Husker Volleyball Battles to Five Set Loss in Texas

In an exciting and hard-fought match, the Huskers visited Austin, TX after more than a week off, and battled with the sixth ranked Texas Longhorns.

The young Huskers certainly represented themselves well, pushing the defending national champions to a hotly contested fifth set.

Third set was a 25-27 loss for the Huskers, indicative of how tightly contested this match was. Ultimately, the Huskers lost in five sets 25-20, 19-25, 25-27, 25-21, 12-15.

The Longhorns outhit hit Huskers by a slim margin .232 - .223. Kelsey Robinson hit .273 with 26 kills. Meghan Haggerty added 11 kills, recording a hitting number of .304. Kadie Rolfzen had 13 kills, while Amber Rolfzen added 12.

The Huskers outdug the Longhorns 89 – 76, while Texas bested Nebraska in blocks 16 – 9.

Two of the Huskers recorded double-doubles. Kelsey Robinson added 23 digs to her 26 kills, while Amber Rolfzen had 12 kills with 13 digs.

Serving errors continued to plague the Huskers, as the ladies committed ten errors to three aces. The Longhorns did their part, though, committing nine errors against four aces. Anytime a match is close, service errors can kill momentum and swing a set against you.

Being able to hang with a team with Texas’ experience and chemistry continues to bode well for where these Huskers will be during B1G play this year. The conference season kicks off on the road this weekend against Northwestern on Friday, and then #16 Illinois on Saturday.

The B1G is arguably the most difficult conference in the nation, with seven teams in the AVCA Top 25 (including number one Penn State), and Wisconsin also appearing on ballots.

Of the Huskers’ starters, five of the seven (counting Wong-Orantes, the Libero) are playing for the Big Red for the first time this season. Putting that many new faces together with the ultimate goal of a conference and national title is a high risk venture for a coach, but so far Coach Cook and company are reaping the rewards of that.