The Rally: No. 11 Nebraska Volleyball with a chance to reset after losses

After a string of five ranked opponents, No. 11 Nebraska volleyball (17-6, 11-3) plays two unranked this week and has a chance to get back some much-needed momentum.

After losing three of their last four matches, the Huskers are now ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten after being the top team for the entire conference season. They are tied with Minnesota, who also has an 11-3 record in the conference.

Maryland travels to Lincoln on Friday for a 6 p.m. match and Nebraska’s first home game in three matches. The game will be on Nebraska Public Media. The Huskers then pack up for a Sunday match at Indiana. The 1 p.m. game will be on B1G+, formerly known as BTN+.

Here is a full breakdown of Husker volleyball’s opponents and the state of their program:

Maryland (18-8, 6-8):

The Terps started off the Big Ten season by knocking off then-No. 2 Wisconsin on Sept. 24 in five sets. Outside hitter Sam Csire had 17 kills and middle blocker Rainelle Jones had 11 blocks.

Maryland has beat five teams since including sweeping Indiana and taking down Michigan State and Rutgers twice. Most recently, the Terps lost to Purdue 3-1 and were swept by Michigan at home. They head to Iowa to play the Hawkeyes on Saturday after being in Lincoln.

The Terps lead the Big Ten in blockers per set with 3.08, are No. 2 in opponent blocks (1.76) and are No. 4 in service aces per set (1.48) and digs per set (15.84).

Indiana (9-17, 3-11):

The Hoosiers are ranked No. 12 in the Big Ten, a league with 14 teams. The only teams Indiana has beaten this season are Rutgers (who they defeated twice) and Michigan State in three sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-20).

Indiana has struggled in a very difficult conference. They were swept in four consecutive games such as Maryland, Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan in October. The Hoosiers are currently on a four-game losing streak and are heading to Illinois on Friday before coming to Lincoln.

In Nebraska and Indiana’s first meeting this season, the Huskers hit their second-highest percentage of the season (.381). Outside hitter Madi Kubik had 16 kills. All three of Nebraska’s outside hitters hit over .300, a rarity for a team that struggles with consistency.

Rainelle Jones, Maryland:

Middle blocker Rainelle Jones leads the country in blocks per set with 1.72. The next closest player is Virginia’s Alana Walker with 1.49. Statistically, Jones is by far the best blocker in the country.

Jones’s teammate Laila Ricks is ranked No. 10 in the Big Ten with 1.18 blocks per set. Maryland has a big blocking present.

Standing at 6-foot-3, Jones has 148 blocks, 168 kills and is hitting .285 this season. Her 11 blocks against Wisconsin, eight versus Northwestern and 11 versus Indiana earned her the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week twice this season.

Sam Csire, Maryland:

Outside hitter Sam Csire has a team-high 319 kills and is hitting .193 on the season. She is ranked No. 10 in the Big Ten with 3.54 kills per set and add her 57 blocks this season make her No. 9 in the conference with 4.12 points per set.

In one of her best matches of conference play, Csire had 20 kills, 10 digs and three blocks in a three-set victory over Rutgers. In the next match against Michigan State, the 6-0 outside hitter had 19 kills.

Kaley Rammelsburg, Indiana:

Indiana middle blocker Kaley Rammelsburg is coming off one of her best games of the season. She had 15 kills, hit .500 and had two blocks at Iowa on Nov. 5. The 6-foot-1 athlete is No. 9 in hitting percentage (.346) in the Big Ten.

Rammelsburg was also featured in this season before Indiana traveled to Lincoln earlier this season. She had five kills, two blocks and hit .158, the best on a team that hit .057 combined.

The junior leads the Hoosiers with 66 blocks on the season and the highest hitting percentage.

Breana Edwards, Indiana:

Just like Rammelsburg, outside hitter Breana Edwards struggled against Nebraska and had six of the Hoosiers’ 23 kills and hit .074. However, Edwards is still Indiana’s leading scorer with 313 kills this season.

She is coming off her best game hitting-wise. She had 19 kills and hit .368 against the Hawkeyes. At the end of October versus Rutgers, Edwards had 27 kills and hit .286 with four blocks in a five-set win.

.379:

Nebraska’s starting outside hitters had their best collective game against the Hoosiers. Freshman Ally Batenhorst had her best hitting game with five kills and no errors. She hit a career-high .714 and the next closest was .375 against Penn State.

Left-side hitter Madi Kubik had 16 kills and hit .308. On the right side, Lindsay Krause had 10 kills and hit .400.

The starting outside hitters combined for a .379 hitting percentage.

Nebraska has struggled to get all of its players to consistently have good matches. Batenhorst has since been replaced by Lexi Sun who hit .303 in the sweep over Illinois by .174 versus Ohio State. Krause hit .050 against Illinois and .048 in Columbus.

The only constant is Kubik, who attempted to carry the entire team against Ohio State with 18 kills, hitting .400.

The Huskers’ outside hitters group had its best game of the season versus Indiana and they need to follow it up with another good performance across the board to create some confidence and momentum.

A chance to sort things out:

After Nebraska was swept by Ohio State on Saturday, Cook said the Huskers have some much-needed time for training with their first match of the following week on Friday.

“We need some training time because I think we’ve lost some of the things that were making us play at a really high level and we got to get better,” Cook said.

Nebraska had four days plus game day to try and get back to what was helping them win big matches. Serving definitely needs some help after the Huskers had 12 service errors in their five-set loss to Minnesota and 11 against Ohio State.

The Huskers are facing two opponents that aren’t ranked after a stretch of five. Maryland and Indiana will still put up a fight and it won’t be easy for Nebraska to win.

With that being said, NU has an opportunity to get back some of their rhythm and build upon what they workshop in practice before No. 15 Penn State comes to Lincoln on Friday, Nov. 19.

Lauren Stivrins:

Senior middle blocker Lauren Stivrins has not been playing up to the expectations that the three-time All-American created for herself with her dominating play.

In the 2020 season, in which Stivrins was named a first-time All-American, she averaged 3.19 kills per set and 1.03 blocks per set. The six-year senior hit .468, which was the highest in the Big Ten and the second-best in school history in a single season.

Last season, Stivrins had double-digit kills in 11 of Nebraska’s 18 games. This season she has double-digit kills in four of the 11 matches she has played in.

Compared to her numbers this season, Stivrins averages 2.45 kills per set and .93 blocks per set. She is hitting .358 but has averaged a .213 clip in the last four games.

Stivrins returned for her sixth season despite not knowing how much she could play due to her recovering from a back injury/surgery. She said she lost 20 pounds and 11 of those were muscle.

She said earlier this season that she had to relearn what her body can do and her limits post-surgery. Several times this season, Stivrins and setter Nicklin Hames had issues connecting.

While Stivrins isn’t playing as dominant as she was last season, she still has the ability to take over a match. Nebraska needs to get the ball to Stivrins and for her turn it up to help the Huskers in their final six matches and the postseason.