The Rally: No. 9 Nebraska volleyball not focused on undefeated in Big Ten

In the most difficult volleyball conference, No. 9 Nebraska volleyball (16-3) is the only undefeated in Big Ten matches with an 8-0 record.

Husker Head Coach John Cook said his team never talks about being undefeated.

“What’s the point of talking about it?” Cook said. “It’s one match at a time, it’s the Big Ten grind. These guys know how tough this conference is so you’re just trying to win the next match.”

Middle blocker Callie Schwarzenbach said she forgets her team is undefeated.

“We know each week whatever team we’re playing is going to be a difficult game and we’re going to get everyone’s best shot so we need to always be on our toes and ready to play,” Schwarzenbach said.

Nebraska travels to Iowa (2-16, 0-8) on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. match on BTN+. Then the Huskers host No. 7 Purdue (14-3, 6-2) on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. on BTN.

Here is a full breakdown of Nebraska’s up-and-coming opponents, noteworthy stats and storylines:

Iowa:

Iowa is the worst team in the Big Ten. They are on a 10 game losing streak including eight in the Big Ten. Nebraska and the Hawkeyes met earlier this season as NU swept Iowa (25-17, 26-24, 25-21) in the Devaney Sports Center. Iowa has been swept in its last seven matches.

Iowa pushed Nebraska in the second set with a 26-24 final with 11 ties and four lead changes. The Hawkeyes hit .310 in set two compared to the Huskers .250. Iowa hit .216 on the match, the highest the Huskers have allowed in Big Ten play and the third-highest of the season.

They went extra points with Wisconsin in the third set (28-26). Iowa lost 25-18, 25-12 and 25-16 against then-No. 6 ranked Purdue, Nebraska’s next opponent after traveling to Iowa City.

No. 7 Purdue:

Purdue is the most challenging Big Ten team to come to Lincoln so far this season. The Boilermakers lost to Illinois in five sets and top 10 ranked Ohio State. They split the series with the Buckeyes, beating them in five sets in West Lafayette.

Most recently, Purdue took down then-No. 15 Penn State in five sets on Sunday. Outside hitter Caitlyn Newton had 26 kills, setter Hayley Bush had 48 assists and libero Jena Otec contributed 27 digs. The Boilermakers travel to Michigan State for a Wednesday night match before heading to Lincoln.

The last time Nebraska played Purdue was in the 2019 season. During their first matchup of that season, the Huskers won 3-1 led by 22 kills from Madi Kubik. Newton had 17 kills and Bush had 35 assists and nine digs. Nebraska lost the second matchup of the 2019 season in five sets.

Courtney Buzzerio, Iowa:

You may recognize this name because Courtney Buzzerio was highlighted in this section earlier a few weeks ago when the Hawkeyes came to Lincoln. Buzzerio, a 2020 First-Team All-Big Ten selection, had 13 kills, a .162 clip, five digs and a block against Nebraska on Sept. 25.

Buzzerio is second in the Big Ten overall season with 4.12 kills per set behind Minnesota’s Stephanie Samedy, who averages 4.67 kills per set. This season, the 6-foot-5 hitter has 268 kills, 96 digs and 12.5 blocks.

Against Purdue on Oct. 9, Buzzerio hit negative for the first time this season with three kills, a testimony to the Boilermaker’s ability to limit a star like Buzzerio.

Addie VanderWeide, Iowa:

On the other side, left-side hitter Addie VanderWeide made her presence known against the Huskers. She had 11 kills with four errors and hit a season-high .304. VanderWeide added two assists, eight digs and received the serve 38 times with two errors.

The 6-foot-0 hitter has 158 kills, 142 digs and 12 blocks in her freshman season. She had one of her best games to date against Michigan State with 14 kills, hit .265 and six digs.

Caitlyn Newton, Purdue:

Outside hitter Caitlyn Newton leads the Boilermakers with 215 kills on roughly 600 swings. She is hitting .241 with 104 digs and 29 blocks. Newton, a 2020 AVCA Third Team All-America selection, has the most aces with 13 but has 16 service errors.

The 2020 First-Team All-Big Ten selection ranks No. 9 in the Big Ten with 4.13 points per set and her teammate Grace Cleveland is eighth with 4.15 points per set this season. Newton is ranked No. 10 in kills per set (3.63) in conference-only games.

Hayley Bush, Purdue:

The leader of the Boilermakers offense is Hayley Bush, who was a 2020 AVCA All-America Honorable Mention. The 5-10 setter has 602 assists and averages 10.70 per set on the season and 9.15 in conference matches.

The Sept. 6 Big Ten Setter of the Week keeps her opponents on their toes with 36 kills or 0.60 kills per set. Bush has 151 digs and 26 blocks in 2021.

Bush is coming off her best performance which was against Penn State. She had a season-high 48 assists, five kills, no hitting errors and hit .455. Her 11 digs gave Bush her seventh double-double of the season.

