Huskers Host Ameritas Players Challenge

After a 3-0 weekend on the road at the Flyer-Raider Invitational in Dayton, Ohio last weekend, the 11th-ranked Nebraska volleyball team returns home to host the Ameritas Players Challenge on Friday and Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The four-team tournament includes Nebraska, Akron, Colgate and Denver. The Huskers and Akron will play just two matches total, while Colgate and Denver will each play three matches. The tournament begins on Friday with Akron facing Colgate at 4:30 p.m. The Huskers host Denver Friday at 7 p.m. A tripleheader on Saturday begins with Colgate vs. Denver at 11 a.m. Denver then turns around to play Akron at 4:30 p.m. The Huskers and Colgate wrap up play Saturday at 7 p.m.

Husker volleyball season-ticket holders may attend every match of the tournament as long as they present their Husker match tickets for that day. The Huskers will take part in the 7 p.m. finale each day, but the doors and parking lots will open in time for the first match of the day (3:30 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday), and tickets will be valid all day. Fans will not be required to leave the Devaney Center between matches. They also can come and go throughout the day by having their tickets scanned as they enter and leave the Devaney Center.

Media Information
Friday’s match against Denver will stream online on BTN Plus, which fans can purchase for $9.95 for one month’s access. Saturday’s match will be available online with a HuskersNSide subscription at Huskers.com. Fans can also listen to the action with John Baylor and Diane Mendenhall on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and The Wolf 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans inside and outside the state of Nebraska will also be able to catch the live audio feed on Huskers.com for free.

Last Time Out
After the Huskers dropped their first two matches of the season to Florida State and Stanford at home, going on the road last weekend proved to be just what the Huskers needed. NU posted wins over Dayton (3-0), Bakersfield (3-1) and Eastern Kentucky (3-0) and became more consistent as the weekend went on, culminating with a 25-7 third-set win over Eastern Kentucky. Kelsey Fien had a breakout weekend, notching a career-high 17 kills in the win over Bakersfield. For the weekend, the junior outside hitter had 4.3 kills per set and hit .340. All-American Kadie Rolfzen got untracked with 4.1 kills per set while hitting .398.

Up Next
Nebraska plays its final two non-conference matches at home next week. The Huskers host in-state rival Creighton on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. It will air on NET and BTN Plus. The Huskers finish non-conference play when No. 2 Texas visits the Devaney Center on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. That match will also air on NET and BTN Plus.

Noting the Huskers
• Last Saturday, Nebraska beat Eastern Kentucky 25-7 in set three and Bakersfield 25-8 in set two. Nebraska held three opponents to single-digit points in 25-point sets three times all of last year and did so just twice in 2012 and once in 2011.
• Junior outside hitter Kelsey Fien notched a career-high 17 kills against Bakersfield. Fien may have had extra motivation, as she is a native of Bakersfield, Calif. For the weekend, she averaged 4.3 kills per set to lead the Big Red, and she is the only Husker averaging more than three kills per set this season at 4.0, which ranks second in the Big Ten and 53rd nationally.
• Senior setter Mary Pollmiller and sophomore outside hitter Kadie Rolfzen were named to the Flyer-Raider Invitational All-Tournament Team, with Pollmiller taking home MVP honors.
• After a tough opening weekend, Kadie Rolfzen responded at the Flyer-Raider Invitational with a season-high 15 kills against Dayton and Bakersfield and a career-best .667 hitting percentage against Eastern Kentucky. Rolfzen averaged 4.1 kills per set after 1.0 kills per set on opening weekend.
• The Huskers rank second in the Big Ten in digs per set (15.53). Kadie Rolfzen (3.38 per set) and Justine Wong-Orantes (3.24 per set) lead the Big Red.
• With its No. 11 ranking, Nebraska has appeared in every one of the AVCA’s 465 all-time weekly polls. NU and Stanford are the only two programs to appear in every AVCA poll, dating back to its inception in 1982.
• Nebraska has spent a nation-leading 418 weeks in the top 10.
• The Huskers are 226-0 under Cook when hitting .300 or better.
• NU is 367-15 (.961) when winning the first set under John Cook.
• Nebraska is 138-39 against ranked teams under Cook (.780).
• Just over one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (416) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 203 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 188-15 record during the streak.

Series History
• Nebraska will be playing Denver for the first time.
• The Huskers are 1-0 all-time against Colgate, sweeping the Raiders on Sept. 1, 2012 (25-12, 25-19, 25-13) in Irvine, Calif.

Scouting the Denver Pioneers
Denver is 5-2 after opening the season with five wins before dropping its last two, 3-1 to Kansas and 3-0 at Colorado State on Tuesday. The Pioneers went 3-0 at the College Park Maverick Classic in Arlington, Texas to start the season, posting wins over Jackson State (3-0), Incarnate Word (3-1) and UT Arlington (3-2). Denver also swept Sam Houston State and Bradley before dropping its last two.

The Pioneers have six starters back from last year’s squad that went 17-13 and finished second in the Summit League at 10-4. The Pioneers were picked as the Summit League preseason favorite this season. Moni Corrujedo leads the team with 74 kills and is averaging 3.36 per set. She was Denver’s leader last year as well with 323 kills (2.96 per set). Setter Bailey Karst averages 9.05 assists per set and 2.18 digs per set. Kate Acker leads the team with 4.0 digs per set.
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney is in his third season at the helm with a record of 39-28. Mahoney was the head coach at Fort Hays State from 1999-2004 and compiled a 107-82 record before becoming an associate head coach at Colorado State.

Scouting the Colgate Raiders
Colgate enters the weekend with a 2-2 record with wins over Niagara and Cleveland State and three-set losses to Pennsylvania and Georgetown. The Raiders went 22-9 last year and 13-3 in the Patriot League, advancing to the conference championship match. The Raiders have four starters back.

2013 Patriot League Player of the Year Diane Seely has a team-high 36 kills and averages 2.57 per set. She is also hitting a team-best .301 and leads the team with 16 blocks. Seely, a senior middle blocker, was voted the Patriot League’s top player in 2013 with 355 kills and 97 blocks. She ranked third in the league with a .332 hitting percentage and was fourth in kills per set (3.26) and sixth in blocks per set (0.89). Setter Jackie Macy has 89 assists for 6.36 per set, and freshman Elena Simpson leads the Raiders with 43 digs (3.07 per set).
Ryan Baker is in his ninth season as head coach with a 131-110 record at Colgate. He is 154-121 overall in his 10th season as a head coach.