Volleyball: #9 Huskers Rebound Against Ohio State

The #9 Nebraska Women’s Volleyball team headed to the last stop of an absolutely brutal road trip on a three-game slide, after losing three straight matches at top ten teams. The last stop ended up being exactly what the team needed as the Huskers knocked off the Buckeyes 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-12, 25-9).

Lauren Stivrins had a monster night, setting a career high with 16 kills and only one error. The sophomore middle blocker hit .789 for the night. As a team, the Huskers hit .407 with senior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke adding 12 kills.

The Huskers had ten blocks and 59 digs defensively. Foecke led the way at the net, stoning six Ohio State attacks with help. Senior libero Kenzie Maloney had 14digs while freshman setter Nicklin Hames had 13.

As the score shows, this was a much better performance by the young Husker squad. Ohio State is not an elite B1G team by any means, but it’s a program that has had Nebraska’s number in years past, including wins in Devaney.

After the loss to Minnesota in Lincoln a couple of weeks ago, Stivrins was one of the players, along with Maloney, who said simply that the team just wasn’t playing Husker volleyball. She asserted herself as one of the leaders of the team, she is a redshirt sophomore, in that press conference and has worked to do so on the court ever since. It’s difficult to depend on a middle on a regular basis to be your leading attacker for a variety of reasons, but Stivrins is stepping into a leadership role for a team that’s looked lost for it.

Although the Huskers are returning home, the schedule doesn’t get any easier with the next two matches against #6 Illinois and then #4 Penn State. The Illinois match will be Saturday at 7:00 PM Central. That match will be available on BTN. Penn State is the following Friday, November 2nd.

GBR