Huskers Record Fourth Straight Sweep With Win Over Baylor

Lincoln -- On a night in which she was named one of seven members of the Nebraska Volleyball All-Century team, junior Nancy Meendering led the No. 12 Huskers (23-5, 15-3 Big 12) to a 15-7, 15-7, 15-9 win over No. 22 Baylor (23-8, 11-7) in the Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday. Meendering slammed a team-high 14 kills and added 13 digs to lead NU to its fourth straight three-game sweep in front of 8,279 fans, the third-largest crowd in school history.

"I'm certainly happy to win in three," Nebraska Head Coach Terry Pettit said. "Baylor is a dangerous team. But our blocking defense was really good in the first couple of games."

Baylor opened the match with four straight points behind a pair of Sunny Nicholas kills. Nebraska came back quickly to tie the game at five on an attack error by Nicholas. The Huskers then went on a 10-2 run to take game one, 15-7, behind four kills from junior Angie Oxley, who finished with five.

Nebraska stormed into game two the same way it finished game one. Four attacking errors by Baylor and two of Jenny Kropp's four second-game kills gave Nebraska the 7-0 lead. The Bears took three of the next five points to close to within six of the Huskers. After trading points for awhile, Baylor again closed to within six of the Huskers at 13-7. But Kropp ended the Bears comeback hopes as she finished out game two with a pair of kills to give NU its second 15-7 win.

The Huskers took the first four points of game three after five sideouts to start the game. Baylor pulled to within one at 4-5 behind a Tatiana Kenon kill. Nebraska took the next five points with the Bears committing three attacking errors. A service ace by Baylor's Kia Young put the Bears within four at 10-6, but Nebraska closed out the sweep with a 5-3 run and ended the game with Meendering's 14th kill of the match for the 15-9 win.

Nebraska held Baylor to a .053 hitting percentage on 132 attacks, while the Huskers hit .274 with Meendering and Kropp registering in at .438 and .419, respectively.

"Overall we did a nice job defensively," Pettit said. "Amber and Jenny were very alert in the middle. We had a good match up there. Physically, we were a lot bigger then they were, so they were quite effective."

"Nebraska is the only team we haven't beaten," Baylor Head Coach Brian Hosfeld said. We don't play against teams like that. We would love to train against them."

"Physically they are a Final Four team," Hosfeld said. "It's just a matter of playing to that ability."

Nebraska leads the Big 12 by a game depending on Texas' match with Colorado. The Huskers improved to 25-0 all time against Baylor.