Madison, Wis. – The 14th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match at No. 5 Wisconsin on Sunday evening, 19-25, 21-25, 18-25, at the UW Field House.

The Huskers fell to 12-7 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin moved to 18-2 overall and 9-1 in conference play to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. The Badgers have won nine straight matches, five against currently ranked teams.

Amber Rolfzen led the Huskers with 10 kills, while Kadie Rolfzen and Kelsey Fien each had nine kills. Mary Pollmiller had 29 assists, and Justine Wong-Orantes had 15 digs.

Wisconsin setter Lauren Carlini had 34 assists and a career-high nine kills to lead the balanced Badger attack. Six Badgers had kills in the match, and each had at least six. 

UW outhit NU .265 to .143. The Badgers had a 56-51 edge in digs and 8-6 edge in blocks. Each team had three aces, but the Huskers had six service errors. 

The Huskers took an early 4-1 lead but saw the Badgers reel off an 8-1 run to go up 9-5. The Huskers got back within 10-9 and still trailed by one at 18-17. But Wisconsin got kills from Courtney Thomas and Kelli Bates to go up 20-17. A kill by Pollmiller closed the gap to 20-18, but the Badgers scored the next three points to take control, and they finished out the 25-19 win. 

In the second set, it was Wisconsin who went up 3-1 early and the Huskers who rallied to a 9-6 lead after an 8-3 spurt, as the Rolfzen twins combined for five kills with Kadie Rolfzen adding an ace. Wisconsin reclaimed the lead at 14-13 on a Bates kill, and the Badgers pushed it to 16-14 on a Dominique Thompson kill. Carlini added a kill and a solo stuff to put the Badgers up 19-15. After a timeout, Fien put down two kills around a block by Pollmiller to get the Huskers within 19-18 and force a Badger timeout. Nebraska tied it 19-19 after two hits by Carlini, but the Badgers responded with two points to go up 21-19. Nebraska appeared to close the gap to 22-21 after Carlini hit wide, but it was ruled off a Husker and instead UW went up 23-20. The Badgers closed out the 25-21 win with an ace.

UW went up 11-7 in the third to force a Husker timeout, but the Huskers battled back with kills by Amber Rolfzen and Kadie Rolfzen to cut it to 11-9. However, a 5-0 Badger run put them up 16-9. NU pulled within four, 18-14, after a Sydney Townsend ace, Meghan Haggerty kill and Alicia Ostrander/Haggerty block. But the Badgers answered to go up 20-14 and finished out the sweep with a 25-18 win.

The Huskers are on the road again next weekend for matches at Rutgers on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) and at Maryland on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT). 

The No. 14 Nebraska volleyball team continues a four-match road stretch with a 4 p.m. match at No. 5 Wisconsin on Sunday on ESPN2. The Huskers (12-6, 6-3 Big Ten) have split their Big Ten matches each of the last three weeks, winning the first and dropping the second each week, but will look to reverse that trend in Madison. Nebraska came back from a 2-0 deficit to topple No. 25 Minnesota on Wednesday, while Wisconsin swept Iowa at home. The Badgers (17-2) lead the Big Ten with an 8-1 conference record and have not let up since their run to the NCAA national championship match last season. Sunday’s match will mark NU’s seventh match against a ranked opponent this season. After Sunday at Wisconsin, the Huskers will have faced the current Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 teams in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Media Information
Sunday’s match will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed online at WatchESPN.com. 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
The Huskers lead the all-time series 17-1-1 with Wisconsin’s lone win coming on Oct. 28, 1978. The Huskers have won 17 straight after the series began with a tie and a Wisconsin victory, but last year’s matches went five and four sets, respectively. Nebraska won 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-19) in Madison on Nov. 8. Kadie Rolfzen had 19 kills and 17 digs, while Amber Rolfzen had eight kills and nine digs.

Last Time Out
The 14th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit for an epic 3-2 (21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-7) comeback win at No. 25 Minnesota on Wednesday. The Huskers found themselves in a deep hole after dropping the first two sets and falling behind 16-13 in the third set. But just as they did at Minnesota in 2011, the Huskers roared back to win the match in five. Behind the arm of Kelsey Fien, the Huskers rallied to the 25-21 third-set victory, controlled the fourth set and ended the match on a dominating 8-0 run. Kadie Rolfzen had 17 kills and 14 digs to lead the Huskers, while Fien had 14 kills over the last three sets off the bench. Mary Pollmiller had a season-best 54 assists.

