Pavan Earns Big 12 and National Honors

University of Nebraska volleyball player Sarah Pavan earned a pair of honors on Monday, as she was selected as the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week and Big 12 Player of the Week for her performance during the week of Nov. 22-28.

Pavan averaged 5.83 kills, 1.83 blocks, 1.17 digs and 7.00 points per game as Nebraska swept No. 11 Texas and No. 18 Texas A&M last week and claimed the top seed in the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Tournament.

Pavan, who was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year on Sunday, receives the honor for the second time this season, and is the third Husker honored in 2004, joining Jennifer Saleaumua. The Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, native recorded a match-high 15 kills on a .375 hitting percentage while adding a career-high nine blocks in a sweep of the Longhorns. She held Big 12 Player of the Year Mira Topic to a season-low six kills and -.081 hitting.

The freshman opposite hitter needed only 34 swings to record her sixth 20-kill match of the season on Saturday, hitting .529 and adding a pair of blocks in a sweep of Texas A&M. She had seven kills on 10 swings in game two before following up with nine kills on 12 swings (including kills on her first seven attempts) in the finale, as the Huskers became the first conference team to win in College Station this season.

Pavan’s six 20-kill matches are the most by a Husker since 1999 (Nancy Metcalf, 10), and already tops the entire team total of 20-kill matches during the previous three seasons (2003-three, 2002-none, 2001-four).

Pavan and the rest of the top-seeded and No. 1 Cornhuskers stay home in Lincoln to host Iona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday evening at 7 p.m.

Nebraska Climbs to No. 1 in USA Today/CSTV Coaches Poll
Colorado Springs, Colo. ? Nebraska climbed from second to first in the final regular-season USA Today/CSTV Coaches poll released Monday afternoon.

The Huskers, 27-1 on the season and riding a 24-match winning streak, jumped undefeated Hawaii for the nation’s top spot. The Huskers received 30 of the 65 first-place votes and a total of 1,588 points, edging out Hawaii’s total of 1,572 points. Hawaii received the other 35 first-place votes among the 65 coaches that vote in the poll.

The Huskers, who have now been ranked No. 1 for a total of 39 weeks in school history, are one of five Big 12 teams in the final regular-season poll, joining Texas (No. 11), Texas A&M (No. 18), Kansas State (No. 23) and Missouri (No. 24).

The Huskers will host Iona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday evening at 7 p.m. at the NU Coliseum.

No.

School (First-Place Votes)

Total Points

2004 Record

Last Week

1

Nebraska (30)

1,588

27-1

2

2

Hawaii (35)

1,572

28-0

1

3

Penn State

1,494

27-2

4

4

Minnesota

1,384

28-4

5

5

Washington

1,383

24-2

3

6

Stanford

1,258

24-6

7

7

Ohio State

1,219

27-3

8

8

Southern California

1,187

19-5

6

9

Colorado State

1,111

26-3

9

10

Tennessee

1,039

30-2

10

11

Texas

962

24-4

11

12

San Diego

845

22-4

13

13

Florida

832

27-4

12

14

Saint Mary’s (Calif.)

722

23-3

15

15

UCLA

660

18-10

16

16

UC Santa Barbara

633

23-3

17

17

California

574

16-11

14

18

Texas A&M

493

18-8

18

19

Louisville

422

28-2

20

20

Utah

410

23-6

19

21

Arizona

382

18-10

21

22

Florida A&M

270

28-2

22

23

Kansas State

232

19-10

23

24

Missouri

131

19-8

24

25

Ohio

117

28-2

NR