Middle blockers Tracy Stalls and Kori Cooper combined for 14 kills and seven blocks, as top-ranked Nebraska posted a 30-27, 30-17, 30-24 sweep of Texas Tech Saturday afternoon.
The Huskers, who improved to 11-0 on the season and 3-0 in Big 12 play, used a revamped lineup, starting Maggie Griffin at setter and Kori Cooper at middle blocker for the first time this season.
The results paid off as Cooper totaled five kills on .455 hitting and a block in her first career start, while Griffin nearly posted a double-double with 43 assists and nine digs. NU hit .317 as a team, its best performance in four matches.
Nebraska Head Coach John Cook was impressed the performance of Griffin, who started in NU’s 6-2 offense last season, in her first extensive action of the season.
“We have been planning for about three weeks to give her this game on this weekend to see what she can do,” Cook said. “I thought she did a great job tonight. We didn’t give her great passing, but it was fun to see her play. She really knows the game well, and that’s her advantage, she’s very experienced.”
Stalls keyed NU’s middle blocker attack, as the junior totaled nine kills on .727 hitting also added six blocks as four Huskers totaled at least eight kills in the win. All-American Sarah Pavan led NU with 19 kills on .351 hitting, while Jordan Larson totaled her team-best seventh double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs. Dani Mancuso also totaled eight kills, four blocks and four digs for NU, which posted its 10th sweep in 11 matches.
The Huskers held Texas Tech (8-6, 0-4 Big 12) to just .104 hitting and out-dug the Red Raiders, 58-39, as Dani Busboom recorded a match-high 14 digs, while Rachel Schwartz established a career high with 12 digs.
The Huskers struggled early in game one before regrouping for a 30-27 victory. Stalls carried the NU attack with five kills in six swings, but NU hit just .149 and committed nine errors. Phillister Sang had two straight kills and a block, as the Red Raiders ran off four straight points to build a 22-17 advantage. NU then regouped, as Mancuso’s kill triggered a 10-3 spurt that saw NU take the lead at 26-25 on a Larson service ace. Tech got within 27-26, but kills by Pavan and Mancuso pushed the margin to three points before Stalls’ fifth kill of the game closed out game one.
Nebraska began to heat up in game two, hitting .528 as a team to roll to a 30-17 win. Pavan totaled eight kills on 12 swings, while Stalls was perfect on four swings and added a pair of blocks. Leading 15-11, Stalls had two kills and a pair of stuffs in a 7-1 run that gave the Huskers 22-12 advantage and NU took a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
In the finale, the Huskers turned up the defense and pulled away later in a 30-24 victory. Pavan topped NU with seven kills, while the Huskers held the Tech to just .073 hitting and out-dug the visitors 17-12. Texas Tech was within 17-16 before Larson had consecutive kills as part of a run of three unanswered points to make it 20-16. The Red Raiders pulled to within 26-22, but a Larson kill and a Red Raider attack error pushed it to six points and closed the match out moments later on Pavan’s 19th kill of the afternoon.
Sang led Texas Tech with 13 kills, 10 digs and three blocks, while Kiley Lyons had nine kills in the loss.
Nebraska continues its busy weekend on Sunday, as they travel to Qwest Center Omaha to take on the Creighton Bluejays. As of 4 p.m., over 10,700 tickets have been sold for the matchup between the state’s two Division I programs.
Nebraska Volleyball
Texas Tech vs #1 Nebraska (Sep 23, 2006 at Lincoln, NE)
Texas Tech | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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4 Charlebois, Amy..... 3| 8 2 21 .286| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 1 1| 0
6 Sang, Philister..... 3| 13 5 38 .211| 1| 0 0| 2| 10| 1 2 0| 0
8 Lyons, Kiley........ 3| 9 5 28 .143| 0| 2 0| 1| 5| 0 0 0| 0
11 Ziegler, Emily...... 3| 0 2 6 -.333| 21| 0 3| 0| 8| 0 0 0| 1
15 Ostmeyer, Alicia.... 2| 1 3 8 -.250| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 3 1| 0
18 Gottschalk, Laura... 3| 1 2 6 -.167| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 1| 0
1 Pauley, Jamye....... 1| 2 1 3 .333| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0
2 Hicks, Holly........ 3| 1 0 3 .333| 12| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0
7 Bucy, Robyn......... 2| 2 2 8 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
9 Harrell, Jenn....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 1 0| 2| 6| 0 0 0| 1
10 Hiller, Amanda...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
12 Flores, Michelle.... 3| 1 3 4 -.500| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 1| 0
14 Louis, Lindsey...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 38 25 125 .104| 37| 3 4| 5| 39| 1 8 4| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 14 10 44 .091 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 11 5 40 .150 Texas Tech.......... (0) 27 17 24 8-6, 0-4 Big 12
3 13 10 41 .073 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 11-0, 4-0 Big 12
Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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1 Griffin, Maggie..... 3| 3 1 9 .222| 43| 0 0| 0| 9| 0 1 4| 4
5 Schwartz, Rachel.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 1 0| 0| 12| 0 0 0| 0
9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 19 6 37 .351| 2| 3 2| 0| 1| 1 0 1| 0
10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 10 4 24 .250| 3| 1 2| 2| 13| 1 1 0| 0
11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 9 1 11 .727| 1| 0 1| 0| 4| 1 5 0| 0
15 Cooper, Kori........ 3| 5 0 11 .455| 0| 0 0| 1| 1| 0 1 0| 0
7 Mancuso, Dani....... 3| 8 4 28 .143| 1| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 4 1| 0
12 Holloway, Rachel.... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
18 Busboom, Dani....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 1| 0| 14| 0 0 0| 1
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Totals.............. 3| 54 16 120 .317| 52| 5 6| 3| 58| 3 12 6| 5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 9 47 .149 Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum)
2 22 3 36 .528 Date: Sep 23, 2006 Attend: 4111 Time: 1:25
3 16 4 37 .324 Referees: Dave Chalupa, Rick Welch
Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations
