Huskers Take on Illinois Saturday Night

Lincoln - With a full NU Coliseum and a top-10 opponent, it will seem more like fall than a spring exhibition match for the Nebraska Volleyball program when the Huskers take on Illinois Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Over 4,000 tickets have been sold as Saturday's attendance will easily shatter the previous spring best of 2,792, set in 2008 when the Huskers hosted Kentucky. NU Coliseum gates will open at 5:30 p.m. for Saturday's match.

In addition, the match will be carried exclusively on Huskers.com, as the Husker Sports Network will wrap up the busiest sports day of the year with their first-ever broadcast of a spring volleyball match. Matt Coatney and Diane Mendenhall will be on the call as the Huskers play their second of three spring matches this month.

For Nebraska volleyball fans, Saturday's match will be an early preview of the 2010 Huskers. Nebraska welcomes back six starters and 12 letterwinners from a team that went 26-7 and lost in the NCAA Regional final to NCAA runner-up Texas. Nebraska welcomes back six starters from last year, including two-time All-American setter Sydney Anderson and fellow AVCA All-Americans Brooke Delano and Tara Mueller. In addition, the Huskers also return Big 12 Freshman of the Year Hannah Werth along with right-side hitter Lindsey Licht and libero Kayla Banwarth.

While the Huskers will be at less than full strength this weekend (Lauren Cook will not play Saturday because of illness), Morgan Broekhuis is expected to see significant action in her NU Coliseum debut. A 6-foot-5 freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., she was named the ESPN Rise National High School Player of the Year after leading Colorado Springs Christian to a 30-0 record. As a senior, she totaled .465 kills on .479 hitting and 411 assists in helping the school to its third straight state title. A two-time Gatorade Colorado player of the Year, Broekhuis was the nation's No. 2 recruit by Prepvolleyball.com in 2009.

The Huskers opened their spring campaign with a split at Arizona State, as the team agreed to play only four sets prior to the match.

Illinois, which will return to Lincoln this fall for the Ameritas Players Challenge weekend, will pose a tough test for the Huskers. The Fighting Illini went 26-6 last season and finished 10th in the final AVCA Coaches polls. Illinois, which has played spring matches against both Kentucky (L, 2-3) and Iowa State (W, 3-2), returns six of its top eight players from last year's NCAA Regional semifinalist. UI is led by first-team All-America outside hitter Laura DeBruler, who ranked 13th nationally in kills per set (4.50) last season.