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The 14th-seeded Nebraska volleyball team will face No. 3 seed Washington on Friday at 8:30 p.m. (CT) in the Seattle Regional Semifinal at Alaska Airlines Arena. The match will be televised on ESPNU. It is the first time ESPNU has aired a regional semifinal. The rest of the Sweet 16 matches will be streamed at ESPN3.com. The first match, BYU vs. No. 6 seed Florida State, will begin at 6 p.m. (CT). Nebraska-Washington will begin at either 8:30 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first match, whichever is later. Friday’s winners will meet in the regional final on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPNU. The Huskers played Washington in the Seattle Regional in both 2010 and 2008. The teams will now have met every other NCAA Tournament since 2008.
Media Information
ESPNU will broadcast Friday’s Nebraska match and Saturday’s final. Sam Gore and Holly McPeak will be on the broadcast. Streams will also be available at WatchESPN.com. Fans can listen to the action with John Baylor and Peter Netisingha on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans inside and outside the state will also be able to catch the live audio feed on Huskers.com for free.
Series History
Nebraska and Washington have a storied history together despite playing just five matches. NU leads the series, 3-2, and four of the meetings have been in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 or later. The last two meetings between the teams were in fact regional semifinals. On Dec. 7, 2012, Nebraska swept UW in Omaha before falling in the regional final to Oregon. The Huskers went to Seattle in 2010 and fell 3-1 to the Huskies in the regional semifinal. NU also played in Seattle in 2008, defeating the Huskies in five sets to advance to the NCAA Semifinals. In 2005, the teams met in the National Championship match in San Antonio, with UW posting a 3-0 sweep. The first meeting came before the Cook and McLaughlin eras, as NU swept at the Coliseum in 1993.
Should the Huskers win, they will take on Florida State or BYU. Nebraska is 2-1 all-time against Florida State. The Seminoles won the AVCA Showcase matchup earlier this season on Aug. 29, 3-1, in Lincoln. Nebraska is 7-2 all-time against BYU. The last meeting was in 2010, a 3-1 win for the Big Red.
Noting the Huskers
• One characteristic each of the four teams in Seattle possesses is the ability to block. Six teams in the top 20 of the NCAA in blocks per set are still alive in the round of 16, and four of them are in the Seattle Regional: BYU (1st, 3.86), Washington (9th, 2.97), Nebraska (10th, 2.96) and Florida State (16th, 2.91). The other two teams still playing are North Carolina (2nd, 3.23) and Texas (T-6th, 3.00).
• Nebraska’s win over Utah in the second round marked the first time in nine matches this season that the Huskers’ have trailed in hitting percentage yet won the match. NU hit .201 while Utah hit .289. The Huskers lost the previous eight matches they were outhit this season.
• Sophomore All-Big Ten selection Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 381 kills (3.56 per set). The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has 15 or more kills 13 times this season. Rolfzen is also second on the team in digs with 2.66 per set and has 10 double-doubles this season, establishing her as one of the Big Ten’s best all-around players for the second straight season.
• Junior outside hitter Kelsey Fien is second on the team in kills with 265 (3.23 per set) and earned All-Big Ten honors for the first time in her career this season. Fien’s breakout year included a .303 hitting percentage in Big Ten play, ranking third among all B1G outside hitters. Fien had double-digit kills in each of the final eight regular-season matches and put down 4.28 kills per set in that span. She is coming off a career-high 19 kills against Utah.
• Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten and 10th nationally in blocks per set with 2.96, the most since 3.0 in 2010. The Huskers posted a season-high 19.5 blocks against Hofstra in the NCAA Tournament First Round, missing the postseason school record for blocks in a three-set match by half a block (20 vs. Ohio State in 2000). Cecilia Hall leads the Huskers with 1.32 blocks per set, while Meghan Haggerty had the top total of 132 blocks (1.26 per set). Both Hall and Haggerty earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week awards this season. Hall’s 13 blocks vs. Michigan on Nov. 22 were the most by any Big Ten player this season.
• Sophomore outside hitter Amber Rolfzen adds 2.04 kills per set and 0.93 blocks per set. Rolfzen’s 10 blocks vs. Hofstra in the opening round tied for the most ever by a Husker in a three-set postseason match. She earned Nebraska’s second Big Ten Player of the Week honor this season on Nov. 24. Fien won the award on Nov. 10.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 1,121 set assists for 10.10 per set. Pollmiller reached the 5,000-career assist plateau on her Senior Night on Nov. 22. The Littleton, Colo. native put up 2,740 in two years at Tennessee and has 5,140 for her career to rank fourth among active Division I setters.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Huskers in digs with 3.77 per set. With her team-high 419 digs this season, Wong-Orantes is set to become the first Husker in school history to lead the Big Red in digs as both a freshman and sophomore.
• The Huskers are 13-2 in matches played on Monday through Friday this season, while they are 9-7 in matches played on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Huskers are 232-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook.
• Nebraska is 382-16 when winning the first set under Cook.
• Cook is 142-44 (.763) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just under one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (435) have come against ranked teams.
Scouting Washington
Washington (31-2) is led by Krista Vansant, the 2013 AVCA National Player of the Year. She posts 4.70 kills per set and hits .321. Lianna Sybeldon leads a strong front row with 1.57 blocks per set. The Huskies average 2.97 blocks per set as a team. Cassie Strickland chips in 3.95 digs per set. Washington is hitting .314 as a team and holding opponents to .168. The Huskies’ only two losses this season came back-to-back on Nov. 13 at Colorado (2-3) and Nov. 15 at Utah (2-3). They’ve won six straight since then.
Scouting Florida State
Florida State (30-2) is led by Nicole Walch’s 3.93 kills per set. Katie Mosher averages 4.17 digs per set. Sarah Burrington posts 2.08 kills per set and 1.45 blocks per set. Like Washington, FSU’s only two losses came in back-to-back road matches on Nov. 13 at Duke (1-3) and Nov. 14 at North Carolina (1-3). The Seminoles have won six straight.
Scouting BYU
BYU (27-4) has won nine straight matches. The Cougars upset 11-seed Arizona in the NCAA Tournament Second Round, 3-1. Alexa Gray leads the team with 3.66 kills per set, while Jennifer Hamson has 3.64 kills per set and hits .333. The Cougars rank first nationally with 3.86 blocks per set and boast the top two individual blockers in the nation: Whitney Young (1.93) and Amy Boswell (1.65).