Up Next
Nebraska will take on Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. (CT) and Maryland on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. (CT).

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.48 kills per set and ranks seventh in the Big Ten. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has five of Nebraska’s nine double-doubles this year and has 15 or more kills eight times this season.
• Alicia Ostrander is second on the team with 3.02 kills per set and is averaging 3.17 kills per set in Big Ten play. Ostrander has double-digit kills in eight of the last 10 matches.
• Kelsey Fien is third on the team in kills per set with 2.78. After not playing in the previous two matches, Fien came off the bench and led Nebraska’s comeback at Minnesota Wednesday with 14 kills over the final three sets, including seven kills on 10 attacks in the momentum-changing third set.
• Middle blocker Cecilia Hall has given Nebraska a boost in the middle with 15 kills and 15 blocks over her last two matches. Hall had a career-high nine kills at Minnesota.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.86 per set and ranks ninth in the Big Ten.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 676 set assists for 10.24 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 49 blocks to rank second on the team.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten and 16th nationally with 2.8 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is third in the Big Ten with 1.26 blocks per set. The Huskers have outblocked or matched their opponent in blocks in 10 straight matches.
• The Huskers are third in the Big Ten in digs with 14.6 per set. The Huskers are 12-1 when outdigging their opponents and 0-3 when getting outdug.
• Sunday’s match marks the return of Nebraska head coach John Cook to Madison, where he was the head coach at Wisconsin from 1992-98. Cook led the Badgers to a 161-73 record at Wisconsin and two Elite Eight appearances.
• The Huskers are 8-1 in matches played on Monday through Friday this season, while they are 4-5 in matches on Saturday or Sunday.
• Nebraska is 6-1 away from the Devaney Center this season, the lone loss coming at Michigan on Sunday, Oct. 12.
• 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 140-41 (.773) 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 Wisconsin
The fifth-ranked Badgers are atop the Big Ten standings with an 8-1 conference record and a 17-2 overall record. Wisconsin is riding an eight-match win streak with four of those wins coming against opponents currently ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Badgers have also won five straight matches by sweep and are 8-1 at home this season. Wisconsin leads the league in digs (16.53 per set) and set assists (13.59), and the Badgers are in the top three in hitting percentage (.284), opponent hitting percentage (.159) and kills (14.62). The Badgers possess a balanced attack, as Ellen Chapman is the only Badger in the top 15 of the Big Ten in kills at 3.06 per set. Setter Lauren Carlini sets up the Badger attack with 11.39 assists per set to rank second in the conference. She also ranks fourth in aces. Taylor Morey is the Big Ten leader in digs with 5.33 per set.

Minneapolis – Behind a gritty team effort, the 14th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit for an epic 3-2 (21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-7) comeback win at No. 25 Minnesota on Wednesday night.

The Huskers (12-6, 6-3 Big Ten) found themselves in a deep hole after dropping the first two sets and falling behind 16-13 in the third set. But just as they did at Minnesota in 2011, the Huskers roared back to win the match in five. Behind the arm of Kelsey Fien, the Huskers rallied to the 25-21 third-set victory, controlled the fourth set and ended the match on a dominating 8-0 run.

Kadie Rolfzen had 17 kills and 14 digs to lead the Huskers, while Fien had 14 kills over the last three sets off the bench. Cecilia Hall chipped in nine kills and seven blocks, and Amber Rolfzen had seven kills, seven blocks and a team-high 18 digs. Annika Albrecht had a career-high five kills. Mary Pollmiller had a season-best 54 assists.

Nebraska hit .244 for the match, but hit .714 in the fifth set with 12 kills on 14 attacks. Minnesota hit .198 for the match after starting out hitting .304 through the first two sets. The Huskers outblocked the Gophers 12-11 and outdug them 72-69. 

