Ann Arbor, Mich. – The No. 8 Nebraska 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-to-3 edge in blocks.

Michigan controlled set one from the onset, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and extending it to 12-4 with a 6-0 run. The Huskers scored three straight to get within 19-14 with Meghan Haggerty and Kadie Rolfzen (twice) providing kills, but Michigan held on and won 25-19. Michigan hit .308 to just .167 for the Huskers.

The second set started similarly as Michigan jumped out to a 3-0 lead and went up 5-1. Melanie Keil and Kadie Rolfzen recorded consecutive kills to pull within 5-3. The Huskers kept digging and finally took their first lead of the match at 9-8 on a block by Haggerty and Ostrander. But it was short-lived, as Michigan scored three in a row to reclaim an 11-9 lead after kills by Cole and Lambert. Trailing 14-12, the Huskers strung together a 5-0 run for a 17-14 lead, with a kill by Keil, a solo stuff from Kadie Rolfzen and a service ace by Annika Albrecht leading the way. But Michigan inched back and tied it at 20-20 on a kill by Cole. Michigan had the first two set points, but Kadie Rolfzen and Haggerty answered each time, and then Michigan committed a net violation to give Nebraska its first set point at 26-25. The Huskers had four chances to win the set, the last three coming off Ostrander kills. But Michigan staved off the Huskers each time and the momentum shifted when Dannemiller’s serve fell to the Husker floor untouched, and Lambert finished off the 32-20 win with her 11th kill.

Nebraska took a 5-3 lead in the third set after a kill from Haggerty, but the Huskers surrendered a 4-0 run to the Wolverines and then trailed 7-5. Three kills by Kelsey Fien gave Nebraska a 10-9 lead. An Ostrander kill made it 11-10 Huskers, but Michigan came back with a 4-0 run to go up 14-11 with the final three points coming on hitting errors by the Big Red. Cole’s 18th kill added to the Michigan lead, 19-14, and the Wolverines wrapped up the sweep with a 25-21 win.

The Huskers are back at home on Wednesday to face No. 24 Northwestern at 7 p.m. on NET.​

East Lansing, Mich. – The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team battled in a difficult environment to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23) win over Michigan State at Jenison Field House on Friday night.

The Huskers improved to 10-4 on the season and 4-1 in the Big Ten with their third road win this season in as many tries. Michigan State dropped to 9-7 on the season and 2-3 in Big Ten play.

The win was the 1,200th in school history for the Huskers and also snapped a two-match losing streak to the Spartans in East Lansing. Nebraska last won in East Lansing in 2011.

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.

The Huskers fell behind 4-1 in set one and despite answering with three straight points were unable to grab an early lead. The Spartans extended the lead to 18-13 with a 6-2 spurt, as the Huskers suffered four service errors to that point. But then Nebraska got back-to-back kills from Ostrander before Michigan State hit long to cut it to 18-16. After Michigan State committed a net violation, Kadie Rolfzen killed and Alexa Ethridge continued her excellent serving run with an ace. Michigan State committed an attacking error, and Haggerty and Pollmiller stuffed the Spartans for a 21-18 lead before the Spartans misfired again, pushing the Nebraska run to 9-0 and the lead to 22-18. Michigan State cut the deficit in half with consecutive points, but that was the last time the Spartans would score in the set as the Huskers completed the comeback with a 25-20 win, ending the set on a 12-2 run.

In set two, the Huskers broke free from a 3-3 deadlock with a 4-0 run to go up 7-3, with two Kadie Rolfzen kills starting and finishing the run. Larson tallied a block with Pollmiller and a kill to give Nebraska an 11-6 advantage. Kadie Rolfzen’s seventh kill of the match pushed the NU lead to 15-8. A 4-0 run put Nebraska up 20-10 after another Kadie Rolfzen kill. An Ostrander kill gave the Huskers set point at 24-17 and NU finished things off at 25-18 on a Spartan error. The Huskers hit .351 in the second set with 16 kills and just three errors.

The Huskers led 6-4 in set three before Michigan State put together a 6-0 run for a 10-6 lead. But the Huskers didn’t go away, as Kadie Rolfzen and Ostrander posted kills, and Kadie Rolfzen served an ace to cut it to 10-9 and force a Spartan timeout. But out of the timeout, Michigan State scored five straight to go up 15-9 and cause NU to take a timeout. A service ace by Kristen Muir out of the timeout and a Husker attacking error continued the run at 7-0 though, as Nebraska fell down 17-9. The Huskers pulled within 22-20 on kills by Amber Rolfzen and Pollmiller before a Townsend service ace. But after a Spartan timeout, Townsend’s serve found the net and gave MSU a 23-20 lead. Kadie Rolfzen’s kill made it 23-21, but Michigan State closed out the 25-22 win.

