#9 Nebraska Volleyball Sweeps Rutgers, Maryland

In what ended up being a pretty low-stress weekend for the Husker Volleyball team, the #9 Nebraska Husker volleyball easily defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-14) on Friday night and also quickly dispatched of the Maryland Terrapins 3-0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-12).

This weekend fell at exactly the right time for the team. The Huskers had dropped two the weekend prior to the ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers. The Huskers fell from #3 to #9 in the AVCA Coaches Poll on October 26th.

The Huskers hit .315 for the night on Friday over Rutgers with Kadie Rolfzen recording 12 kills to hit .407. Annika Albrecht (.400) and Amber Rolfzen (.455) also reached the .400 mark for hitting on the night. Kadie Rolfzen was the only Husker with double-digit kills.

Kadie Rolfzen also had ten digs on the night to record a double-double, and Justine Wong-Orantes also had ten digs. The team as a whole had 45 digs, a stat which played a key role in holding the Knights to a .071 hitting percentage.

The Huskers had ten service aces against four errors. Annika Albrecht had six of the Husker aces for the night.

While the Husker block numbers look low, with only seven total blocks on the night, that's more indicative of a proliferation of Rutgers hitting errors.

Saturday night, the Husker hit .412 and held Maryland to -.033. Again, Kadie Rolfzen was the only Husker with double-digit kills, recording ten kills to hit .692. Cecilia Hall was close behind, with eight kills to hit .571. Alicia Ostrander (.500) and Annika Albrecht (.667) also had at least half of their swings connect for kills.

Annika Albrecht and Justine Wong-Orantes both recorded ten digs on the night, with the Huskers recording 42 total for the night. Amber Rolfzen had four total blocks on the night, and the Huskers had 12 as a team.

It's difficult to say that the problems that were exposed last weekend have been fixed. Frankly, it would be difficult to fix those problems in one week. However, playing these two teams after the difficult weekend that preceded it helps re-build one of those intangibles, confidence. Confidence is key for a team with National Championship aspirations.

The Huskers go on the road this week, playing Purdue in West Lafayette on Wednesday in a match that will be covered by BTN and BTN2Go at 6:00 PM CST. Saturday the Huskers will take on Indiana in Bloomington. That match will be covered on the radio, or on BTNPlus.

GBR