• Amber Rolfzen adds 2.15 kills per set with 1.87 digs per set. Rolfzen had a career-high 18 digs along with seven kills and a season-high seven blocks in the win at Minnesota.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.91 per set and ranks eighth in the Big Ten.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 705 set assists for 10.22 per set to rank fifth in the conference. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 50 blocks to rank second on the team.
• The Huskers are second in the Big Ten in digs with 14.72 per set. The Huskers are 12-1 when outdigging their opponents and 0-4 when getting outdug.
• Nebraska ranks third in the Big Ten and 19th nationally with 2.81 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is fourth in the Big Ten with 1.25 blocks per set.
• The Huskers are 8-1 in matches played on Monday through Friday this season, while they are 4-6 in matches played on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Huskers are 229-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook.
• Nebraska is 373-16 when winning the first set under Cook.
• John Cook is 140-42 (.769) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just under one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (425) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 212 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 194-18 record during the streak.
Scouting Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights are led by their libero, Ali Schroeter, who is fifth in the Big Ten in digs with 4.28 per set. Meme Fletcher leads the team with 2.59 kills per set but is hitting .095. She also leads the team with 23 aces to rank fifth in the Big Ten. Rutgers ranks last in the league in hitting percentage (.142) and kills (10.76 per set).
Scouting Maryland
Maryland is led by Ashleigh Crutcher’s 3.54 kills per set, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten. Crutcher is hitting .203. Hailey Murray hits .280 and averages 1.88 kills per set along with 1.00 blocks per set. Setter Carlotta Oggioni is averaging 7.03 assists per set, while Whitney Craigo adds 2.71 assists per set. Amy Dion leads the team with 3.53 digs per set. The Terrapins rank 13th in the league in hitting percentage (.153) and kills (10.96 per set). Maryland’s best player, senior Adreené Elliott, had season-ending knee surgery after posting 3.93 kills per set through the first seven matches. She was third in the Big Ten in kills at the time.