Nebraska held a 9-7 lead in the first set before the Gophers rallied with a 7-1 run to go up 14-10. Two kills by Hall kept the Huskers within four at 16-12, but three consecutive Gopher kills gave them a 19-12 lead. Nebraska put together a mini rally with kills by Hall and Kadie Rolfzen surrounding a Meghan Haggerty/Amber Rolfzen block to get within 19-15. A Pollmiller/Haggerty block cut it to 21-18, but two NU hitting errors put the Gophers up 23-18. Justine Wong-Orantes and Alexa Ethridge had rare back-to-back kills to get Nebraska within 23-20, but the Gophers closed out the 25-21 win. Nine hitting errors and three service errors hindered the Huskers’ chances of opening the match with a first-set win.

The Huskers held another early lead in set two at 6-5, but a 4-0 Gopher run erased that. Nebraska fought back to within 10-9 on a Hall kill and Pollmiller ace. But the Gophers built the lead back to 21-14 and finished off the 25-16 win. The Huskers reduced their hitting errors to five in the second set, but still had three more service errors for a total of six through two sets. 

Minnesota tallied another 4-0 run with the third set tied 8-8 to go up 12-8, but kills by Kelsey Fien and Kadie Rolfzen cut the lead in half, 12-10. After the Gophers pushed the lead to 16-13 on another Husker service error, Pollmiller and Haggerty blocked a Minnesota attack, and Fien struck again to get NU within 16-15. After a Gopher timeout, a pancake dig by Amber Rolfzen led to another Fien kill to tie the set. Paige Tapp regained the lead for the Gophers, but Fien continued to find the floor, tying it at 17-17. Hall and Fien teamed up for a block, and Minnesota’s net violation put the Huskers up 19-17. Fien continued her domination in the set with three straight kills to break a 19-19 tie and put NU up 22-19. The Huskers won the set, 25-21, on a block by Amber Rolfzen. Fien finished the frame with seven kills on 10 attacks, leading the Huskers to a much better .297 clip in the third set. After hitting .406 in set two, Minnesota was held to .140 in the third set.

Nebraska carried its momentum into the fourth set, building an 8-5 lead to force a Gopher timeout, as the Gophers became prone to errors. The Huskers went up 12-7 on a service ace by Pollmiller and 15-9 on Minnesota’s eighth of 11 attacking errors in the set. Nebraska went up 18-11 on a Kadie Rolfzen kill, and she later finished the set in favor of the Huskers, 25-19, with her 13th kill of the night.

In the final set, Kadie Rolfzen served an ace, and Fien produced for the Huskers again to put them up 7-5 after battling from behind once again. After Minnesota tied it, Haggerty gave the Huskers the 8-7 lead at the crossover with a swing from the right side. Haggerty’s kill began an 8-0 Husker run that ended the match. Hall had a kill at the net after Minnesota misplayed a serve, then Pollmiller and Hall teamed up for a stuff. Ethridge served an ace and Fien fooled the Gophers with a soft touch to the middle of the court for the 12-7 lead, forcing Minnesota’s second timeout of the set. Kadie Rolfzen then came out of the back row and swung down for a 13-7 lead. The Huskers completed the win with kills by Fien and Pollmiller.

The Huskers are on the road at No. 5 Wisconsin on Sunday for a 4 p.m. match on ESPN2.

Lincoln – The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team (11-6, 5-3 Big Ten) fell to No. 15 Illinois (14-5, 6-2 Big Ten) at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday afternoon, 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-27, 21-25).

Alicia Ostrander had a career-high 19 kills to lead the Huskers. Kadie Rolfzen had 12 kills, and Amber Rolfzen had 11 kills and 13 digs. Cecilia Hall had six kills and eight blocks, while Meghan Haggerty had six kills and five blocks. Mary Pollmiller added six kills with her 44 set assists. Justine Wong-Orantes had 22 digs.

Illinois’ Morganne Criswell had a season-high 21 kills, while Jocelynn Birks, the Big Ten leader in kills per set in conference play, had 19. Alexis Viliunas had 56 assists.

Illinois narrowly outhit Nebraska .228 to .224. Both teams had 14 blocks and 68 digs. 

Illinois took set one, 25-23, coming back from a 20-18 deficit to take a 21-20 lead after a Birks kill. The Huskers tied it up at 22-22 on a kill by Hall, but a Katie Stadick kill and block with Viliunas gave Illinois a 24-22 lead, forcing a Husker timeout. After Illinois let Nebraska within one via a service error, Criswell finished off the set with a shot to the back row. 

