Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations The Huskers improved to 24-1 on the season with Wednesday's win.
Lincoln – Sarah Pavan totaled a match-23 kills on .588 hitting, as No. 1 Nebraska rebounded from its first loss of the season with a 30-16, 30-28, 30-25 victory over Texas A&M Wednesday night at the NU Coliseum.
Pavan, who reached the 20-kill mark for the sixth time this season, finished with 23 kills on just 34 swings and added a season-high three aces and three blocks to help the Huskers improve to 24-1 on the season and 16-1 in Big 12 play. Nebraska turned in one of its best offensive performances of the season, hitting .436 as a team, as both Pavan and Stalls (eight kills on .583 hitting) finished above .500 hitting on the night. Freshman Rachel Holloway totaled 50 assists and guided a Husker attack that saw four players total at least eight kills in NU’s 19th sweep of the year.
The .436 hitting was NU’s best effort in a Big 12 match this season and its second-best total of the year, and Nebraska Coach John Cook was pleased with the Huskers’ offensive focus against the Aggies.
"We came out and played really well in the first game, and that was a concern I had after the way we played Saturday night (against Colorado)," Cook said. "We just did an excellent job with all phases of the game. Sarah (Pavan) certainly made a huge statement tonight about how she wants to finish the season, and overall as a team, offensively, we were awesome."
"We definitely learned a lot (from Colorado) and we bounced back pretty well tonight," Pavan said. "Obviously we didn’t want to make the same mistakes twice, so we made some adjustments from what we did Saturday, and that worked pretty well."
The Huskers opened game one with a flourish, putting down its first 10 attempts en route to a 30-16 victory. Pavan led the charge with six kills on seven swings, while four Huskers had at least three kills in helping NU hit a blistering .552 as a team. Nebraska took control early, using its offense to jump to a quick 12-7 lead. Texas A&M climbed back in the game, pulling to within 14-12, but could not get closer as the Huskers ran off nine unanswered points. Rachel Schwartz did most of the damage at the service line, running off eight straight points, including a pair of aces, as the Huskers took a 23-12 advantage and cruised to a 14-point win.
Game two featured strong offensive performances from both sides, as the Huskers took the final three points to pull out a 30-28 win. Behind Sarah Ammerman’s six kills on 10 swings, the Aggies hit .366 as a team in a game that neither team led by more than three points. As good as the Aggies were, Nebraska was a just as effective, hitting .444, including eight kills from Pavan and five from Larson. Texas A&M got off to a fast start, building an early 7-4 lead before the Huskers ran off four straight points, taking an 8-7 lead on a block by Stalls and Holloway. The teams traded points and were tied at 18 before the Aggies ran off three straight points, taking a three-point lead after a solo block and a kill from Christi Hahn to force a Husker timeout. NU roared back as a service error and two straight Husker blocks tied the game at 22. The teams battled back and forth until Hahn’s kill gave Texas A&M a 28-27 lead. The Huskers fought back, as a Larson kill tied it at 28-all before Pavan slammed home two straight kills to send NU to the locker room up 2-0.
The Aggies, who needed to win their final three matches in hopes of keeping their consecutive NCAA streak alive, gamely fought in game three, hitting .379 in the finale, but the Huskers held on for a 30-25 victory. While Pavan totaled nine kills on 14 swings, the Huskers received a boost from senior Dani Mancuso who totaled five kills on 10 swings to help the Huskers hit .356 as a team. After falling behind by as many as four points early on, the Huskers used a 6-1 run to take an 8-7 lead on an Aggie hitting error. Nebraska eventually pushed the margin to 13-10 after a Mancuso kill and led 25-20 before the Aggies made their final run. Trailing 27-23, Texas A&M took two of the next three rallies to get within 28-25 on a Mary Batis kill. Pavan then took over, slamming two straight kills to cap NU’s 50th consecutive home win.
Ammerman paced Texas A&M (11-15, 4-14 Big 12) with 13 kills, as the Aggies hit .307, the highest match total against Nebraska since 2004 and the highest total by a Husker opponent in the NU Coliseum in at least a decade.
The Huskers return to action on Saturday afternoon, as they host the Baylor Bears beginning at 2 p.m. The match will be carried on selected Pinnacle Sports Network Stations and on Huskers.com, while it will also be video-streamed on HuskersNside.
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 11 6 31 .161 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 20 5 41 .366 Texas A&M........... (0) 16 28 25 11-15, 4-14 Big 12
3 14 3 29 .379 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 24-1, 16-1 Big 12
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 2 29 .552 Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum)
2 21 5 36 .444 Date: Nov 15, 2006 Attend: 4107 Time: 1:23
3 23 7 45 .356 Referees: Marsha Rupert, Rick Welch
Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations
