 Fien |  Rolfzen |  Rolfzen |
-----------------------------
1 2 3
Rutgers (NR) 23 21 18
NEBRASKA (14) 25 25 25
----------------------------- | ||
The win was the first-ever for the Huskers against their new Big Ten foe, although the teams only met once previously in 1978.
Kadie Rolfzen led the Huskers (13-7, 7-4 Big Ten) with 20 kills and hit .372. Kelsey Fien added 12 kills, and Amber Rolfzen had eight kills, nine digs and four blocks. Melanie Keil chipped in six kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Mary Pollmiller had 42 set assists, and Justine Wong-Orantes led the team in digs with 16.
Lauren Cloyd led Rutgers (7-17, 0-11 Big Ten) with 12 kills, and Mikaela Matthews had eight. The two had just two combined attacking errors and hit .439, while the rest of the Scarlet Knights hit .051 on the night.
The Huskers hit .292 as a team to .198 for Rutgers. Nebraska had a 49-47 advantage in digs. Rutgers outblocked NU 9.0-6.5.
The Huskers had to play from behind to begin the match, rallying from a 14-11 deficit to take a 15-14 lead after four consecutive kills by Kadie Rolfzen. That lead marked NU's first of the match. Rutgers, however, did not go away and had the set even at 23-23, forcing the Huskers' second timeout. Nebraska finished strong, though, with a Kadie Rolfzen kill and a Pollmiller/Meghan Haggerty stuff to finish the set at 25-23. Rutgers outhit NU .361 to .298 in the first set and had a 5-1 blocks advantage. But Nebraska scored 20 of its 25 points on kills. Kadie and Amber Rolfzen had nine and five kills in the set, respectively, and the duo combined to hit .393.
Nebraska jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second set, but Rutgers regrouped and rallied to take a 10-9 lead on a Matthews kill. Kira Larson entered the match and produced two key kills to give the Huskers one-point leads, but Rutgers tied it each time. The Huskers put together a 3-0 run to go up 20-17 with a kill by Fien and a block by Amber Rolfzen and Keil. But Rutgers fought to win the next two points and cut it to 20-19. The Huskers finished out the 25-21 win on the strong play at the net of Larson and Amber Rolfzen. The two teamed up for back-to-back blocks and got their hands on numerous other Scarlet Knight attacks to ensure the Huskers took a 2-0 lead.
Set three was back and forth, but Kadie Rolfzen tipped a kill, and Pollmiller won a joust at the net for a 14-11 Big Red lead. Rutgers pulled within 15-14, but consecutive kills by Fien and a hitting error by Rutgers made it 18-14 NU. Leading 19-17, the Huskers got another kill from Fien and Annika Albrecht's second ace of the night to go up 21-17. After a Rutgers timeout, Keil and Amber Rolfzen combined for a block, and then Keil and Kadie Rolfzen teamed up to put NU up 23-17 before the Huskers wrapped up the sweep.
The Huskers are right back at it on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) at Maryland, who was swept by Iowa on Friday evening. No TV or Internet viewing options are available for Saturday's match.