Lincoln – Ohio State rallied from down 14-11 in the fifth set by scoring five points in a row to upset the No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team 3-2 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday night.

The Huskers dropped to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play, while Ohio State moved to 11-5 and 2-2 in Big Ten action with its second straight win.

Kadie Rolfzen led Nebraska with 20 kills and added eight digs. Kelsey Fien had nine kills off the bench, while Cecilia Hall had eight kills and a season-high nine blocks. Mary Pollmiller had a season-high six kills with 40 assists and nine digs. Amber Rolfzen also had six kills and a season-best six blocks. Annika Albrecht and Justine Wong-Orantes led NU in digs with 18 apiece.

Ohio State had three players with 19 or more kills, led by Elizabeth Campbell’s 23, the most by a Husker opponent this season. Campbell also had a match-high 20 digs. Erin Sekinger added 20 kills, and Katie Mitchell had 19 kills. Taylor Sherwin had 59 assists and 19 digs, and Valeria Leon had 10 assists and 22 digs.

Nebraska hit just .197 on the night, while Ohio State hit .232. The Huskers made up for it with a season-high 18 blocks. Ohio State outdug NU 84-70 and had a 74-54 advantage in set assists.

The Huskers opened up a 12-7 lead in set one, keyed by two kills and two service aces from Kadie Rolfzen. But Ohio State responded with a 5-0 run to tie the set at 12-12. NU reclaimed a 13-12 lead on an Alicia Ostrander kill, and the teams traded points until Ohio State’s Mitchell killed off a block for a 17-16 Buckeye lead. But Pollmiller posted a kill, followed by two from Meghan Haggerty for a 19-17 Husker lead. Ohio State rallied with a 4-0 run to go up 21-19. Ostrander ended it with a swing from the left side, and then Ohio State committed a net violation and a back row block error to give NU a 22-21 lead. But the Buckeyes reeled off three straight points to earn set point at 24-22. Pollmiller snuck a dump kill and then Hall won a battle at the net to level the score again. Tied at 25-25, Albrecht’s kill gave NU set point and a double-stuff block from Kadie Rolfzen and Hall ended the set at 27-25.

The Huskers trailed 4-3 in set two before a 7-0 run put them up 10-4 with Wong-Orantes on the service line. Pollmiller won a tussle at the net to give the Huskers a 14-7 lead, but Ohio State closed the gap with an 8-2 run to get within 17-16. But the Huskers maintained the lead and Hall and Fien’s combined block gave the Huskers set point at 24-22. However, this time it was Ohio State that would rally from a 24-22 deficit to win 27-25, just as the Huskers had done in the first set. Taylor Sandbothe’s kill and a Sekinger/Sandbothe block tied it at 24-24. After Amber Rolfzen’s kill gave the Huskers set point again, Ohio State scored three straight to even the match, culminating with a kill by Mitchell.

The Huskers went up 2-1 in set three on a Kadie Rolfzen kill, and the teams went back-and-forth with the Huskers never able to gain more than a two-point edge early on. Ohio State reclaimed the lead at 18-17 on a kill by Campbell and again at 19-18 on a Sekinger kill, but the Huskers tied it immediately each time on kills by Hall and Kadie Rolfzen, respectively. Pollmiller’s timely dump kill restored a 20-19 Nebraska lead. Another successful attack by Pollmiller made it 22-21 Huskers before Ohio State hit long, giving NU a 23-21 lead. Haggerty’s first service ace of the season gave NU set point at 24-21. After Ohio State cut it to 24-23, the Buckeyes served wide, ending the set.

The Big Red fell behind 7-4 in set four and weren’t able to recover, as the Buckeyes extended the lead to 13-8 on a Sekinger kill and then 19-12 on a Husker attacking error. Ohio State took the 25-17 win, hitting .343 in the set, while the Huskers hit just .179.

In the decisive fifth set, Ohio State grabbed an early 4-0 lead. Fien’s kill finally got the Huskers on the scoreboard, and a block from Hall and Amber Rolfzen cut it to 4-2. Ohio State then hit wide twice, tying the set at 4-4. After an OSU timeout, Amber Rolfzen’s tip kill gave NU a 5-4 lead, but a two-hit call on Pollmiller tied it at 5-5. Kadie Rolfzen slammed one down and then softly touched one over Ohio State’s back row to make it 7-5. Haggerty and Kadie Rolfzen then stuffed Campbell to put NU up 8-5 at the midway point. Kadie Rolfzen hammered down again off a back-row set from Wong-Orantes to make it 9-6 and terminated again for her fourth kill of the set and a 10-6 lead. OSU cut the deficit to 10-9 with two kills by Sandbothe, but Haggerty hit just inside the line, making it 11-9. Later, Haggerty won a net battle for a 13-10 lead. NU grabbed set point at 14-11 but Ohio State answered with three straight to tie it at 14-14. A service ace by Mitchell gave OSU set point at 15-14 and the Buckeyes won the match on Sekinger’s 20th kill of the match.

