Lincoln – Behind a dominating defensive effort, the No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-20) sweep over No. 12 Purdue on Wednesday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center before the 213th consecutive sellout crowd.

The Huskers tallied 17 blocks – a three-set season high – to improve to 15-7 overall and 9-4 in the Big Ten. The win moved them into a tie for fourth in the Big Ten standings with the Boilermakers, who dropped to 19-6 overall and 9-4 in conference play.

Meghan Haggerty knocked down a season-best 11 blocks to spark the Huskers, while adding three kills. Her 10 blocks through two sets paved the way for the Huskers to win their third straight match. Kelsey Fien had a match-high 15 kills, while Kadie Rolfzen added nine with 14 digs and six blocks. Amber Rolfzen had six kills, and Cecilia Hall had four kills with five blocks. Mary Pollmiller provided 33 assists with five kills, five blocks and five digs.

The Huskers hit .255 for the match but more importantly held Purdue to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .098. The Boilermakers entered the match third in the Big Ten in hitting percentage at .270 but were held to .057 hitting over the final two sets. Big Ten kills leader Annie Drews finished with a team-high 12.

In set one, the Huskers trailed 13-11 but went on an 8-1 run to go up 19-14, sparked by strong defensive play. Haggerty had three blocks during the stretch. Back-to-back kills by Fien gave NU a 21-15 lead, forcing Purdue’s second timeout of the set. Pollmiller’s third kill of the set added to the lead, 22-15. The Boilermakers reeled off three straight to get within 22-18, but the Huskers maintained distance and Kadie Rolfzen finished off the 25-21 win with her first kill of the match. Nebraska outblocked Purdue 5-1 in the set and outhit the Boilermakers .357 to .188.

The Huskers built a 9-6 lead in the second set after consecutive combo blocks by Haggerty and Pollmiller. Purdue quickly struck back to tie it 9-9 and took a 17-16 lead before a Husker timeout. NU came out of the break with three straight points to go up 19-17, the last of which came on Haggerty’s season-high 10th block. Purdue tied it 19-19 before Sydney Townsend set Fien for a 20-19 Husker lead. With NU up 22-21, Kadie Rolfzen and Fien notched back-to-back kills for set point, and Kadie Rolfzen clinched the 25-22 win with her sixth kill. NU held Purdue – which entered the match with the third-best hitting percentage in the Big Ten – to a .000 clip in the set.

A 5-0 run with the third set tied 8-8 gave the Huskers a 13-8 cushion, with two kills by Fien and back-to-back service aces by Alexa Ethridge. Purdue trimmed the lead to 13-11 with three quick rallies. The Huskers went up 15-13 on a highlight reel play that ended with a Hall solo stuff. A Purdue serve tipped off the net, bounced off Fien’s head and was kicked into the air by a sprawling Kadie Rolfzen before Pollmiller punched it over the net. The Huskers went up four, 22-18, after back-to-back kills by Fien and never let the Boilermakers close the gap.  

The Huskers continue their four-match home stretch on Saturday against Indiana at 7 p.m. on NET. Fans are encouraged to wear white to Saturday’s match to “White Out” the Devaney Center.

The 13th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team returns home for four straight matches, beginning Wednesday against No. 12 Purdue at 6:30 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The match will be televised on BTN. The first 5,000 fans through the doors will receive a Husker fortune cookie, as the Huskers will be highlighting their summer trip to China and Japan at Wednesday’s match.

The Huskers are 14-7 overall and 8-4 in the Big Ten, putting them fifth in the Big Ten standings. A win would put the Huskers in a tie for fourth with the Boilermakers. NU is coming off sweeps at Rutgers and at Maryland last weekend. It marked the first back-to-back weekend road sweeps in Big Ten play since joining the league in 2011. John Cook is in his 15th season as head coach at Nebraska and is 427-55 leading the Huskers.

Purdue (19-5, 9-3 Big Ten) is in third place in the Big Ten standings. The Boilermakers fell at home to Wisconsin, 3-0, last week before sweeping Minnesota and now stand at 19-5 overall and 9-3 in Big Ten play. The Boilermakers are 9-2 away from home this season. Dave Shondell (Ball State, 1981) is in his 12th year as head coach at Purdue.

Media Information
Wednesday’s match against Purdue will air on BTN and stream live on BTN2GO.com. 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 Boilermakers, 12-7. Purdue beat the Huskers both times last year, however. The Boilermakers won 25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 25-20 in Lincoln on Oct. 18. Amber Rolfzen had 13 kills for the Huskers, while Kadie Rolfzen had 10. Purdue swept 26-24, 25-21, 25-16 on Nov. 22 in West Lafayette, Ind. Kadie Rolfzen had 12 kills in the match, while Amber Rolfzen had eight. Purdue is 3-2 against the Huskers since NU joined the Big Ten in 2011.

