Volleyball: Huskers Knock off Creighton

After the Husker Football Team’s win over Oregon in the afternoon, the Husker Women’s Volleyball team knocked off in-state foe Creighton 23-25, 25-13, 27-25, 25-18

Creighton started off with a quick 3-1 lead, but Nebraska turned it around quickly, taking a 10-6 lead and forcing a Creighton timeout.

Creighton took the first point out of the timeout, but an Annika Albrecht kill gave Nebraska another point.

Two consecutive Andie Malloy attack errors pulled the Blue Jays to 12-11, but a Briana Holman kill brought the ball back to the Huskers and with Justine Wong-Orantes serving, the Huskers made the score 14-11.

Creighton again close to within one at 17-16, but Mikaela Foecke buried a ball on a hard cross to give the serve back to Nebraska with Sydney Townsend on the service line.

After Nebraska opened up a three-point lead, Creighton tied the score at 21, but the Huskers took a 23-21 lead. Creighton took the next two points to tied the score at 23. forcing Husker Head Coach John Cook to use a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Nebraska misplayed the serve, giving Creighton the set point. Creighton capitalized, taking set one 23-25. It marked only the second set loss of the year for the Huskers. In the Huskers’ first match of the year against then #10 Florida, the Huskers lost set one, but then won the match 3-1.

In set two, the Huskers opened a 4-0 lead, but Creighton answered right back, closing to 4-2 before Nebraska went on a 3-0 run.

Creighton never closed the gap again, and Nebraska won the second set 25-13.

The Huskers started fast in set three, but Creighton fought back and took a 9-6 lead. Creighton held the same advantage until tough serving by Mikaela Foecke closed the gap to 13-14 with Creighton still holding the lead and forcing a Blue Jay timeout.

After a long rally out of the timeout ended in a termination by Malloy and the Huskers tied the score at 14.

Nebraska re-took the lead at 16-15 on a Creighton attack that went long, and extended it to 17-15 before the Creighton sideout.

Creighton tied the score at 17 by blocking a Kadie Rolfzen attack and the Huskers went right back to Kadie, but another Creighton block gave the Blue Jays the one point lead at 17-18.

The Huskers tied the score out of the timeout, but Creighton took the next point to hold on to their advantage.

The teams traded sideouts to 20-20, but Nebraska ran two points together to take the 21-20 lead, but two straight Creighton points gave the Blue Jays the lead back, 21-22.

Creighton took a two-point lead at 24-22, giving the Blue Jays their first set point, and the opportunity to take two sets from Nebraska in a match, the first time in the history of the match-up that the Blue Jays would’ve taken two sets from the Huskers in one match.

Two straight Husker points tied the score at 24 and led to a Blue Jay time to try and stem the Husker momentum.

Creighton won the point out of the timeout to earn their third set point, 24-25, but blasted the serve long, and the score was then tied at 25.

The Husker block came through on the next point to give the Huskers their first set point which the Huskers capitalized on to take the second set 27-25.

Set four started with a Briana Holman on the slide, giving the Huskers the 1-0 lead. Creighton scored the next point, but Nebraska opened a 3-1 lead in the beginning of the set.

Creighton got close again, but Nebraska turned the score back to a 6-3 lead. That advantage, however, was short-lived, as a 3-0 Blue Jay run tied the score at six before a Husker sideout gave the lead and the serve back to the Big Red.

The score waffled between a one-point Husker lead and a tie score, depending on serve, until an ace gave Creighton a 12-13 lead.

Creighton was awarded a point to take a 14-15 lead, but Coach John Cook challenged the call, and when it was overturned, the Huskers assumed the 15-14 advantage.

On a Blue Jay hitting error, the Huskers took a two-point advantage, 17-15, and forced Creighton coach Kirsten Berthal-Booth to use her first timeout of the set.

Creighton closed in to a tie score again, but the Huskers opened the score again to a two-point lead at 20-18, leading to the second timeout for the Blue Jays in the set.

Creighton challenged a call during the Husker run, but the Huskers took the set and match with a 25-18 score in the third.

For the night, the Huskers had one of their worst hitting percentages of the season with a .245. Kadie Rolfzen led the Huskers with 17 kills on the night, hitting .282. Briana Holman added 11 kills of her own and hit .318. The outside hitters, Mikaela Foecke and Andie Malloy, added 11 kills apiece as well.

Kadie Rolfzen nearly had a triple-double on the night, adding 13 digs and nine blocks to her 17 kills. Kadie and Amber Rolfzen combined to keep the Creighton outside hitters under control as Amber also had nine blocks on the night. Justine Wong-Orantes led all Nebraska defenders with 22 digs.

On Friday night, when asked if he thought of Creighton as a rival answered no, very matter-of-factly. He said that Creighton’s a great program and credited Kirsten Bernal-Booth with establishing that, but said that it was simply another non-conference game for the Huskers as they prepare for the season.

The conference schedule starts Friday, September 23 for the Huskers taking on the Michigan Wolverines on the road in Ann Arbor. The game will be available on BTNPlus ($).

GBR