The Huskers led 7-4 in set two but let Illinois go on a 4-0 run to gain an 8-7 lead. With the set tied 16-16, Illinois committed a service error and Ostrander killed to make it 18-16 and force an Illinois timeout. Nebraska never allowed Illinois to draw even again in the set. The Huskers separated from a 19-18 lead with a 4-0 run with two kills by Kadie Rolfzen and a block by Hall and Amber Rolfzen to make it 23-18. Illinois fought off three set points, but the Huskers finally ended it at 25-21 on a kill from Hall right down the middle. 

Set three was back-and-forth the whole way. The Illini claimed a three-point lead at 18-15, but the Huskers clawed back with a dump by Pollmiller, a kill by Ostrander and then an Ostrander/Hall block to even it at 18-18. Illinois got back-to-back kills by Criswell to go up 23-21, and another Criswell kill gave the Illini set point at 24-22. Nebraska came back to tie it on kills by Haggerty and Kadie Rolfzen. With the set tied at 25-25, Liz McMahon won a long rally for Illinois, and the Huskers misfired to give Illinios the edge in the match with a 27-25 victory. 

Set four began with a 4-0 Illinois run, and the Illini extended the lead to 10-4, forcing the Huskers to use their second and final timeout of the set. Criswell had two blocks and a kill during a 3-0 spurt to put the Illini up 10-4. Trailing 17-11, the Huskers put together a furious rally to pull within 19-17 and force an Illini timeout. Haggerty had a kill and two blocks along the way. But the Huskers could get no closer, as Illinois pulled away to the 25-21 win. 

Nebraska is on the road for the next four matches, beginning at Minnesota on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. That match will be on BTN.​

The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team hosts No. 15 Illinois on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Both teams enter the match with 5-2 conference records and are tied for third place in the Big Ten standings. The Huskers will be playing their 11th home match of the season, and seven of those have been against teams ranked or receiving votes. Saturday’s match is the American Red Cross’s “Pass the Bucket” match. An autograph session with Husker players will take place after the match on the northwest concourse at Devaney.

Media Information
Saturday’s match will be streamed live on the Internet at ESPN3.com. It will air tape-delayed on TV on Sunday at Noon on ESPN2. 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
The Huskers are 19-5-1 all-time against Illinois and have won eight in a row in the series dating back to 1993. Illinois last defeated the Huskers on Dec. 10, 1992, 3-0 in Champaign. Nebraska has swept three matches in a row, including two last season. NU beat Illinois 25-20, 25-14, 25-22 on Sept. 28 in Champaign. Kadie Rolfzen had 14 kills, and Cecilia Hall had four kills and eight blocks. The Huskers then defeated the Illini 25-21, 26-24, 25-12 in Lincoln on Oct. 30. Kadie Rolfzen had 13 kills and 11 digs. Hall had another big match with five kills and a career-high 11 blocks.

Last Time Out
The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team made quick work of Northwestern on “Pink Night,” sweeping the Wildcats 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-13) on Wednesday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers improved to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in Big Ten action, while Northwestern dropped to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten. The Huskers outhit Northwestern .290 to .000, the lowest a Husker opponent has hit this season. Alicia Ostrander led a balanced Husker attack with 12 kills, her third straight match with double-digit kills and seventh in eight matches. Ostrander hit a career-best .440 on the night. Kadie Rolfzen had nine kills and 13 digs while hitting .500. Meghan Haggerty had five kills and six blocks, while Cecilia Hall had five kills and four blocks. Mary Pollmiller had 28 assists.

Scouting the Illinois Fighting Illini
No. 15 Illinois is 13-5 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten after scratching out a 3-2 win at Iowa on Wednesday night, 27-29, 25-12, 25-23, 19-25, 15-11. The Fighting Illini have won nine of their last 11 matches, including a 3-1 upset at Penn State last weekend. Jocelynn Birks averages 4.08 kills per set on the season to rank third in the Big Ten, but she leads the league in conference matches only with 4.52 kills per set. Liz McMahon adds 3.27 kills per set this season. Brandi Donnelly is sixth in the conference in digs (4.32 per set), and Katie Stadick is third in blocks overall (1.37 per set) and first in blocks in conference play (1.58 per set). The Illini are second in the conference in assists (13.38 per set) and third in blocks (2.65 per set). 