The Huskers used a 4-0 spurt in set four to rally from a 10-8 deficit and go up 12-10, with Ethridge again on the service line. Michigan State reclaimed a 14-13 lead though before Haggerty killed to level the score. The Spartans stayed in front though at 17-15 before hitting wide twice to tie it at 17-17 again. Tied at 19-19, Sydney Townsend came up the most difficult of her career-high 11 digs to keep a play alive that resulted in a 20-19 Husker lead. Haggerty and Pollmiller thwarted a Spartan attack for a 21-19 lead. Later, Amber Rolfzen came up with a big kill to give Nebraska 23-21 lead, but the Huskers then hit long to make it 23-22. Kadie Rolfzen stepped up and recorded the final two points of the match for NU to give the Huskers a 25-23 fourth-set victory.

The Huskers finish their Michigan road trip in Ann Arbor against Michigan on Sunday at Noon (CT).

The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team is back on the road this weekend for a pair of matches in Michigan. The Huskers will battle Michigan State on Friday at 7 p.m. (CT), then will make the trek to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Sunday at Noon (CT). The Huskers (9-4, 3-1 Big Ten) will be searching for win number 1,200 in program history this weekend. NU is 1,199-221-12 all-time entering the weekend, the second-highest win total in NCAA history behind only UCLA’s 1,207 wins.

Media Information
Friday’s match will air live on the Big Ten Network, but no viewing options are available for Sunday’s match at Michigan. Fans can 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 for both matches.

Series History
Nebraska is 12-2-2 all-time against Michigan State and is 4-2 against the Spartans since joining the Big Ten. Michigan State has won the last two meetings in East Lansing, including a 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 20-25, 25-19) victory on Oct. 12, 2013. The Huskers swept MSU in Lincoln on Nov. 15.
Nebraska is 8-2 against Michigan and 5-1 since 2011. Nebraska swept the season series last year, including a five-set win (25-13, 28-26, 10-25, 20-25, 15-8) over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Oct. 11, 2013. Michigan last beat Nebraska (3-2) on Nov. 2, 2012 in Ann Arbor.

Last Time Out
The Huskers knocked off No. 3 Penn State last Friday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, 3-1, before falling to Ohio State on Saturday, 3-2. The win over Penn State marked the first top-five win for the Huskers since a sweep of No. 5 Washington in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. NU had been 0-4 against top-five teams since then. Penn State also had not lost in three or four sets since the 2012 NCAA Semifinals. Kadie Rolfzen led the Husker attack with 13 kills against Penn State and 20 against Ohio State.

Up Next
Nebraska will be at home for the last time in October with matches against No. 24 Northwestern next Wednesday and No. 15 Illinois next Saturday.

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.54 kills per set and ranks sixth in the Big Ten. The 2013 AVCA All-American has three of Nebraska’s five double-doubles this season. Rolfzen has double-digit kills in nine of her last 11 matches with a career-high 21 against Texas.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.87 blocks per set and is coming off a season-high 18 against Ohio State, matching the most since Sept. 11, 2010 when NU had 19 blocks against Illinois. Meghan Haggerty is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.33 blocks per set.
• Amber Rolfzen is second on the team with 2.15 kills per set and is averaging 2.47 kills per set in Big Ten play with a .318 hitting percentage.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 3.91 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 472 set assists for 10.04 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 34 blocks to rank second on the team. Pollmiller has 13 kills on 21 total attacks in her last three matches with no errors for a .619 attack percentage.
• Alicia Ostrander has averaged 2.72 kills per set in her last five outings.
• Freshman Annika Albrecht posted a career-high 20 digs last Friday against Penn State to lead the Husker defense and followed up with 18 – her second-best outing – against Ohio State on Oct. 4. Albrecht was averaging 2.08 digs per set entering last weekend but put up 4.2 digs per set against PSU and OSU.
• The Huskers are 229-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook. Nebraska is also 371-16 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 (422) 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 Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State is 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten after splitting with Michigan last week. Chloe Reinig has a team-high 200 kills and 3.64 kills per set, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten. Allyssah Fitterer adds 155 kills (2.77 kills per set). Rachel Minarick averages 9.70 assists per set, while Kori Moster has a team-leading 4.57 digs per set to rank third in the Big Ten. Jazmine White leads the squad in blocks with 1.31 per set. Michigan State is third in the Big Ten in blocks (2.71 per set), aces (1.38 per set) and opponent hitting percentage (.161). The Spartans lost three key starters, including All-Americans Lauren Wicinski and Alexis Mathews, from last year’s team that finished 23-12 and reached the NCAA Round of 16.

