Box score OWH LJS: 1,* 2,* 3* Texas Hookem.com ESPN BTN Volleyball mag Hail Varsity: 1, 2 Daily Nebraskan Corn Nation BBS Photos Huskers.com LJS* Hail Varsity* Video NCAA Post Game PC from LJS |
in NCAA Semifinal
Foecke | Holman | Rolfzen |
----------------------------- 1 2 3 Texas (4) 25 25 25 NEBRASKA (1) 18 23 21 ----------------------------- |
The Huskers finished the season with a 31-3 record for the program's highest winning percentage (.912) since 2008. Texas (27-4) advanced to face Stanford in the NCAA Championship at 8 p.m. (CT) on Saturday night.
Texas led for most of the first and third sets in its 25-18 and 25-21 wins. The Longhorns pulled away from a 20-20 tie in set two for the deuce win, 25-23.
Mikaela Foecke led the Huskers with 13 kills, while Briana Holman had nine kills. Nebraska couldn't get on track offensively, hitting .182, its second-lowest mark of the season. Texas had the edge at the net with a 10-4 blocks advantage, and the Longhorns hit .321, becoming the only team to hit over .300 against the Huskers this season.
Ebony Nwanebu had 15 kills on .378 hitting for the Longhorns. Paulina Prieto Cerame had 12 kills.
Set 1: Texas jumped out to a 7-4 lead despite just one kill, as the Huskers committed four attacking errors, two of which were Texas blocks. A kill by Holman, followed by a Texas hitting error and a Foecke kill knotted the score at 9-9. Texas regained a 14-10 lead with a 4-0 run before serving long. Kadie Rolfzen terminated from the right side to cut it to 15-12, but Texas won a challenge review that reversed a 15-13 score to 16-12 after the Huskers were ruled to have touched an attack by White. Foecke pulled the Huskers within 17-15 with a kill and block, but the Horns answered with two straight blocks to go up 19-15. Texas had an answer for every Husker kill, taking a 23-18 lead on an ace by Nwanebu. The Longhorns won 25-18, ending the set on a 4-0 run. Texas outhit Nebraska .323 to .108 in the set.
Set 2: The Huskers grabbed a 3-0 lead before the Longhorns scored three straight to tie it. Malloy pounded three kills to boost the Huskers to a 7-6 lead. Kadie Rolfzen and Holman each gave Nebraska two-point cushions, but Texas sided out both times. The Longhorns went ahead 13-12 after a net violation by the Big Red, and Texas took a 16-14 lead following a Husker hitting error. A block by Holman and Hunter pulled the Huskers level again at 16-16, but the teams sided out to a 20-20 tie after a tip kill by Kadie Rolfzen ended a long rally. The Longhorns got a block from White and Morgan Johnson to take a 22-20 lead. Kadie Rolfzen then powered down a kill, but the Horns went up 23-21 to force Nebraska's final timeout of the set. The Longhorns gained set point at 24-22 and eventually won 25-23 on a kill by Prieto Cerame.
Set 3: The Huskers were 2-0 this season when dropping the first two sets (at Michigan State and vs. Penn State), so optimism remained. But Texas got a leg up on NU with a pair of blocks to build a 6-2 lead. Texas led 11-7 before kills by Foecke and Hunter sliced the lead in half. After Texas went up by four again, the Huskers used back-to-back stuff blocks - one by Holman and Hunter and one by the Rolfzen twins - to pull within 15-13. Kills by Amber Rolfzen and Malloy had the Huskers within 16-15 and forced a Texas timeout. Prieto Cerame and Nwanebu produced kills for the Longhorns after the timeout, and a communication error on the next Husker attack gave Texas a 19-15 lead. Malloy tallied a kill after a timeout, and Foecke put a kill right on the line before a Texas hitting error trimmed its lead to 19-18. But White swung Texas back to a 21-18 lead. Amber Rolfzen's kill on the slide made it 21-19, but a tip by Nwanebu and block by White and Johnson put the Horns up 23-19. Foecke kept the Huskers' hopes alive with a kill, but the Longhorns took match point at 24-20 and won the match on the next rally on Johnson's fourth kill of the match.
Nebraska Post-Match Notes