Up Next
Nebraska is on the road next week for a pair of matches against ranked opponents. The Huskers visit No. 23 Minnesota on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m., then travel to No. 5 Wisconsin for a 4 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Noting the Huskers
• Nebraska held Northwestern to a .000 hitting percentage on Wednesday. It marks the lowest a Husker opponent has hit since the Huskers held Fairfield to a .000 hitting percentage on Dec. 6, 2013 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.84 blocks per set. The Huskers had a season-high 18 against Ohio State on Oct. 4, matching the most since Sept. 11, 2010 when NU had 19 blocks against Illinois. Meghan Haggerty is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.29 blocks per set. The Huskers have outblocked or matched their opponent in blocks in eight straight matches. 
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.53 kills per set and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has four of Nebraska’s six double-doubles this year and has 15 or more kills seven times this season.
• Alicia Ostrander is second on the team with 2.95 kills per set and is averaging 3.09 kills per set in Big Ten play. Ostrander has double-digit kills in seven of the last eight matches dating back to the Texas match on Sept. 20. She has 12 kills in each of the last three matches and has increased her hitting percentage each time, culminating with a career-best .440 performance on Wednesday against Northwestern.
• Amber Rolfzen is second on the team with 116 total kills, averaging 2.11 kills per set.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.81 per set and ranks ninth in the conference. She had a career-high 29 digs against No. 2 Texas on Sept. 20, the most by a Husker since Kayla Banwarth’s 32 against Baylor on Nov. 18, 2009.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 578 set assists for 10.14 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 41 blocks to rank second on the team.
• 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 139-40 (.777) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just under one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (424) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 211 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 194-17 record during the streak.

Three Former Huskers Capture Gold With Team USA
Team USA – with former Huskers Kayla Banwarth, Jordan Larson-Burbach and Kelsey Robinson – beat China 3-1 (27-25, 25-20, 16-25, 26-24) on Oct. 12 to win the FIVB World Championship in Italy. The U.S. Women had never before won gold at any of the three major international volleyball events: World Championship, World Cup or Olympic Games. Larson-Burbach was one of the team’s top hitters throughout the tournament, while Banwarth captured the starting libero role and never relinquished it. Robinson, one of the team’s youngest players, was a key contributor in the early rounds of the tournament.

Huskers Extend Record Poll Streak to 470 Weeks
Nebraska has appeared in every one of the AVCA’s 470 all-time weekly polls. NU and Stanford are the only two programs to appear in every AVCA poll, dating back to its inception in 1982. Nebraska has spent a nation-leading 422 weeks in the top 10.

Huskers’ Lone Senior Among the Nation’s Best
Tri-captain Mary Pollmiller is Nebraska’s lone senior in 2014. The Huskers may only have one senior, but Pollmiller is one of the nation’s top setters. She is in her second season at Nebraska after spending her first two years at Tennessee in 2011 and 2012. Pollmiller was the 2011 SEC Freshman of the Year, and she has earned honorable-mention AVCA All-America accolades twice in her career, including last season (also in 2011). Pollmiller owns 4,597 career assists, a total that ranks fourth nationally. Three of the nation’s top-four active players in career assists are Big Ten Conference setters.

Lincoln – The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team made quick work of Northwestern on “Pink Night,” sweeping the Wildcats 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-13) on Wednesday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers improved to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in Big Ten action, while Northwestern dropped to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten.

The Huskers outhit Northwestern .290 to .000, the lowest a Husker opponent has hit this season.

Alicia Ostrander led a balanced Husker attack with 12 kills, her third straight match with double-digit kills and seventh in eight matches. Ostrander hit a career-best .440 on the night. Kadie Rolfzen had nine kills and 13 digs while hitting .500. Meghan Haggerty had five kills and six blocks, while Cecilia Hall had five kills and four blocks. Mary Pollmiller had 28 assists.

The Huskers had an 11-6 edge in blocks. Although the Wildcats entered the match second in the Big Ten in digs per set in conference play, Nebraska outdug them 42-40 and also had a 7-0 advantage in service aces.

