#1 Husker Volleyball Hosts Rutgers for Their Final Match of the Weekend

Even though Husker Nation is still on cloud 9 after that amazing win over Wisconsin, the world keeps turning and it did last night as the Huskers welcomed Maryland into Lincoln.

Last night, the Huskers swept Maryland in a quick three sets to advance to 20-0 on the season.

There has been sort of a trend with the Huskers when they play teams that aren’t highly ranked. The Huskers have been playing down to their opponents level and giving them hope that they can win. We saw this against Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, etc.

Nebraska will need to play lights out on Saturday just so Rutgers won’t believe they have a chance. Now that they are #1, they have a huge target on their back and everyone wants to beat them.

This week, we saw two Huskers receive B1G honors and these are very much deserved after that hard fought win against Wisconsin.

Merritt Beason received Player of the Week again. She was also named AVCA National Player of the Week. She had 4.25 kills/set and 1.75 digs/set against Northwestern and Wisconsin. She also added five blocks and two aces.

Bergen Reilly received Setter of the Week honors. She averaged 11 assists/set and 2.88 digs/set against Northwestern and Wisconsin. She adds six kills, three aces, and three blocks to this as well.

Rutgers is currently 9-11 on the season, as of October 27th, and are currently on a four match losing streak. They will face the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday night before coming into Lincoln on Saturday.

Rutgers nine wins this season come against North Carolina A&T, Virginia, Winthrop, Howard, Rider, Morgan State, Columbia, Marist, and Minnesota.

Minnesota is the only impressive win on this list while the others come against teams that are considered low level DI teams. Rutgers will be looking to add a win against #1 Nebraska to this list.

Their win over Minnesota is their only conference win on the year so far. Minnesota is a pretty good team so the Huskers will need to work to beat this Rutgers team or else they could end up with a one in the loss column for the first time this season.

Redshirt Sophomore Alissa Kinkela has been a strong force for this Scarlet Knights team. She leads the team with 230 kills and is hitting .259. Senior Kristina Grkovic adds 165 kills and is hitting .342. These two will probably be the big two hitters at the net against the Huskers.

Redshirt Sophomore Rikki Williams leads this Rutgers defense with 64 total blocks. She has 56 assisted and 8 solo. Kinkela adds 55 blocks as well which shows that she is an all-around player and will probably have a big game against the Huskers.

Just like the Huskers, Rutgers does seem to have a lot of underclassmen this year with lots of freshman and sophomores. A lot of these underclassmen do seem to be the leaders in the stat lines as well.

The Huskers will look to be undefeated on the weekend, and continue to be undefeated on the year.

Although the win against Wisconsin was nothing short of amazing, the Huskers will need to keep proving why they are the #1 team. This weekend is the start of that when they play their first matches as #1.

First serve is tomorrow, October 28th, at 7:30pm CDT at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, NE.

#1 Nebraska (20-0, B1G 11-0)

#2 Bergen Reilly 6’1” FR S
#5 Bekka Allick 6’4” SO MB
#6 Laney Choboy 5’3” FR DS/Libero
#7 Maisie Boesiger 5’6” SO DS/Libero
#8 Lexi Rodriguez 5’5” JR DS/Libero
#9 Kennedi Orr 6’0” JR S
#10 Caroline Jurevicius 6’2” FR OH
#11 Hayden Kubik 6’2” SO OH
#13 Merritt Beason 6’4” JR OH
#14 Ally Batenhorst 6’5” JR OH
#15 Andi Jackson 6’3” FR MB
#22 Lindsay Krause 6’4” JR OH
#27 Harper Murray 6’2” FR OH
#44 Maggie Mendelson 6’5” SO MB

Rutgers (10-11, B1G 2-9)

#2 Madyson Chitty 5’5” SR DS/Libero
#3 Kenzie Dyrstad 5’7” FR DS/Libero
#4 Rikki Williams 6’1” Redshirt Sophomore MB
#5 Alyssa Nayar 5’10” 5th Year S
#8 Lexi Visintine 6’0” SO OH/DS
#12 Taylor Humphrey 6’3” SO OH
#14 Anna Hartman 6’2” FR OH
#16 Kristina Grkovic 6’2” SR MB
#20 Bekah Williams 5’9” SO OH
#22 Alissa Kinkela 6’4” Redshirt Sophomore OH