The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team will host Indiana on “White Out” night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. on NET. All fans are encouraged to wear white as the Huskers go for their fourth straight win. Saturday’s matchup marks the first of two between NU and Indiana over the next two weeks, as the Huskers will visit Bloomington on Nov. 19.
The Huskers are 15-7 overall and 9-4 in the Big Ten after a resounding sweep against No. 12 Purdue on Wednesday. The Huskers lost twice to the Boilermakers last year, but turned a dominating defensive effort into a 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 sweep. The Huskers have now swept three straight conference matches for the first time since 2010, when the Huskers won eight Big 12 matches in a row by sweep. John Cook is in his 15th season as head coach at Nebraska and is 428-55 leading the Huskers.
Indiana is 14-11 overall and 5-8 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers fell in five sets at Iowa on Wednesday, marking their second straight loss and seventh in their last nine. The Hoosiers do have three conference road wins over Maryland, Rutgers and Northwestern. Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan is in her eighth season as head coach with a record of 116-137.
Media Information
Saturday’s match will air on NET and stream online with a BTN Plus subscription. The match was not originally scheduled for any TV coverage, but BTN did not select the match for its wildcard pick, so NET was granted the rights to the match. Fans can also listen to the action with John Baylor and Diane Mendenhall 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
Nebraska leads the all-time series with the Hoosiers, 7-1. The Huskers have won seven straight matches against Indiana after dropping the series opener in 1978. NU swept Indiana twice last year – 25-15, 25-16, 25-16 in Lincoln on Oct. 18 – and 25-22, 25-21, 25-11 in Bloomington on Nov. 23.
Up Next
The Huskers play host to Michigan State on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.
Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.58 kills per set and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has 15 or more kills nine times this season. Rolfzen is also second on the team in digs with 2.72 per set.
• Kelsey Fien is second on the team in kills per set with 3.02. Over her last five matches, Fien is averaging 3.69 kills per set and hitting .323.
• Amber Rolfzen adds 2.17 kills per set with 1.82 digs per set and is second on the team in blocks with 59.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Huskers in digs with 3.94 per set and ranks eighth in the Big Ten.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 808 set assists for 10.36 per set to rank fifth in the conference. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 57 blocks to rank third on the team.
• Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten and 15th nationally with 2.90 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is third in the Big Ten with 1.36 blocks per set and tied her career high with 11 against Purdue.
• The Huskers are fourth in the Big Ten in digs with 14.51 per set. The Huskers are 14-1 when outdigging their opponents and 0-4 when getting outdug.
• The Huskers are 10-1 in matches played on Monday through Friday this season, while they are 5-6 in matches played on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Huskers are 230-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook.
• Nebraska is 376-16 when winning the first set under Cook.
• Cook is 141-42 (.770) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just under one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (428) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 213 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 195-18 record during the streak.
Scouting Indiana
The Hoosiers (14-11, 5-8 Big Ten) are led by Amelia Anderson’s 3.12 kills per set. Taylor Lebo adds 2.70 kills per set and has 44 service aces, second most in the Big Ten. Megan Tallman averages 10.20 assists per set to rank sixth in the Big Ten. Awele Nwaeze leads the team in blocks with 1.12 per set, and Courtney Harnish is the team’s top digger with 4.16 per set to rank sixth in the Big Ten.
Pollmiller Named B1G Co-Setter of the Week
Senior setter Mary Pollmiller was named Big Ten Co-Setter of the Week on Nov. 3. The award is the fifth career weekly Big Ten honor for Pollmiller and the first of this season for her or any Husker. Pollmiller led the Huskers to a pair of road sweeps at Rutgers and Maryland over the weekend. The Littleton, Colo., native averaged 11.67 assists per set and tallied seven kills, eight digs and two blocks. Pollmiller had 42 assists in the win against Rutgers, and she added 28 at Maryland with five kills on nine attacks for a .556 attacking percentage, helping the team hit .329 for the match. Pollmiller shared the honor with Wisconsin’s Lauren Carlini.
Heads Up Play
The Husker volleyball team made their way onto SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays on Wednesday, Nov. 5 in the sweep over Purdue. A Boilermaker serve deflected off the net and bounced off Kelsey Fien’s head. Kadie Rolfzen dove in and kept the ball alive with her knee, and Mary Pollmiller was in the right spot at the right time to punch the ball over the net. The Huskers stuffed the ensuing Purdue attack for one of the most remarkable points of the season, earning the Huskers the No. 7 play of the night on ESPN’s SportsCenter.