Katie Dutchman led Northwestern with seven kills. Nebraska held the Wildcats’ best offensive threat, Symone Abbott, to just three kills and a -.150 hitting percentage. She came in averaging 3.48 kills per set. 

In the first set, the Huskers turned a 2-1 deficit into an 8-2 lead with a 7-0 run, keyed by two blocks and back-to-back Justine Wong-Orantes aces. The Huskers showed considerably improved passing from Sunday’s loss at Michigan and were hitting .433 in taking a 14-5 lead. Nebraska finished out the 25-12 win, its largest margin of victory in a Big Ten set this season. The Huskers hit .391 in the frame, while Northwestern struggled to a -.091 clip. 

In set two, Nebraska needed a timeout after Northwestern staked an 11-8 lead. The Huskers came out of the break with a kill by Ostrander and a Wildcat wide shot to get within 11-10. Soon after, the Huskers leveled the set at 12-12 on another Wildcat hit out of bounds. But Northwestern responded with four points in a row to reclaim a 16-12 edge. Northwestern led 18-14, but Haggerty terminated and Northwestern misfired twice and committed a net violation to bring the score level at 18-18. Haggerty swung down from the right side to give Nebraska a 20-19 lead, its first in the set since it was 5-4 Huskers. Haggerty then stuffed Taylor Tashima’s set attack to make it 21-19 Big Red. But the Wildcats rallied to take a 22-21 lead with two kills by Savannah Paffen. Pollmiller caught Northwestern with a surprise attack to tie the set at 22-22, and Alexa Ethridge served an ace straight to the floor to make it 23-22 Huskers. Ostrander then hit off a block and out to give Nebraska set point, and the Huskers finished it off, 25-22, with a chicken-wing save and kill from Ostrander.

The Huskers took any potential drama out of the third set immediately, bolting to an 8-0 lead with some incredible defensive saves along the way. The seventh point of the run came after one of the longest rallies of the season resulted in a block by Hall and Amber Rolfzen to force a Wildcat timeout. Ostrander killed after the timeout to make it 8-0 Huskers, and Nebraska never looked back in closing out the sweep with a 25-13 victory.    

The Huskers host No. 15 Illinois on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Devaney Center. The match will be streamed live online on ESPN3.com and will air tape-delayed on ESPN2 on Sunday at Noon.

The No. 13 Nebraska volleyball team returns to the Bob Devaney Sports Center this week for a pair of Big Ten matches, beginning with a Wednesday match against Northwestern at 7 p.m. Wednesday’s match will be the Huskers’ annual breast cancer awareness “Pink Night.”

Media Information
Wednesday’s match will air live on NET and will stream online with a BTN Plus subscription. Fans can 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
The Huskers own a 7-1 lead in the all-time series with Northwestern. Nebraska has won three straight matches against the Wildcats after dropping the first meeting between the schools as Big Ten foes on Nov. 26, 2011, 3-1 in Evanston, Ill. Nebraska has never lost to Northwestern at home. As a head coach, John Cook is 18-1 all-time against Northwestern and is 4-1 as the Nebraska head coach. The Huskers won both matches last season, 3-1 in Evanston (25-16, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20) on Sept. 27 and 3-2 (21-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-17, 15-13) in Lincoln on Nov. 2.

Last Time Out
The Husker volleyball team fell 3-0 at Michigan on Sunday, 19-25, 30-32, 21-25. The Huskers dropped to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, while Michigan improved to 8-8 with a 3-3 Big Ten record. Alicia Ostrander had a team-high 12 kills. Mary Pollmiller had 35 assists, and Annika Albrecht had a team-best 12 digs. Michigan’s Abby Cole had 19 kills, and Adeja Lambert had 13 and Caroline Knop 12. Lexi Dannemiller had 46 set assists, and Tiffany Morales had 17 digs. Michigan outhit the Huskers .331 to 222 and outdug them 57-46. Nebraska had an 8-3 edge in blocks. 

