Volleyball: #4 Huskers Sweep Hawkeyes

On Saturday night, the #4 Nebraska Cornhuskers Women’s Volleyball team took a trip to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. The team returned home with another sweep 25-18, 25-17, 25-20.

Mikaela Foecke led all Husker attackers with ten kills to hit .172. Briana Holman hit .400 with eight kills, and Annika Albrecht had nine kills to hit .300. Jazz Sweet hit .263 on the right side with seven kills on a well-balanced offensive night for the Huskers.

While Wednesday night’s match against Michigan State was a defensive slugfest, the defensive numbers on Saturday were a lot less gaudy. The Huskers had 46 digs and eight blocks to Iowa’s 40 digs and four and a half blocks. The Husker defense was led by Kelly Hunter’s eleven digs, but Hunter was joined in double digits by Libero Kenzie Maloney with ten and Sydney Townsend with ten. Lauren Stivrins again led the Husker block with one solo block and three block assists.

Maloney led an impressive Husker serve attack. Maloney had two of the Huskers’ three aces on the night. While the Huskers also had four errors, the Hawkeyes had five erroneous serves with no aces.

Iowa is going to be a sneaky opponent for B1G teams this year. While their 2-4 B1G record seems pedestrian at best, they’ve beaten a ranked Michigan team and taken a set from Penn State. Though this was an easy trap match for the Big Red, the women were more than ready to handle their business on Saturday night.

This team is proving every match that they are prepared to be very successful in the B1G this season. Yes, this is an evolving view on my part, but the Huskers have had great balance on offense, and the outside hitters are prepared, and even eager, to terminate when the ball comes their way no matter the circumstance.

Wednesday night sees the Huskers travel to Madison in a re-match against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers are ranked #7 in the nation and will be anxious to avenge the five-set loss in Lincoln on September 30th in Lincoln. That match will be available on BTN and BTN2Go at 8:00 PM Central.

GBR