Scouting the Michigan Wolverines
Michigan enters Friday’s match against Iowa with a 6-8 overall record and 1-3 mark in conference play. The Wolverines played non-conference play without all-region setter Lexi Dannemiller, who is putting up 10.44 assists per set since returning. Abby Cole has a team-high 183 kills for 3.27 kills per set. Tiffany Morales, a Big Ten All-Freshman team pick in 2012, has a team-best 230 digs (4.11 per set). Michigan has three starters and its libero back from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.

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.

The eighth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) will look to continue its unbeaten start to Big Ten play this weekend when No. 3 Penn State and Ohio State visit Lincoln. The Huskers are no strangers to big home matches, having already hosted Stanford, Texas and Florida State – who are a combined 34-0 and all ranked in the top five. Yet another top-five challenge lies ahead when the third-ranked Nittany Lions take on Nebraska Friday at 7 p.m. on BTN. Nebraska will have little time to regroup from that battle as an experienced Ohio State squad comes to town for a 5 p.m. match on Saturday on NET.

Media Information
Both matches this weekend will be carried live on television. Friday’s match against Penn State will air on BTN, while Saturday’s match against Ohio State will air on NET and be streamed online with a BTN Plus subscription. 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 Penn State 13-9, but the Nittany Lions are 3-2 against the Huskers since Nebraska joined the Big Ten. Both Husker wins in the Big Ten era have been in five sets, while all three losses to Penn State have been in four sets. Last year, Penn State won the only matchup on Nov. 30 in Lincoln, 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 26-24). The teams split the regular-season series in 2012. Since 2012, eight of the 13 sets between the squads have been decided by two points.

The Huskers are 11-4 all-time against Ohio State. Nebraska has won nine of the last 10 matches dating back to 1992. The teams met once last year in Columbus with Nebraska posting a 3-1 victory (22-25, 25-12, 25-17, 25-19). Kadie Rolfzen had 16 kills and nine digs, while Cecilia Hall had one of the best matches of her freshman season with seven kills on 15 attacks. Kylie Randall had nine kills as a freshman against Nebraska.

Up Next
Nebraska heads to Michigan next weekend for a Friday match at Michigan State at 7 p.m. and a Sunday match at Michigan at Noon. The Michigan State match will air on BTN.

Noting the Huskers
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.51 kills per set and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. The 2013 AVCA All-American has three of Nebraska’s four double-doubles this season (Mary Pollmiller has the other). Rolfzen is second on the team in digs with 2.84. She has double-digit kills in eight of her last 10 matches. Over her last 10 matches, Rolfzen is averaging 4.0 kills per set and hitting .321.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.84 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.30 blocks per set. The Huskers have just four solo blocks against them all season. The next closest Big Ten team is Penn State at seven.
• Amber Rolfzen began Big Ten play on a strong note, posting 21 kills with just one error last week on 35 attacks, giving her a .571 hitting percentage in the two matches against Iowa. 
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Big Red in digs with 4.03 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 394 set assists for 10.37 per set. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 28 blocks to rank tied for second on the team.
• Alicia Ostrander has found the form that put her in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season, posting double-digit kills in each of the last three matches with 14, 10 and 11, respectively. In her last four outings, Ostrander is averaging 3.23 kills per set.
• Melanie Keil posted a career-high 13 attacks in both matches against Iowa last week. Over her last three matches she is hitting .421 with 19 kills and 10 blocks.
• Nebraska is 8-0 this season when recording as many or more service aces than its opponent. 
• The Huskers are 229-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook. Nebraska is also 371-15 when winning the first set under Cook. 
• John Cook is 138-40 (.775) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just over one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (421) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 208 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 192-16 record during the streak. The Huskers will be seeking sellouts No. 209 and 210 this weekend.

Scouting the Penn State Nittany Lions
No. 3 Penn State’s (14-1, 2-0 Big Ten) only loss this season came in five sets at Stanford. In its 14 victories, Penn State has dropped just two of 44 sets. The Nittany Lions started Big Ten play on the road last week with a sweep at No. 5 Wisconsin and a 3-1 comeback at No. 17 Minnesota. Freshman Ali Frantti leads the team with 150 kills (3.26 kills per set). Senior setter Micha Hancock is a two-time AVCA First-Team All-American and has 11.49 assists per set and a nation-leading 54 service aces. Hancock is coming off an AVCA National Player of the Week honor earlier this week. The Nittany Lions lead the conference in hitting percentage (.372) and opponent hitting percentage (.124). They are the only Big Ten team hitting over .300.

Scouting the Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State is 9-5 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten entering a match at Iowa on Friday. The Buckeyes took No. 17 Minnesota to the wire last week before getting swept at No. 5 Wisconsin. Erin Sekinger has a team-high 161 kills for an average of 3.16 per set. Middle blocker Taylor Sandbothe has 126 kills and and a team-high 61 blocks despite missing four matches. Ohio State is fourth in the Big Ten in digs (14.44 per set).