The Michigan loss came after a hard-fought victory at Michigan State on Friday in East Lansing, the first Husker victory at MSU since 2011. The Huskers tallied the 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23) win over the Spartans, the 1,200th win in school history, which ranks second all-time in the NCAA. Kadie Rolfzen had her fourth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 12 digs. Alicia Ostrander added 12 kills, and Amber Rolfzen had 10 kills. Meghan Haggerty had five kills and four blocks, and Kira Larson had a career-high four kills and three blocks in her first career start. Mary Pollmiller had 43 assists, her most since Sept. 6 against Bakersfield, and Justine Wong-Orantes led four Huskers in double-digit digs with 19. Nebraska hit .190 for the match but held Michigan State to a .152 clip. The Huskers outblocked the Spartans 8-6 and outdug them 66-61. The Huskers had eight service aces, their second-best output this season.

Up Next
Nebraska hosts No. 15 Illinois on Saturday at 3 p.m. That match will stream live on ESPN3 and will be delayed on ESPN2 on Sunday, Oct. 19 at Noon (CT).

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.56 kills per set and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. In conference play, she is producing 3.71 kills per set. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has four of Nebraska’s six double-doubles this year and has led Nebraska in kills in eight of the past 13 matches. 
• Alicia Ostrander is second on the team with 2.86 kills per set and is averaging 2.95 kills per set in Big Ten play. Ostrander has double-digit kills in six of the last seven matches dating back to the Texas match on Sept. 20.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.80 blocks per set. The Huskers had a season-high 18 against Ohio State on Oct. 4, matching the most since Sept. 11, 2010 when NU had 19 blocks against Illinois. Meghan Haggerty is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.25 blocks per set.
• Amber Rolfzen is second on the team with 112 total kills per set and is averaging 2.38 kills per set in Big Ten play with a .304 hitting percentage. 
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.93 per set and ranks eighth in the conference. She had a career-high 29 digs against No. 2 Texas on Sept. 20, the most by a Husker since Kayla Banwarth’s 32 against Baylor on Nov. 18, 2009.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 550 set assists for 10.19 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 39 blocks to rank second on the team.
• The Huskers are 229-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook. 
• Nebraska is 372-16 when winning the first set under Cook. 
• John Cook is 139-40 (.777) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just over one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (423) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 210 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 193-17 record during the streak.

Scouting the Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern is 13-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats started the year 12-1 but have lost three of their last four, including to Penn State (3-0) and Ohio State (3-1) on the road last week. The Wildcats were ranked 24th in last week’s AVCA Top 25 Poll before dropping out this week after their two losses. Northwestern is in the midst of a four-match road swing, as they also visit Iowa on Saturday. Symone Abbott leads the team with 3.48 kills per set. Taylor Tashima has 10.73 assists per set to rank fifth in the Big Ten, while Caroline Niedospial is averaging 5.19 digs per set in conference play to lead the Big Ten. In conference matches only, Maddie Slater has the league’s best hitting percentage at .456 with 32 kills on 57 swings.

Three Former Huskers Capture Gold With Team USA
Team USA – with former Huskers Kayla Banwarth, Jordan Larson-Burbach and Kelsey Robinson – beat China 3-1 (27-25, 25-20, 16-25, 26-24) on Oct. 12 to win the FIVB World Championship in Italy. The U.S. Women had never before won gold at any of the three major international volleyball events: World Championship, World Cup or Olympic Games. Larson-Burbach was one of the team’s top hitters throughout the tournament, while Banwarth captured the starting libero role and never relinquished it. Robinson, one of the team’s youngest players, was a key contributor in the early rounds of the tournament.

Huskers Extend Record Poll Streak to 470 Weeks
Nebraska has appeared in every one of the AVCA’s 470 all-time weekly polls. NU and Stanford are the only two programs to appear in every AVCA poll, dating back to its inception in 1982. Nebraska has spent a nation-leading 422 weeks in the top 10.

Huskers’ Lone Senior Among the Nation’s Best
Tri-captain Mary Pollmiller is Nebraska’s lone senior in 2014. The Huskers may only have one senior, but Pollmiller is one of the nation’s top setters. She is in her second season at Nebraska after spending her first two years at Tennessee in 2011 and 2012. Pollmiller was the 2011 SEC Freshman of the Year, and she has earned honorable-mention AVCA All-America accolades twice in her career, including last season (also in 2011). Pollmiller owns 4,569 career assists, a total that ranks fourth nationally. Three of the nation’s top-four active players in career assists are Big Ten Conference setters.