Huskers Storm Past No. 25 Sooners

Norman, Okla. ? Behind an sterling performance from outside hitter Christina Houghtelling, the No. 1 ranked Nebraska volleyball team remained undefeated with a 30-25, 30-21, 30-25 sweep of No. 25 Oklahoma Saturday afternoon in Norman.

 

Houghtelling, who had a career-high 20 kills in NU’s triumph in Norman two years ago, recorded her third straight double-double with 14 kills on a season-best .609 hitting and 19 digs. The .609 hitting was Houghtellling’s highest hitting percentage since hitting .615 against Florida in the 2005 NCAA Omaha Regional.

 

Nebraska Coach John Cook said that setter Rachel Holloway continually put Houghtelling in opportune positions to put shots away against OU. Holloway dished nearly recorded a double-double of her own with 49 assists and eight digs, while helping NU hit .350 or better in the final two games.

 

“I thought Holloway was doing a great job of running our offense, and Chris made the most of when she had sets and found ways to get kills,” Cook said.

 

Sarah Pavan led NU (16-0, 9-0 Big 12) with 16 kills, while Jordan Larson totaled 10 kills and eight digs as the Huskers remained one of only two undefeated teams in the country and became the first team to win in Norman since September of 2006. The Huskers also collected their 14th consecutive sweep, while snapping a 15-match home win streak for Oklahoma (15-4, 7-2 Big 12).

 

NU survived a topsy-turvy weekend that has already seen three of the top-five teams in the nation suffer upsets. In addition, five of the top 10 teams in this week’s AVCA poll had lost over the previous two days, a fact Cook pointed out to his team prior to Saturday’s match.

 

“It is always good to get out of here with a 3-0 win and, I reminded the team of that,” Cook said. Their last loss was here to us, and today was a good win for us. With all of the upsets around the country, we talked about bringing our “A” game every night and how everyone is going to take their best shot. We are almost at the halfway point of the Big 12 season and we talked about being focused.”

 

The Huskers out-hit Oklahoma, .316-.177 and totaled nine blocks to just four from the Sooners.

 

The Huskers relied on a stout defense and strong efforts from its outside hitters in pulling away late in a 30-25 victory in the opener. NU held the Sooners to .136 hitting and totaled four blocks, including three from Kori Cooper, while Houghtelling and Pavan combined for 10 kills. Neither team was able to string together any points in a game that saw 16 ties and 10 lead changes before NU took over down the stretch. Trailing 21-19, the Huskers ran off five straight points behind three kills from Pavan and a strong defense to a 24-21 lead after a block from Cooper and Larson. Oklahoma got to within 26-24 on a Sarah Weiland, but could not get closer. After an OU hitting error, Rachel Schwartz ran off two straight points to put NU within game point and the Sooners’ second service error match gave the Husker a four-point win.

 

Nebraska, which hit just .182 in the opener, got its offense rolling in game two, hitting .415 as a team in posting a 30-21 victory. The Husker

middle blockers carried the banner, as Tracy Stalls and Cooper combined for nine kills on 13 swings. NU trailed only once ? at 1-0 - and seized the momentum early on by using a 4-1 spurt, turning a 10-8 lead into a five-point advantage at 14-9 on a Houghtelling kill. Trailing 19-14, Oklahoma made a run of its own and pulled to within 19-17 on a Hannah Sharp ace. Pavan ended the spurt with a kill, and an Oklahoma miscue quickly pushed the NU advantage back to four points at 21-17. Nebraska led 22-18 before salting the game away by winning seven of the next eight rallies to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.

 

In the finale, the Huskers looked like they were going to run and hide, scoring the first six points and forcing the Sooners to burn an early timeout. After taking a 7-1 lead, the Huskers allowed Oklahoma (15-4, 7-2 Big 12) to fight back, as the Sooners won even of the next eight rallies to get to within 9-8 on a Mariana Blum kill. Oklahoma continued its charge and tied the game at 15-all as Samantha Arriaran’s dig fell on the Husker side of the net. The team’s traded points until Houghtelling’s kill gave NU the lead for good and sparked a 3-0 spurt that put NU up 23-20. The Sooners got to within 25-23, but a kill from Stalls and two big swings from Larson helped NU push the lead to five before Houghtelling’s final kill found the floor capped NU’s 15th sweep in 16 matches.

 

Bridget Laplante led OU with 10 kills and 12 digs for a double-double, while Blum finished with eight kills and 11 digs in a losing effort.

 

The Huskers will return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 17, as they travel to Columbia, Mo., for a matchup with the Missouri Tigers. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Hearnes Center.

 

Volleyball Box Score The Automated ScoreBook #1 Nebraska vs #25 Oklahoma (Oct 13, 2007 at Norman, Okla.)

Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Houghtelling, Chris. 3| 14 0 23 .609| 0| 1 1| 1| 19| 2 0 0| 0 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 3| 16 3 37 .351| 0| 1 3| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0 10 Larson, Jordan...... 3| 10 8 36 .056| 1| 1 1| 1| 8| 1 2 1| 0 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 3| 9 1 14 .571| 1| 0 1| 1| 2| 0 2 0| 0 12 Holloway, Rachel.... 3| 0 0 2 .000| 49| 0 0| 0| 8| 0 1 0| 1 15 Cooper, Kori........ 3| 8 4 20 .200| 2| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 4 0| 0 1 Griffin, Maggie..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 2 Banwarth, Kayla..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 4 Licht, Lindsey...... 1| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0 5 Schwartz, Rachel.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 2| 2| 15| 0 0 0| 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 58 16 133 .316| 56| 3 8| 5| 55| 3 12 1| 1

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 14 6 44 .182 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 20 3 41 .415 Nebraska............ (3) 30 30 30 16-0, 9-0 Big 12 3 24 7 48 .354 Oklahoma............ (0) 25 21 25 15-4, 7-2 Big 12

Oklahoma | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Chester, Julie...... 3| 2 1 3 .333| 24| 0 0| 0| 6| 0 0 1| 4 3 Stadel, Anna........ 3| 7 5 21 .095| 0| 1 0| 0| 3| 0 3 0| 0 6 Weiland, Sarah...... 3| 7 4 22 .136| 2| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0 9 Laplante, Bridget... 3| 10 6 39 .103| 1| 2 0| 0| 12| 0 1 1| 0 11 Ekwerekwu, Francie.. 3| 6 1 13 .385| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0 13 Blum, Mariana....... 3| 8 2 20 .300| 2| 0 0| 2| 11| 0 3 0| 0 5 Barnes, Lacy........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0 10 Arriaran, Samantha.. 2| 1 0 2 .500| 8| 1 1| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0 12 Disarro, Chrissy.... 2| 0 0 4 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 14 Sharp, Hannah....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 1 0| 1| 8| 0 0 0| 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals.............. 3| 41 19 124 .177| 41| 5 3| 3| 49| 0 8 2| 4

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 16 10 44 .136 Site: Norman, Okla. (McCasland Fieldhouse) 2 12 8 39 .103 Date: Oct 13, 2007 Attend: 1181 Time: 1:44 3 13 1 41 .293 Referees: Mike Denardo, Ed Halik

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