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OWH
LJS
E. Kentucky
BBS
September 6, 2014
Huskers Sweep Colonels
for Unbeaten Weekend
mug
Fien
mug
Player name
mug
Pollmiller
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                    1   2   3 
E. Kentucky (NR)   12  23   7 
NEBRASKA    (12)   25  25  25 
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Dayton, Ohio. — The 12th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team finished an unbeaten weekend at the Flyer-Raider Invitational with a 3-0 sweep (25-12, 25-23, 25-7) over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at the Frericks Center.

The Big Red went 3-0 at the tournament to improve to 3-2 on the season. In their final match, the Huskers swept aside a 6-1 Eastern Kentucky team that had won five matches in a row and was also unbeaten at the tournament with sweeps of Wright State and IPFW.

Kelsey Fien led the Huskers with 14 kills, while Kadie Rolfzen had 11 kills and hit a career-best .667. Mary Pollmiller had four kills, 29 assists, seven digs and three blocks, while Amber Rolfzen tallied five kills and five digs. Annika Albrecht served up three aces in a row in the third set to blow it open. Melanie Keil had three kills and five blocks.

The Huskers hit .398 as a team, while Eastern Kentucky hit just .053. The Huskers outblocked the Colonels 8-2 and outdug them 42-29. NU's 38 assists also bested EKU's 22. Justine Wong-Orantes added seven assists for the Big Red.

Nebraska cruised in set one to a 25-12 victory. The Huskers broke a 5-5 tie with a 20-7 outburst to wrap up the set. Kadie Rolfzen had five kills on six attacks in the opening frame, and Fien had four as the duo combined for nine of NU's 11 kills in the set. Pollmiller sparked NU with three blocks and eight assists. The Huskers hit .385 as a team and held EKU to a .000 hitting percentage.

The second set was much more competitive, although it didn't look like it would be at the beginning. NU jumped in front 5-0 with a kill and ace from Pollmiller. After the Huskers took a 9-2 lead, Eastern Kentucky inched back into the set with four straight points when it was 15-10 to pull within 15-14. But Amber Rolfzen gave the Huskers a two-point cushion with a kill, and back-to-back EKU errors gave NU an 18-15 advantage. Later in the set, Fien notched back-to-back kills for a 23-18 Husker lead. But the Huskers weren't out of danger just yet, as the Colonels scored consecutive points to cut it to 23-20 and force a Husker timeout. Keil connected down the right side out of the timeout to force set point, but the Huskers made it interesting with two mental errors that cut their lead to one at 24-23. However, Fien and Keil thwarted an EKU attack at the middle of the net to finish the set at 25-23.

A flurry of three aces by Albrecht and three straight kills by Kadie Rolfzen boosted the Huskers to a 13-1 start to set three, and they never let up from there. NU rolled to a 25-7 win in the set, its largest margin of victory this season. The Huskers held two opponents to single-digit points in 25-point sets twice on Saturday after doing so three times all of last year.

The Huskers are back in action at the Devaney Center next Friday when they host the Ameritas Players Challenge. NU will face Denver on Friday at 7 p.m. and Colgate on Saturday at 7 p.m. The tournament begins with Akron vs. Colgate on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Other matches on Saturday are Colgate vs. Denver at 11 a.m. and Akron vs. Denver at 4:30 p.m.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.