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Manhattan Mercury
Oct. 16, 2010
 
Werth is strong in sweep of KSU.
 
Manhattan, Kan. — The No. 3 Nebraska volleyball team reeled off its 16th straight win and handed Kansas State its fourth straight loss Saturday night with a 3-0 sweep (25-19, 24-21, 25-18) over the Wildcats (9-11, 3-6) at the Ahearn Field House.

Now 17-1 overall and a perfect 9-0 in the Big 12 Conference the Huskers hit .305 on the night with a match-high 12 kills from Brooke Delano and 10 kills from Hannah Werth, as they both hit over .400 and were the only players on either team to hit double digits in kills. Werth added ten digs to notch her seventh double-double of the season.

The Huskers also brought their serve to Manhattan as they put away a season high eight aces, including three from Lauren Cook and two from Kayla Banwarth.

Kansas State jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first set behind a 5-0 run, resulting in a quick timeout from the Huskers. Nebraska responded in a big way out of the break with a 6-0 run, which included an ace from Cook and three assists from the sophomore setter to three different NU attackers.

The Huskers were unable to separate from the Wildcats though as Kansas State came back to tie the match on three occasions and were eventually took the lead, 13-12. After Kansas State added one more point to take a two-point lead, 14-12, Gina Mancuso put the Huskers on her back as she ended the Wildcats' rally with a kill and then served six straight points, including an ace, to swing the score in Nebraska's favor, 19-14. Kansas State was unable to make another comeback and the Huskers took set one by six, 25-19.

Nebraska hit at a solid clip of .306 in the set while Banwarth anchored the defense with eight digs and the Huskers got two blocks apiece from Morgan Broekhuis and Delano.

Kansas State struck first again in set two and then put together three different multiple-point runs to take an 11-9 lead. But just like in set one the Huskers would not be kept down long as Werth posted two kills during a 5-1 run to help Nebraska take a 14-12 lead. The Huskers weren't done racking up points, as they later added a 4-0 run to expand their lead to five at 18-13.

After the teams traded the next two rallies the Wildcats were able to cut the Huskers lead to two, 19-17, but they would get no closer as a kill from Delano put the Huskers up 2-0 in the match with a 25-21 winner in set two.

In the final set the Huskers took the lead early for the first time all night and never looked back. After swapping the first two rallies Werth put away her eight kill of the night and Banwarth followed with five straight points, including the Huskers sixth ace of the contest, to post a 7-1 lead for NU.

The Wildcats took four of the next six rallies to cut the Nebraska lead to four, but the Huskers enforced their will with a 5-0 run behind two kills from Delano, two Wildcat errors and a kill from Licht, resulting in a nine-point lead, 14-5. The Wildcats failed to make any type of comeback and Nebraska coasted to its third straight sweep with a third set victory, 25-12

The Huskers will now be back in Lincoln for a pair of home matches next week. Nebraska will host the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and then will welcome the Missouri Tigers to the NU Coliseum on Saturday. The match time for Saturday will be set after the kickoff time for Nebraska's football game at Oklahoma State is announced, with that announcement set to come out tomorrow from ABC. Both matches will be shown on NET, while Wednesday night's match will also be show nationally on CBS College Sports.

As always fans can listen to all of the action with John Baylor and Dianne Mendenhall on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Twister 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans outside the state will also be able to listen to a live audio feed for free on Huskers.com.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.