No. 5 Huskers Top Kansas State, 3-1

The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team completed its weekend at the Husker Invitational Saturday afternoon, topping Kansas State 3-1 (25-17, 27-25, 11-25, 25-22) at the Devaney Center in front of 7,952 fans. The Huskers are now 2-0 on the season, while the Wildcats drop to 1-1.
 
Kayla Caffey equaled her career high with 13 kills on .632 hitting with just one attack error and added a pair of blocks. Madi Kubik matched her with 13 kills and two more blocks.
 
Lindsay Krause added 12 kills, five digs and two more blocks, and Lexi Sun finished with 11 kills, eight digs and a stop at the net.
 
Kennedi Orr earned the first start of her career and finished with 34 assists and 10 digs for her second double-double of the weekend. Anni Evans entered the match in the third and fourth sets, finishing with an impactful 12 assists.
 
Callie Schwarzenbach led NU at the net with three blocks and chipped in five kills. Lexi Rodriguez posted a match-high 21 digs.
 
K-State was led by Aliyah Carter’s 14 kills alongside 16 digs. Teana Adams-Kaonohi totaled a match-high 36 assists with eight digs and two aces, and Mackenzie Morris posted 19 digs on the day.
 
Set 1
The Big Red hit at a .462 clip in the opening game, with Krause tallying five kills on .625 hitting with no errors. Caffey added another four kills and two blocks. After K-State opened to a 3-1 lead, the Huskers — who hit .750 out of the gate — turned in a 6-0 run with four kills between Krause, Kubik and Caffey in addition to a Caffey/Krause block to prompt a Wildcat timeout at 7-3. A massive kill from Caffey pushed the lead to 14-9.
 
K-State managed to pull within two at 16-14, but a kill and an ace by Krause bookended seven straight Husker points to put them up 23-14. A Wildcat service error and a Sun kill finished the set at 25-17.
 
Set 2
The second set included 20 ties and seven lead changes. Down 16-15, three straight kills from Kubik and Schwarzenbach put it back in NU’s favor. The set then locked again at 21-21 before Caffey’s seventh kill and a Sun service ace put the Huskers up two. But back-to-back K-State ball handling errors tied it again at 23-23.
 
The match stalled twice more to 25-25 before a Krause kill and a K-State attack error closed it at 27-25 and gave NU a 2-0 match lead.
 
Set 3
The momentum swung to K-State in the third set, as the Wildcats hit .556 with no attack errors. They were helped by five kills from Warner, who hit .714 on her own. NU was limited to .054 hitting as a team.
 
K-State pulled ahead early with a 5-1 lead and eventually extended it to 19-5 on 12 straight points. Consecutive kills by Kalynn Meyer and Sun finally staunched it, but K-State finished took the set 25-11.
 
Set 4
The Wildcats led by as many as six at the 12-6 mark in the third set. But the Huskers weren’t done, as a kill by Kubik started a 5-1 run and a Krause kill and Krause/Schwarzenbach block helped trim the Wildcat edge to 16-14. Nebraska finally seized the lead at 19-18 on kills from Kubik and Sun, a KSU attacking miscue and the go-ahead ace by Keonilei Akana, prompting a timeout. The Huskers then put the match away on a kill by Schwarzenbach and a final tally from Krause, winning the set 25-22.
 
Noting Tonight’s Match
-Nebraska improves to 23-4 in the all-time series with K-State, including 23-3 in the John Cook era.
 
Up Next
Nebraska plays host to the Ameritas Players Challenge, Sept. 3-4, at the Devaney Center with a field that includes Georgia, Arizona State and Omaha. The Huskers open the tournament on Friday with Omaha at 11 a.m. on Big Ten Network+, followed by Georgia at 6 p.m. on BTN. John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will have the radio call on Huskers Radio Network.