No. 9 Huskers Hit the Road for No. 25 Illinois

The No. 9 Nebraska volleyball team (16-5, 10-2 Big Ten) looks to bounce back this Thursday, Nov. 4, visiting No. 25 Illinois (16-7, 8-4) at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill. First serve is set for 8 p.m., and the match will be televised on BTN and streamed via its digital extension on the FOX Sports app with Larry Punteney and Salima Rockwell on the call. The match continues a three-match road swing for the Huskers and is their fourth of five straight top-25 contests.
 
This week’s action will be carried on Huskers Radio Network with the NU radio team of John Baylor and Lauren Cook West. Baylor is in his 28th season handling play-by-play duties for the Husker volleyball program, and West, a former All-America setter at NU, will provide color commentary for the sixth straight year.
 
Huskers Radio Network will carry the matches on HRN radio affiliates, including 107.3 FM in Lincoln and AM 590 in Omaha. A live audio stream will be available at Huskers.com and on the Huskers app.
 
Quick Hits
• Nebraska and Wisconsin remain tied for first place in the Big Ten standings, each at 10-2.
• With her first assist Thursday at Illinois, Nicklin Hames will take sole ownership of the Huskers’ rally-scoring era record for career assists.
• NU has averaged 16.5 digs per set this season — the best mark since the 2006 squad (16.9 d/s). In conference play, they average a Big Ten-leading 17.9 d/s.
• The Huskers moved down three spots to No. 9 in the AVCA national poll this week.
• The Huskers were the last unbeaten team in Big Ten play. Their 10-0 start was their second-best since joining the conference in 2011.
• Nebraska held a streak of 60 straight weeks in the top 10 of the AVCA poll before briefly dropping to 12th in the Sept. 20 and Sept. 27 releases. It was the only time the Huskers had ranked outside the top 10 since Sept. 18, 2017, when they were 14th.
• Five of NU’s six freshmen have seen the court this year.
 
Scouting the Illinois Fighting Illini
Illinois is 16-7 (8-4 Big Ten) after securing its fourth straight win last Saturday with a 3-1 upset of Penn State on the road. Raina Terry finished with a team-high 17 kills, and Megan Cooney turned in 14 kills. Diana Brown had 52 assists with nine digs and guided the Illini to hit .299.
 
Illinois has gone 4-0 since falling to Nebraska in a sweep on Oct. 16 in Lincoln.
 
Kennedy Collins ranks eighth in the Big Ten with 1.16 blocks per set in conference play, while Kyla Swanson is 10th at 1.14 b/s. As a team, Illinois (1.59 sa/s) is second only to Nebraska (1.66 sa/s) for aces per set this season.
 
Chris Tamas is in his fifth year at Illinois with a career record of 94-47.
 
Noting the Series: vs. Illinois
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Illinois 30-8-1, including 17-3 in the John Cook era. The Huskers have won five straight in the series dating back to 2018, and they look for their fourth consecutive sweep of UI Thursday night. NU has an 11-5 advantage over Illinois on the road, having won six straight in Champaign, Ill., since 2015.
 
The Huskers last met Illinois on Oct. 16, sweeping the Fighting Illini at the Devaney Center. Their last meeting in Champaign was March 6 — another 3-0 win.
 
Up Next
Nebraska concludes its road trip at No. 7 Ohio State on Saturday, Nov. 6, with first serve set for 6 p.m. CT at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. The match will be streamed on Big Ten Network+, and John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will also have the radio call on Huskers Radio Network.