Up Next
The Huskers host Indiana on Saturday at 7 p.m. on NET. Following Wednesday’s match, the Huskers have seven remaining regular-season matches with four at home.

Nov. 8 Indiana Match Picked Up By NET
Saturday’s 7 p.m. match against Indiana has been picked up by NET. 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. It marks the 13th live regular-season appearance for the Huskers on TV this year.

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.60 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 2.64 per set.
• Kelsey Fien is third on the team in kills per set with 2.89. Over her last four matches, Fien is averaging 3.38 kills per set and hitting .340.
• Amber Rolfzen adds 2.18 kills per set with 1.86 digs per set and is second on the team in blocks with 58.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Huskers in digs with 3.99 per set and ranks eighth in the Big Ten.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 775 set assists for 10.33 per set to rank fifth in the conference. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 52 blocks to rank third on the team.
• The Huskers are fourth in the Big Ten in digs with 14.61 per set. The Huskers are 14-1 when outdigging their opponents and 0-4 when getting outdug.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten and 18th nationally with 2.79 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is third in the Big Ten with 1.26 blocks per set.
• The Huskers are 9-1 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 375-16 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 (427) 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 Purdue
Purdue (19-5, 9-3 Big Ten) has eight players, including four starters, back from its 2013 Elite Eight team, which finished 23-12 overall. The Boilermakers are third in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.270) and fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.173). They are fifth in blocks (2.51 per set). Annie Drews is the Big Ten kills leader with 354 and an average of 4.07 per set. Sam Epenesa adds 2.39 kills per set. Val Nichol is fourth in assists at 10.64 per set, and Kierra Jones is fifth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.365).

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.

The Nebraska-Indiana volleyball match this Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. will air on NET.

The match was not originally scheduled for TV, but the Big Ten Network reserved the right to select it. Instead, BTN will allow NET to broadcast Saturday’s match at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers are at home twice this week, beginning with Purdue at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. That match will air on BTN. 

College Park, Md. – The No. 14 Nebraska volleyball team finished off its second sweep of the weekend with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-16) victory over Maryland at XFINITY Center Pavilion Saturday night.

With the win, the Huskers improved their record to 14-7 overall and 8-4 in the Big Ten, marking the first back-to-back wins for the Huskers since sweeping Iowa in the first week of Big Ten play. Maryland dropped to 9-14 overall and 2-10 in the Big Ten.

Kadie Rolfzen led the Huskers for the second straight night with 11 kills. Kelsey Fien had nine while hitting .389, and Amber Rolfzen had seven kills and five blocks. Meghan Haggerty also had five blocks to go with four kills. Mary Pollmiller had 28 assists and five kills of her own. Justine Wong-Orantes had a team-high 13 digs. 

Maryland got 12 kills from Ashleigh Crutcher, but the Huskers held her to a .033 hitting percentage. NU outhit the Terps .329 to .100 and held Maryland to -.032 in the second set and .032 in the third set. The Huskers outblocked the Terps 9-6 and outdug them 31-29. 

The Huskers built an early 3-1 lead on kills by Kadie Rolfzen, Fien and Amber Rolfzen. Maryland responded and went up 13-10 after a kill by Ashlyn MacGregor. But the Huskers put together a 4-0 run to go up 14-13 with a kill by Kadie Rolfzen and two combined blocks with Haggerty involved in both. However, the Terrapins went up 20-18 with consecutive kills by Hailey Murray and Emily Fraik. The Terps committed a service error to let NU within 21-20, and Melanie Keil and Amber Rolfzen tied the set at 21-21 with a combined stuff. The Huskers gained a 23-22 advantage after consecutive Maryland attacking errors, and NU earned set point with an Amber Rolfzen kill. After Crutcher pulled Maryland within one and forced an NU timeout, Kadie Rolfzen terminated immediately out of the timeout for the 25-23 Husker win. The Huskers hit a blistering .542 in the set with 14 kills and just one attacking error, but Maryland hit .321 to keep the set neck and neck. 

