Huskers sweep Buffs, face Wildcats Saturday for Final Four spot

The fifth-seeded Nebraska volleyball team (29-4) earned a dominant sweep over Colorado (24-10) on Friday afternoon in the NCAA Regional at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, KY.

The Huskers won the sets 25-19, 25-11, and 25-19. They were led in scoring by Sr. Annika Albrecht, who finished with 13 kills on a .344 hitting percentage.

“Those guys are doing a good job,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “They are going to continue to be a good team. I thought our team did a really nice job taking care of business today. Once we adjusted to their speed, our blocking defense kind of took over that match and we were able to put a lot of pressure on them with our serves. So, (we) did a nice job and took care of business.”

Nebraska outhit Colorado as a team .292 – .109. They also out-blocked the Buffs 10.0 – 4.0.

Nebraska will now face Kentucky (29-3) in the Regional Final on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Pregame coverage for the match on the Husker Sports Network will begin at 2:30, and the game will be carried on 107.3 FM.

It was also televised on ESPNU.

The winner of Saturday’s match will qualify for the Final Four, which takes place at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO on Dec. 14. The championship is scheduled for Dec. 16.

The Wildcats beat BYU (30-2) in five sets on Friday.

We are going to have to do everything well,” Cook said on beating Kentucky. “We are going to have to play a really good match.”

Kentucky is a four-seed who also had had to battle Western Kentucky (31-3) in five sets to qualify for Friday’s Sweet Sixteen.