• The No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team is set to hit the road for the first time this season, though it won’t be going far. The Huskers will face in-state rival No. 17 Creighton on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the CHI Health Center in Omaha. More than 14,000 tickets have been sold for the match. The NCAA record for a regular-season (volleyball only) match is 14,022, set by Nebraska and Creighton at the CHI Health Center on Sept. 6, 2018.
• Wednesday’s match will be televised nationally on FS1 and streamed on FoxSports.com. Bob Brainerd and Jill Dorsey Hall will be on the call.
• The Huskers Radio Network will broadcast all the action on their radio affiliates, including 107.3 FM in Lincoln and AM 590 in Omaha. A live audio stream will be provided at Huskers.com and the Huskers app. John Baylor is in his 29th season doing play-by-play for the Husker volleyball program. Lauren (Cook) West, a former All-America setter for the Huskers, will provide color commentary.
NOTING THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska leads the nation in opponent hitting percentage at .077 after five matches. The Huskers have not allowed an opponent to hit over .200 yet this season.
• The Huskers have swept all five of their opponents. The last time NU began the season with five sweeps in a row was in 2006 when it opened the season with six consecutive sweeps.
• Nebraska’s 2.90 blocks per set ranks 11th nationally and second in the Big Ten.
• Middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord ranks 10th nationally and second among Big Ten players with 1.73 blocks per set. Hord ranks among the NCAA active career leaders in three categories. The grad transfer is No. 2 among active NCAA Division I players in career blocks (548), blocks per set (1.32) and is No. 3 in career hitting percentage (.408).
• Outside hitter Madi Kubik leads the Huskers with 3.80 kills per set on .318 hitting this season. Kubik enters Wednesday’s match with 982 career kills and is 18 away from becoming the 24th Husker all-time to record 1,000 career kills at Nebraska.
• After switching to a 6-2 system in 3-0 wins over LMU and Ole Miss last weekend, the Huskers hit .363 and .330, respectively, to bring their season average up to .293.
• Senior Nicklin Hames was the leading setter in the Husker attack, putting up 6.67 assists per set. Hames has 118 career service aces and is two aces away from passing Allison Weston (1992-95) for 10th all-time at Nebraska. Hames also ranks sixth all-time in career digs at Nebraska with 1,404. With three more, she will pass Kenzie Maloney (2015-18) for fifth place. With seven more, she will pass Jordan Larson (2005-08) for fourth.
• Outside hitter Whitney Lauenstein is averaging 3.27 kills per set with a team-leading .355 hitting percentage to go with 1.27 blocks per set.
• Libero Lexi Rodriguez is averaging a team-best 4.13 digs per set.
SCOUTING CREIGHTON
• Creighton is off to a 5-1 start to the season and has faced a pair of ranked opponents.
• The Bluejays opened the season with wins over Iowa State (3-0), Wichita State (3-1) and Wyoming (3-1) at the Rumble in the Rockies in Laramie, Wyo. Creighton hosted the Bluejay Invitational this past weekend and beat No. 25 USC (3-1) and Northern Iowa (3-0), while suffering a 3-1 setback to No. 16 Kentucky.
• Creighton has a .242 hitting percentage and a .204 opponent hitting percentage this season.
• Sophomore outside hitter Norah Sis is leading the Jays with 4.09 kills per set and adds 2.18 digs per set. Sis, the 2021 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, was picked as the preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year.
• Setter Kendra Wait provides 10.27 assists per set and 2.68 digs per set. The sophomore was an All-BIG EAST selection last year as a freshman.
• Senior outside hitter Keeley Davis chips in 2.59 kills per set on .252 hitting with 2.41 digs per set and a team-high 11 aces this year.
• Senior outside hitter Jaela Zimmerman has not played yet this season while she recovers from a knee injury suffered last December in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Zimmerman is a three-time All-BIG EAST selection and was the only player in the BIG EAST to average more than 3.00 kills and 3.00 digs per set in 2021.
SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 20-0 all-time against Creighton, though two of the matches were in 1980 and the other 18 wins have come since Creighton restarted its program in 1994. The Huskers swept the Bluejays last year at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, 25-14, 25-22, 25-16. It was the first time Nebraska had swept Creighton since 2015.
• John Cook is 17-0 against Creighton all-time as head coach at Nebraska.
