Lincoln – The seventh-ranked Nebraska volleyball team fell to No. 3 Stanford, 3-0, in front of 8,562 fans at the Devaney Center in the final game of the AVCA Showcase on Sunday.

Stanford (2-0) led most of the way in each of the first two sets and won both by identical 25-17 scores. The Huskers (0-2) jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the third set before Stanford took 13 of the next 17 rallies to go up 19-14 en route to a 25-19 win in the third and final game.

Junior Kelsey Fien led the Huskers with nine kills, while Mary Pollmiller and Alicia Ostrander each had five kills. Pollmiller’s five kills came on 11 attacks for a team-best .364 hitting percentage, and she added 24 assists. Freshman Annika Albrecht had 10 digs, as did sophomore Amber Rolfzen.

Jordan Burgess led three Stanford players with double-digit kills with a match-high 14. She also had 12 digs. Morgan Boukather added 13 kills and 18 digs, while Inky Ajanaku posted 10 kills and hit .500 to lead the Cardinal to a team hitting percentage of .365. The Huskers hit just .131 on the afternoon but committed 10 fewer errors than the 26 on Friday against Florida State. Madi Bugg had 46 of Stanford’s 53 assists and was successful four times on her five attacks.

The Huskers posted the first point of the match, but Stanford responded with three straight to go up 3-1 and never let the Huskers even up the set the rest of the way. NU cut the Cardinal lead to 9-8 on a kill by Ostrander and a Stanford error. But the Cardinal went on a 6-0 run to go up 15-8 after four straight attacking errors from the Huskers. Stanford built the lead to 20-10, but Nebraska tried to build momentum heading into set two with back-to-back kills by Ostrander and Amber Rolfzen to get within 24-17 before Stanford’s Boukather finished off the game. Seven of the Huskers’ 16 attack errors in the match came in the first set.

In set two, Stanford built an 8-5 lead before Fien and Pollmiller sandwiched kills around a Stanford error to even the set at 8-8. But an NU service error and kill by Boukather put Stanford back on top 10-8. Soon after, Kadie Rolfzen recorded a kill and another Cardinal attacking error tied the set at 12-12. But just like the previous time NU evened up the set, Stanford responded quickly with three points this time to go up 15-12. The Huskers were never able to get closer than three points the rest of the set as Stanford hit .450 in set two for the 25-17 win.

Freshman Sydney Townsend served the Huskers into a 3-2 lead in the third set with an ace, and Stanford hit into the net to put NU up 4-2. After a kill by Stanford, Albrecht posted a kill and the Cardinal hit into the net again to give NU a 6-3 lead to force a Stanford timeout and bring the Devaney Center crowd into the match. Stanford crept back to within 7-5 on a McGehee kill, but the Huskers took three of the next four rallies for a 10-6 lead. NU maintained the four-point edge at 12-8, but Stanford put together a 5-0 run to claim a 13-12 lead. A service error by Stanford evened the game at 13-13, but the Cardinal pulled away with six points in the next seven rallies for a 19-14 lead. Burgess had two kills during the run. The Huskers could get no closer than three points the rest of the way as the Cardinal finished off the match with a 25-19 win in game three.

The Huskers will hit the road for the first time this season at the Flyer-Raider Invitational next weekend in Dayton, Ohio. NU will play at Dayton on Friday at 6 p.m. (Central) and then face CSU Bakersfield at 10 a.m. and Eastern Kentucky at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Lincoln – Junior Alicia Ostrander enjoyed a career night, but the seventh-ranked Nebraska volleyball team fell in a hard-fought battle to No. 13 Florida State, 3-1, in front of 8,569 fans Friday night, the largest crowd under the current Devaney Center seating configuration.

The Huskers won the opener 25-18, before Florida State won the next three sets, all by two points. The Seminoles took set two 27-25 and won sets three and four by identical 25-23 margins. With the loss, Nebraska fell to 0-1 on the season, while FSU improved to 1-0.

Ostrander led Nebraska with a match-high 18 kills, more than tripling her previous career high of five kills. Ostrander produced 18 kills after totaling 19 kills all of last season. Sophomore Amber Rolfzen also finished in double figures with 13 kills, as did junior Meghan Haggerty, who hit .421 while putting down 10 kills on 19 swings. Sophomore Kadie Rolfzen led Nebraska with 18 digs – tying her career high – while classmate Cecilia Hall tied for match-high honors with five blocks.

Despite the loss, Nebraska produced more kills, more assists, more blocks and a higher hitting percentage than the Seminoles, while the teams each recorded 72 digs. The Huskers hit .182 in the match and recorded 12 blocks.

Florida State hit .176 and was led by Nicole Walch, who bounced back from a slow start to tie Ostrander for match-high honors with 18 kills. Katie Horton added 17 kills, while Katie Mosher was outstanding at libero, producing 33 digs.

FSU was the first team to lead by more than two in the opening set when a pair of blocks helped the Seminoles win four straight rallies to take a 9-6 advantage and force an early Husker timeout. The timeout did wonders for NU, as Nebraska won 10 of the next 12 rallies, capping the 10-2 run by taking a 16-11 lead. NU closed out a 25-18 victory when Ostrander delivered her fifth kill on the Huskers’ second set point. Nebraska held Florida State to an .018 attack percentage in the opening set, recording four blocks and 32 digs.

The Seminoles turned the table on Nebraska in set two, turning an early three-point deficit into a 14-10 advantage on the strength of a 9-2 run. The Huskers pulled back within two at 19-17 to force an FSU timeout then capped a 5-0 run by taking a 20-19 lead. Ostrander’s 10th kill of the match kept Nebraska on top 21-20 before FSU won the next three rallies. Nebraska then fought off three Seminole match points before a Kiara Wright kill wrapped up a 27-25 Florida State win. FSU hit .263 in the second set, led by seven kills on 11 swings from Walch, who was held to a -.077 percentage in set one.

Florida State won the first three rallies of set three and didn’t trail until Nebraska won back-to-back rallies following 12 consecutive sideouts to earn a 12-11 lead. The Seminoles regained the lead at 15-14 then stretched their advantage to 20-17. Consecutive kills from each of the Rolfzen twins pulled Nebraska back within one before Horton delivered a thundering kill and Mosher served an ace to force a Husker timeout with Florida State in front 22-19. Nebraska won the first three points following the break to tie the set and force a Seminole timeout. Horton ended the run with a kill and Sarah Wickstrom followed with an ace to give FSU two set points. An Ostrander kill fought off one set point, but Florida State earned a 25-23 win on Horton’s 10th kill of the match.

Nebraska won the first five rallies of set four and seven of the first eight but could not hang on to the early advantage. NU built the lead to 9-2 on kills from six different Huskers. Florida State came right back with a 7-1 run to pull within one at 10-9. The Seminoles pulled even at 11 and grabbed their first lead at 18-16 on three consecutive kills from Horton. Nebraska won the next two rallies to tie the set but Florida State answered with consecutive points of its own. The Seminoles stretched the lead to 22-19 on a Husker hitting error. NU came back to win three of the next four rallies and tie the set at 23, but back-to-back hitting errors gave Florida State the match with a 25-23 victory.

Nebraska returns to action on Sunday, when the Huskers host third-ranked Stanford at Noon. The match will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. The Cardinal opened its season with 3-0 sweep at Iowa State on Friday.