Senior right side hitter Nancy Metcalf led the Huskers’ in their home opener and the second match of the US Bank/Arby’s Classic, tallying 14 kills and 14 digs. Junior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski added nine kills, and Jenny Kropp and Amber Holmquist each posted seven. Junior setter Greichaly Cepero posted four kills on a .500 hitting percentage, 36 assists and six digs while leading NU to a .228 hitting percentage.

Defensively, the Huskers out-blocked Pepperdine 13.0-7.0 and held the Waves to .098 at the net in the one-hour, 34-minute match. Kropp led both teams with six blocks, while Holmquist and Schrad each added four.

The Huskers (4-1) will face Notre Dame (3-1) Saturday at 1 p.m. Pepperdine (3-1) will take on No. 7 UCLA (4-0) in the second match of the day at 3:30 p.m.

“I was really impressed with out defense and ball-handling tonight,” Nebraska Coach John Cook said. “We did a good job of shutting them down.”

Nebraska jumped to a 23-11 advantage behind five kills from Metcalf. But the Waves chipped away at NU’s lead, pulling within six after a kill from Rouwenhorst. A strike by Pilakowski put the Huskers up 29-22 and forced a game-point situation. Pepperdine held NU off three times, as Brie Harris made it 29-26 after two service aces. Nebraska finally took the 30-26 game-one victory when Cepero smacked her third kill of the match.

The Huskers never led by more than four in the second game, and Nebraska’s lead was down to a point after a hitting error by Pilakowski. But back-to-back attack errors by the Waves put the Huskers up by three, and Metcalf hammered two straight kills from the right side to seal the 30-25 second-game win for the Huskers.

Pilakowski pounded a kill to break a 13-13 tie in the third. The Huskers led by five after three kills from Metcalf and a block from Kropp. The Waves never got closer than that. Cepero and Kropp combined to block Katie Wilkins as the Huskers took a 25-18 lead, and the duo combined to block Wilkins again on the next play to widen the lead to eight. The Huskers secured the 30-20 third-game victory and the match when Kropp notched her seventh kill of the night.

“All of us were so excited for the match tonight,” Holmquist said. “The atmosphere, being at home for the first time, was great. We were really feeding off the crowd in that third game.”

UCLA 3, Notre Dame 0
The seventh-ranked UCLA volleyball team defeated No. 20 Notre Dame, 30-28, 30-23, 30-26 Friday afternoon at the NU Coliseum in the first match of the US Bank/Arby’s Classic. Kristee Porter and Ashley Bowles each tallied 17 kills to lead the Bruins, while Marcie Bomhack and Kim Fletcher led the Fighting Irish with eight kills each.

With the victory, UCLA improved to 4-0 overall and will face No. 15 Pepperdine (3-1) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Notre Dame, which fell to 3-1, will take on top-ranked Nebraska (4-1) Saturday at 1 p.m.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.