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Huskers.com
October 10, 2014
Huskers Fight Past Spartans
for 3-1 Win
mug
Ostrander
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Rolfzen
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Rolfzen
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                    1   2   3  4
MSU      (NR)      20  18  25  23   
NEBRASKA (8)       25  25  22  25 
----------------------------- 
East Lansing, Mich. — The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team battled in a difficult environment to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23) win over Michigan State at Jenison Field House on Friday night.

The Huskers improved to 10-4 on the season and 4-1 in the Big Ten with their third road win this season in as many tries. Michigan State dropped to 9-7 on the season and 2-3 in Big Ten play.

The win was the 1,200th in school history for the Huskers and also snapped a two-match losing streak to the Spartans in East Lansing. Nebraska last won in East Lansing in 2011.

Kadie Rolfzen had her fourth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 12 digs. Alicia Ostrander added 12 kills, and Amber Rolfzen had 10 kills. Meghan Haggerty had five kills and four blocks, and Kira Larson had a career-high four kills and three blocks in her first career start. Mary Pollmiller had 43 assists, her most since Sept. 6 against Bakersfield, and Justine Wong-Orantes led four Huskers in double-digit digs with 19.

Nebraska hit .190 for the match but held Michigan State to a .152 clip. The Huskers outblocked the Spartans 8-6 and outdug them 66-61. The Huskers had eight service aces, their second-best output this season.

The Huskers fell behind 4-1 in set one and despite answering with three straight points were unable to grab an early lead. The Spartans extended the lead to 18-13 with a 6-2 spurt, as the Huskers suffered four service errors to that point. But then Nebraska got back-to-back kills from Ostrander before Michigan State hit long to cut it to 18-16. After Michigan State committed a net violation, Kadie Rolfzen killed and Alexa Ethridge continued her excellent serving run with an ace. Michigan State committed an attacking error, and Haggerty and Pollmiller stuffed the Spartans for a 21-18 lead before the Spartans misfired again, pushing the Nebraska run to 9-0 and the lead to 22-18. Michigan State cut the deficit in half with consecutive points, but that was the last time the Spartans would score in the set as the Huskers completed the comeback with a 25-20 win, ending the set on a 12-2 run.

In set two, the Huskers broke free from a 3-3 deadlock with a 4-0 run to go up 7-3, with two Kadie Rolfzen kills starting and finishing the run. Larson tallied a block with Pollmiller and a kill to give Nebraska an 11-6 advantage. Kadie Rolfzen's seventh kill of the match pushed the NU lead to 15-8. A 4-0 run put Nebraska up 20-10 after another Kadie Rolfzen kill. An Ostrander kill gave the Huskers set point at 24-17 and NU finished things off at 25-18 on a Spartan error. The Huskers hit .351 in the second set with 16 kills and just three errors.

The Huskers led 6-4 in set three before Michigan State put together a 6-0 run for a 10-6 lead. But the Huskers didn't go away, as Kadie Rolfzen and Ostrander posted kills, and Kadie Rolfzen served an ace to cut it to 10-9 and force a Spartan timeout. But out of the timeout, Michigan State scored five straight to go up 15-9 and cause NU to take a timeout. A service ace by Kristen Muir out of the timeout and a Husker attacking error continued the run at 7-0 though, as Nebraska fell down 17-9. The Huskers pulled within 22-20 on kills by Amber Rolfzen and Pollmiller before a Townsend service ace. But after a Spartan timeout, Townsend's serve found the net and gave MSU a 23-20 lead. Kadie Rolfzen's kill made it 23-21, but Michigan State closed out the 25-22 win.

The Huskers used a 4-0 spurt in set four to rally from a 10-8 deficit and go up 12-10, with Ethridge again on the service line. Michigan State reclaimed a 14-13 lead though before Haggerty killed to level the score. The Spartans stayed in front though at 17-15 before hitting wide twice to tie it at 17-17 again. Tied at 19-19, Sydney Townsend came up the most difficult of her career-high 11 digs to keep a play alive that resulted in a 20-19 Husker lead. Haggerty and Pollmiller thwarted a Spartan attack for a 21-19 lead. Later, Amber Rolfzen came up with a big kill to give Nebraska 23-21 lead, but the Huskers then hit long to make it 23-22. Kadie Rolfzen stepped up and recorded the final two points of the match for NU to give the Huskers a 25-23 fourth-set victory.

The Huskers finish their Michigan road trip in Ann Arbor against Michigan on Sunday at Noon (CT).

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.