This Week in Husker Volleyball

The Husker Volleyball team wrapped up the non-conference schedule this week with a sweep of the Creighton Blue Jays at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 and a 3-1 win over Iowa State in Ames 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-11.

The Huskers match against Creighton on Tuesday is notable not only because of the in-state rivalry, but also because the match was played at the site of the 2015 Final Four in front of 10,131 people.

The Huskers hit .229 on the match to .139 for Creighton. Nebraska was led by Mikaela Foecke who hit .522 with 13 kills and only one error for the night. Kelsey Fien added nine kills and hit .350 on the night.

Justine Wong-Orantes had 17 digs to lead the Huskers who had 50 kills to 47 for the Blue Jays. The Huskers also had 11 blocks against eight for the Blue Jays, and served four aces while the Blue Jays had none.

Against the Cyclones on Saturday in Ames, the Huskers were without Coach John Cook. Coach Cook was tending to a sister in California who is sick.

The Huskers outhit the Cyclones .226 - .147. Kadie Rolfzen led the team with 14 kills to hit .200. Foecke also had 13 kills, hitting .273.

Four Huskers were in double-digits for digs as the Huskers outdug the Iowa State 85-71. Kelly Hunter, Kadie Rolfzen, and Justine Wong-Orantes each had 17, and Annika Albrecht added 15.

The Huskers had eleven blocks against seven for Iowa State. Both Rolfzens and Foecke recorded a solo block on the night. The Cyclones, however, had six aces to the Huskers' two. Both teams committed six services errors.

Olivia Boender was inserted at the end of the night for fairly ineffective Kelsey Fien. The outside hitter position has been a revolving door with Kadie Rolfzen, Annika Albrecht, Olivia Boender, Kelsey Fien, and Mikaela Foecke getting time. Foecke has pretty well nailed down the position, but preseason hype indicated that it would be Albrecht, but Fien's gotten most of the reps, with Boender also playing well.

The non-conference stats indicate that the blocking has improved dramatically over last year with Amber Rolfzen essentially replacing Meghan Haggerty at middle and Kadie moving to right side. Cecilia Hall has always been a capable blocker and if her offense can improve I expect she'll see most of the court time at middle.

The B1G conference is a gauntlet. It is, far and away, the toughest conference in college volleyball. As of right now, three of the top six teams are B1G teams (#1 Penn State, #4 Nebraska, and #6 Illinois).

If the Huskers can stay healthy, this team will have a chance to compete for their second B1G championship. A lot of things have been cleaned up this year, but there are a lot of questions still to be answered.

The Huskers take on their travel partner, Iowa, twice this week. Wednesday night they travel to Iowa City to play at 7:00 and then play at Devaney at 7:00 Saturday.

GBR