No. 9 Huskers Meet Hawkeyes Wednesday

The No. 9 Nebraska volleyball team (14-3, 8-0 Big Ten) visits Iowa (2-16, 0-8) this Wednesday, Oct. 20 with first serve set for 7 p.m. at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. The match will be streamed on Big Ten Network+ with John Evans on the call.

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 has sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings and is the only remaining unbeaten team at 8-0 in conference play. The Huskers are ahead of second-place Wisconsin (7-1).
• The Huskers carry a season-long eight-match win streak — their longest since 13 straight wins, Nov. 2 – Dec. 13, 2018.
• The Huskers’ Saturday night sweep of Illinois was their ninth 3-0 win of the year and third in a row. It also marked their 10th home win of the season.
• NU leads the conference with a .297 attack percentage, 1.88 service aces per set and 17.38 digs per set in Big Ten matches.
• Eight of Nebraska’s top 10 team hitting performances have come in Big Ten matches over the last month.
• NU has gone at least 3-0 to start Big Ten play nine consecutive years. The Huskers’ current 8-0 start is their best since going 11-0 in their inaugural season in the conference in 2011.
• The Huskers maintained their No. 9 ranking in the AVCA national poll this week.
• 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.
• NU opened 2021 with a six-match win streak, then dropped three straight to No. 20 Utah (Sept. 11), No. 16 Stanford (Sept. 14) and No. 5 Louisville (Sept. 18) before rebounding with eight wins.
• The Huskers played four straight top-20 opponents in an 11-day span last month with No. 19 Creighton (Sept. 8), No. 20 Utah (Sept. 11), No. 16 Stanford (Sept. 14) and No. 5 Louisville (Sept. 18).
• Five of NU’s six freshmen have seen the court this year.

Scouting the Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa looks to snap a 10-mach losing skid and is 2-16 (0-8 Big Ten) after falling 3-0 at home to Northwestern on Saturday. The Hawkeyes were led by a match-best 13 kills from Courtney Buzzerio. Addie VanderWeide?led the team in digs with 13, and Jenna Splitt?posted 17 assists to go with three service aces.

Vicki Brown is in her third season at the helm with a record of 16-53 and a career mark of 20-90 over four years as a head coach.

Noting the Series: vs. Iowa
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Iowa 34-0, including 21-0 in the John Cook era. The Huskers have registered sweeps in three straight meetings, five of the last six outings and 19 of the last 21 matches as Big Ten peers.

NU has a 12-0 advantage over Iowa on the road and has won 31 consecutive road sets against the Hawkeyes dating back to 1987. The Huskers are 1-0 at Xtream Arena, and Wednesday night is the second meeting at the facility, which opened in September 2020.

Nebraska last met Iowa on Sept. 25 at the Devaney Center, where the Huskers swept 3-0. NU’s last road win over the Hawkeyes was March 17 — another 3-0 victory.

Movin’ On Up
• Nicklin Hames, who enters the week with 3,953 assists, needs just 35 more to pass Greichaly Cepero for third all-time for career assists. Cepero had 3,987 from 1999-2002.
• Callie Schwarzenbach moved up to sixth for career blocks (392) at Nebraska in the rally-scoring era Saturday, passing Brooke Delano’s 389 from 2007-11.
• Lauren Stivrins sits at 1,116 career kills. On NU’s rally-scoring era career kills list, she needs five to tie Karen Dahlgren (1,121 — 1983-86) for 19th and six to match Amber Holmquist (1,122 — 1999-2002) for 18th.

Up Next
Nebraska plays its sixth match against a ranked opponent this Saturday, Oct. 23, welcoming No. 7 Purdue to the Devaney Center at 8 p.m. The match will be televised on Big Ten Network with Larry Punteney and Audrey Flaugh on the call, and John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will also have the radio call on Huskers Radio Network.