The Huskers head to Michigan next week to face Michigan State on Friday at 7 p.m. and Michigan on Sunday at Noon.

Lincoln – The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team rallied from a first-set defeat to take the next three sets and beat No. 3 Penn State, 3-1, Friday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Devaney Center crowd of 8,585 – a record under the new seating configuration – did everything it could to spur the Huskers to victory, and Nebraska used the energy to rebound from a 25-12 loss in set one with three straight victories: 25-22, 25-20, 25-23.

The Huskers (9-3, 3-0 Big Ten) posted their first win against a top-five opponent since a 3-0 sweep of No. 5 Washington in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Nebraska had been 0-4 against top-five teams since then. Penn State (14-2, 2-1 Big Ten), the defending national champion, suffered its first loss in four sets since the 2012 NCAA Semifinals.

Kadie Rolfzen led three Huskers with double-digit kills with 13. Alicia Ostrander had 11 kills, and Amber Rolfzen had 10 kills and 10 digs. Meghan Haggerty produced nine kills with just one error for a season-high .421 hitting percentage while adding seven blocks. Freshman Annika Albrecht led NU’s strong defensive effort with a career-high 20 digs, as NU outdug Penn State 64-56. Mary Pollmiller had 38 assists, eight digs, four blocks and four kills on five attacks.

Freshman Ali Frantti had 19 kills and nine digs for the Nittany Lions. Megan Courtney added 11 kills.

The Huskers hit .196 for the match, while Penn State was held to a season-low .191 clip.

Penn State came out of the gate on fire and bolted to a 7-1 lead, hitting .750 in the process. The Nittany Lions built the lead to 15-5 before Nebraska’s second timeout of the set and finished out the 25-12 win. PSU hit .360 in the opening frame, while the Huskers hit -.037, their low hitting mark of the season. NU had seven attacking errors in game one.

The Huskers took their first lead of the match at 4-3 in set two on a kill by Amber Rolfzen after the Huskers had fallen behind 2-0 quickly to start the set. That was part of a 5-0 Husker run, as the Huskers made it 5-3 on a Wong-Orantes service ace, 6-3 on a solo block by Haggerty and 7-3 on a PSU attacking error. But Penn State crept back into it and tied the set at 17-17 after three straight points, forcing a Husker timeout. Out of the timeout, Ostrander smashed a kill and then added a block with Melanie Keil to take a 19-17 lead. An attack error on Penn State then gave NU a 20-17 lead, but the Nittany Lions got within 22-21 on a kill by Courtney. Cecilia Hall produced a huge kill to the middle of the floor for a 24-22 lead, and a block from Haggerty and Amber Rolfzen ended the set at 25-22. NU hit .167 in the set, but more importantly held Penn State to a .100 clip.

NU rode its momentum early in the third set, taking a 5-1 lead with three kills by Amber Rolfzen pacing the Big Red. Penn State rallied to tie it 9-9 on a Frantti kill, but Nebraska answered with three straight points, finished by a Kadie Rolfzen swing to make it 12-9. The Huskers never let their foot off the gas, pulling away from a 20-18 lead with three straight points on a kill by Amber Rolfzen and two by Kadie Rolfzen. Haggerty and Pollmiller’s combined block finished off the 25-20 win. NU hit .366 in set three with 21 kills and just six errors on 41 attacks. Penn State had just two errors on 45 attacks, but the Nittany Lions also had just 12 kills as Nebraska picked up its defense, led by Albrecht’s 11 digs in the set. Her career high for a match entering the night was 12, and she nearly beat that in the third set alone. NU outdug Penn State 24-13 in the pivotal third game.

Penn State claimed the early edge in set four, going up 9-6 on a Nia Grant kill. However, Nebraska won a long rally on a dump by Pollmiller to kickstart a three-point run that tied the set at 9-9, capped by an Amber Rolfzen kill. The Huskers took a 12-10 lead on a PSU hitting error, but the Nittany Lions evened it up at 13-13. Ostrander came up with a huge kill to give the Huskers a 20-19 lead and end Micha Hancock’s serving run. She entered the match as the national leader in service aces but had just one on the evening. Kadie Rolfzen made it a 21-19 lead with a kill, forcing PSU’s last timeout of the set. After drawing within 21-20, the Nittany Lions committed three service errors, including one to close out the match as the Devaney crowd amped up the noise.

The Huskers are back at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday to host Ohio State at 5 p.m. on NET. Ohio State swept Iowa on Friday night in Iowa City.