Maryland took a 5-1 lead in set two before the Huskers went on a 4-0 run to tie it, keyed by blocks by Amber and Kadie Rolfzen, as well as a kill from Keil. The Huskers took their first lead of game two at 9-8 on a bad set by Maryland, but the Terps responded to go up 12-10 before back-to-back kills by Fien tied it 12-12. Another Fien swing made it 14-13 Huskers before Kadie Rolfzen blasted a kill to make it 15-13 and force a Maryland timeout. After the timeout, Annika Albrecht served an ace and Kadie Rolfzen connected again for a 17-13 Husker lead. The Terrapins won four straight rallies, however, to tie it at 18-18, aided by two Husker attacking errors and a double-hit call. Kadie Rolfzen tacked on two more kills to put NU up 21-19, but the Terps came back and tied it 21-21. Fien hammered down an overpass for a 22-21 lead, but the Huskers’ seventh service error tied it 22-22 after a Maryland timeout. Pollmiller produced a key kill for a 23-22 lead before a Maryland hit into the net gave NU set point. Amber Rolfzen connected after a long rally to put the Huskers up 2-0 with a 25-22 victory. 

The Huskers took control in set three early on, going up 5-2 on an Albrecht ace after a stuff by Kadie Rolfzen and Cecilia Hall. A Haggerty/Pollmiller block put the Huskers up 9-4, forcing a Maryland timeout. Four straight Maryland errors gave the Huskers an 19-10 advantage. After Maryland got within 22-16, Nebraska finished out the sweep with the final three points on kills by Pollmiller, Haggerty and Fien.

After completing a four-match road stretch with a 3-1 record, the Huskers now return home for four straight matches, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 5 against Purdue at 6:30 p.m. on BTN.

New Brunswick, N.J. – The No. 14 Nebraska volleyball team took care of business in a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-18) sweep at Rutgers on Friday night at College Ave. Gym. 

The win was the first-ever for the Huskers against their new Big Ten foe, although the teams only met once previously in 1978.

Kadie Rolfzen led the Huskers (13-7, 7-4 Big Ten) with 20 kills and hit .372. Kelsey Fien added 12 kills, and Amber Rolfzen had eight kills, nine digs and four blocks. Melanie Keil chipped in six kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Mary Pollmiller had 42 set assists, and Justine Wong-Orantes led the team in digs with 16.

Lauren Cloyd led Rutgers (7-17, 0-11 Big Ten) with 12 kills, and Mikaela Matthews had eight. The two had just two combined attacking errors and hit .439, while the rest of the Scarlet Knights hit .051 on the night. 

The Huskers hit .292 as a team to .198 for Rutgers. Nebraska had a 49-47 advantage in digs. Rutgers outblocked NU 9.0-6.5.

The Huskers had to play from behind to begin the match, rallying from a 14-11 deficit to take a 15-14 lead after four consecutive kills by Kadie Rolfzen. That lead marked NU’s first of the match. Rutgers, however, did not go away and had the set even at 23-23, forcing the Huskers’ second timeout. Nebraska finished strong, though, with a Kadie Rolfzen kill and a Pollmiller/Meghan Haggerty stuff to finish the set at 25-23. Rutgers outhit NU .361 to .298 in the first set and had a 5-1 blocks advantage. But Nebraska scored 20 of its 25 points on kills. Kadie and Amber Rolfzen had nine and five kills in the set, respectively, and the duo combined to hit .393. 

Nebraska jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second set, but Rutgers regrouped and rallied to take a 10-9 lead on a Matthews kill. Kira Larson entered the match and produced two key kills to give the Huskers one-point leads, but Rutgers tied it each time. The Huskers put together a 3-0 run to go up 20-17 with a kill by Fien and a block by Amber Rolfzen and Keil. But Rutgers fought to win the next two points and cut it to 20-19. The Huskers finished out the 25-21 win on the strong play at the net of Larson and Amber Rolfzen. The two teamed up for back-to-back blocks and got their hands on numerous other Scarlet Knight attacks to ensure the Huskers took a 2-0 lead.

Set three was back and forth, but Kadie Rolfzen tipped a kill, and Pollmiller won a joust at the net for a 14-11 Big Red lead. Rutgers pulled within 15-14, but consecutive kills by Fien and a hitting error by Rutgers made it 18-14 NU. Leading 19-17, the Huskers got another kill from Fien and Annika Albrecht’s second ace of the night to go up 21-17. After a Rutgers timeout, Keil and Amber Rolfzen combined for a block, and then Keil and Kadie Rolfzen teamed up to put NU up 23-17 before the Huskers wrapped up the sweep.

The Huskers are right back at it on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) at Maryland, who was swept by Iowa on Friday evening. No TV or Internet viewing options are available for Saturday’s match.

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.