Husker football takes the field at Memorial Stadium tomorrow night to host Fresno State in the second game of the regular season for both teams. Nebraska comes in off of their 40-7 thrashing of Chattanooga at home, while the Bulldogs fell to Cal 36-21 in San Francisco. Husker head coach Bo Pelini is hopeful that the old coaching cliché that teams improve the most from their first game to their second is true, and says he saw some good signs at practice this week. “I think that we made improvement,” Pelini said. “I thought some areas that I thought we needed to shore up saw improvement in this week, but time will tell. We’ll see how we react on Saturday. We need to play better football, more consistent football, than we did last week.” Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 6 PM.

The North Platte Community College Knights lost to the Northeastern (CO) Junior College Plainswomen in three sets in Sterling, Colorado last night. The Plainswomen took the first two sets by the same 25-21 score before winning the third set 25-17. The loss drops the Knights to 7-6 on the season. They are back in action on Tuesday night, when they travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming to take on Laramie County Community College.

The Colorado Rockies, losers of eight of their last 12 games as the season sputters to its conclusion, open a three-game series at Coors Field tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. The Rockies and Reds split a four-game series in Cincinnati in August. This will be the only meeting between the two teams in Denver, where the Rockies have won ten consecutive matchups. Jhoulys Chacin gets the start on the mound for the Rockies. He’s 11-10 on the season, leading the team in wins. It’s his first start since he was pushed back from his last scheduled outing due to illness. Chacin pitched a complete game in a 2-1 loss to the Reds back on August 11. Chacin will be opposed by Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey, who is 0-2 with an ERA over 7 in four career starts against the Rockies. First pitch in Denver is set for 7:40.

By Hilary Winter, Nebraska Media Relations

Lincoln, Neb.- The No. 11 Nebraska Huskers swept Creighton 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-16) on Thursday night in front of a sold-out crowd at the NU Coliseum to kick off the 2011 Ameritas Player’s Challenge.

The Huskers saw junior Gina Mancuso tally the second double-double of her career, with 12 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Morgan Broekhuis totaled 13 kills for Nebraska, while junior Lauren Cook had 33 assists. Nebraska notched 55 digs, compared to Creighton’s 41 and held the Bluejays to a .053 hitting percentage for the match.

The Huskers battled with the Bluejays in the first set, eventually winning it 25-14. Creighton came out hot as they went up 3-0 on NU. Nebraska came back to tie it up at 5-5 with a huge kill by Mancuso, and a kill by junior Hannah Werth made it 9-6 Nebraska. Werth and senior Jordan Wilberger teamed up three times in the first set for double stuff blocks, giving NU a 2-12 lead on the last one. A service ace by Cook made it 23-14, leading Nebraska to take the first set 25-14.

In the first set Broekhuis led NU with four kills on eight attempts (.500) and three digs. Wilberger, Mancuso and Werth each had three kills, as both Wilberger and Werth also had three block assists. NU held Creighton to a .053 hitting percentage.

The Huskers fought with the Bluejays in the second set, while a kill by Mancuso put NU up 11-8. Creighton came back to tie it up 17-17 and eventually again at 24-24 on an attack error by the Huskers. However, Nebraska outlasted Creighton on the final point as NU took the match 26-24.

Broekhuis had six kills for the Huskers in the second set, while Mancuso totaled five of her own and a hitting percentage of .444. Cook had 15 assists for NU, as Creighton and Nebraska were nearly even in team blocks at two.

In the final set Nebraska took a decisive lead and didn’t look back, going up 11-8 on a kill by Broekhuis. A long rally for both teams ended with a huge kill by Mancuso to put NU up 16-10. Mancuso added a strong punctuation to the match with a kill to make it 20-11. Cook finished the set with a kill, giving NU a 25-16 win and a sweep of Creighton.

With four kills, Mancuso led NU in the third set. Cook tallied seven digs, giving the Huskers a team total of 18 and helping them to hold Creighton to a -.139 hitting percentage.

Nebraska will be back at the Coliseum tomorrow at 7 p.m. for the second day of the Ameritas Players Challenge to take on Saint Mary’s. The Huskers then conclude the tournament on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with a match against Weber State at the Coliseum.

Tomorrow’s action will start with Creighton facing Weber State at 11 a.m.

The North Platte Community College Knights volleyball team swept past McCook Community College at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium last night. The Knights won the first set 25-15 and then thoroughly dominated set two, winning it by a staggering 25-4 score, before cruising to a 25-15 victory in the third set. The Knights attack was led by sophomore Jerrica Lewis from Cambridge and freshman Whitney Smith from Wallace, who each had seven kills. Lewis led the way with 13 service points, while Smith tallied 12. The Knights improve to 7-5 with the victory. They’re back in action tonight on the road, as they head to Sterling, Colorado to face Northeastern Junior College. ESPN Radio 1410 will have all the action, with pregame coverage starting at 6:45 before the first serve at 7.

The full season schedules for the Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball teams were released yesterday. The Husker men will play 18 conference games in their inagural seasons in the Big Ten conference, including 12 games against teams that qualified for last season’s NCAA tournament. The men will play home-and-home against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan State, Illinois and Iowa. Their conference schedule opens December 27 with a home game against the Badgers. The women will play home-and-home against Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Minnesota as part of their 16-game conference slate. Their first conference game takes place December 30 at Penn State. Husker men’s basketball opens their regular season November 11, with the women opening the next day.

Husker Men’s Basketball Schedule (PDF)
Husker Women’s Basketball Schedule (PDF)

Three home runs weren’t enough to power the Colorado Rockies to a series victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. All three homers were solo shots, and the Rockies fell short in a 5-3 loss last night. Going deep for the Rockies were Carlos Gonzalez, pitcher Kevin Millwood, and catcher Wilin Rosario, who hit his first major league homer in his second game with the Rockies. Arizona’s pitcher had an even bigger hit, though. Joe Saunders’ RBI single in the 6th inning gave the D-Backs the lead for good. The Rockies wrap up their season series with the D-Backs having lost thirteen of eighteen games against the team that now leads the National League West by seven games. The Rockies are off tonight and begin a three-game home series with the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow night.