Taylor Trammell, Purdue:

Middle blocker Taylor Trammell leads the Boilermakers with 77 blocks and is second in the Big Ten conference game with 1.48 blocks per set. Maryland’s Rainelle Jones leads the conference with 1.61 blocks per set.

The 6-2 sophomore has 67 kills and is hitting .340 on the season. Trammell had one of her best games in Purdue’s five-set loss to Illinois. She had nine kills, hit .467 and contributed a season-high 11 blocks.

17.38:

The Huskers are atop the Big Ten with 17.38 digs per set in conference matches. The next closest team is Minnesota with 15.94 digs. Nebraska averaged 14.71 digs during its non-conference schedule and increased its digs per set by nearly three.

NU has four elite defensive players, as Cook likes to say. In certain rotations, all four of these players are on the court: libero Lexi Rodriguez, defensive specialists Kenzie Knuckles and Keonilei Akana and setter Nicklin Hames.

Rodriguez has a team-hit 107 digs against Big Ten opponents and 240 digs overall. She had 17 digs in three of her last five matches and 19 digs against Penn State. While Rodriguez recorded nine digs versus Indiana, she had nine assists.

On the season, Hames has 156 digs, Akana has 128 and Knuckles adds 115.

With the hardest part of Nebraska’s schedule approaching, this defense will be tested against some of the best offenses and players in the country.

.429:

In set two against Illinois, Nebraska hit .429, an extremely impressive feat against any Big Ten opponent, especially a talented Illinois team.

“When you’re doing that it’s a total team effort and starts with getting the ball to the setter,” Cook said after the match.

The Huskers had three hitting errors on 18 kills. Outside hitter Madi Kubik had eight kills and Lindsay Krause followed with five kills on six swings. Cook said a run by Krause helped forge the high hitting percentage and credited Knuckles with getting a kill from the back row in transition.

As a team, Nebraska had 16 digs led by Rodriguez’s eight and Knuckles’ four. If players like this aren’t passing those balls well, it makes it hard for Hames to get off a good set. If Hames gets a great pass, her hitter typically gets a great set.

1.43:

Purdue is No. 1 in the Big Ten in opponent blocks with 1.43 per set. In conference-only matches, the Boilermakers still led the Big Ten with 1.52 opponent blocks.

Having a low opponent block average is contributed to two aspects. One, Purdue has smart and craft hitters. They are good at tooling or hitting off the block for kills or hit around the block.

Second, the Boilermakers have good defenders backing them up when kills come back to their side. Libero Jena Otec averages the fifth-most digs in Big Ten matches with 4.39 per set. Defensive specialist Marissa Hornung contributes 1.76 digs per set and has 147 on the season.

Purdue is also one of the top blocking teams in the conference. They are No. 2 with 2.82 blocks per set behind Maryland, which has 2.94 blocks per set. The Boilermakers are led by Trammell’s 77 blocks and Cleveland’s 71.

Kayla Caffey update:

Middle blocker Kayla Caffey missed Nebraska’s last three matches (Rutgers, Indiana and Illinois) with an illness not related to COVID-19.

She wasn’t on the sideline for the Indiana Wednesday night match. She returned on Saturday to support her teammates from the sideline against Illinois.

Cook said Caffey is feeling much better and practiced on Tuesday. The Huskers didn’t practice on Monday so Caffey will have roughly one or two practices under her belt after being sick for over a week before potentially suiting up for the Iowa match.

If Cook doesn’t feel like she’s ready to return, Schwarzenbach will take over her position as she did the last three matches.

Madi Kubik, Big Ten Player of the Week:

Kubik was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the second week in a row. This week she is the only player holding the honor after sharing it with Ohio State’s Emily Londot the week prior.

Kubik had a total of 35 kills with seven hitting errors. She hit .308 against Indiana and .457 versus Illinois. The junior added 11 digs and three blocks.

She leads the Big Ten with 4.62 kills per set and has 120 kills this season. Kubik also averages the most points per set in the conference with 5.13.

The left-side hitter’s game has made a huge jump since the preseason matches where she was occasionally high error and hit .197. She is hitting .293 against Big Ten opponents.

Kubik said she is playing free because of the trust she has built with her teammates. She said she feels “invisible” when she is on a row like she has been since Big Ten games began.

See what they’re made of:

After Iowa, the Huskers play three top-15 ranked opponents consecutively: No. 7 Purdue, No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 12 Minnesota. They get a “break” with Illinois then take on current No. 6 ranked Ohio State.

This is what the Big Ten is about — top-ranked teams and history programs bringing out the best in each other.

This stretch will define Nebraska’s season and its team. They’ve had time to create rhythm and find their identity as a young team, now the Huskers have a chance to prove themselves.

The last time Nebraska played three ranked opponents consecutively, they walked away 0-3.

Schwarzenbach said she feels her team is in a better position now than against non-conference foes.

“We’ve grown and we talked about how we are getting better every day in the gym,” she said. “We know that if we continue to work how we have been, it’s gonna get more exciting and more fun to play against these really good teams because we’re both going to get each other’s best shot. It just brings out the best in how we play.”