Senior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski was the only Husker who tallied double-figures in kills, as she posted 13 while adding 10 digs. Amber Holmquist recorded seven.

"I thought that we did some good things at times, but USC isn’t making as many errors as we are at this point in the season," NU Coach John Cook said. "I thought our serving and passing broke down at times, and in the third game when we were leading, they picked it up and we backed off."

In game three, the Huskers knocked USC out of sync with their aggressive serving and took a 17-9 lead. Michelle Lynch then stepped to the line and served four straight points, including two service aces, to make it 20-10, NU. The Women of Troy slowly chipped away at Nebraska’s led, but the Huskers still held a 23-16 advantage after a kill by Pilakowski. USC pulled within three with a 4-0 run, but Holmquist regained the momentum for NU with a kill. USC cut the Huskers’ lead to two with back-to-back kills from Alicia Robinson and Emily Adams, but Pilakowski ripped a cross-court strike to give NU a 28-25 advantage.

The Women of Troy answered, tying the score at 28 after two NU errors and a kill by Adams. Pilakowski responded, knocking a perfectly placed shot to the left side of the floor for the 29-28 lead. The squads battled to a 30-30 tie, but Katie Olsovsky teamed with Robinson and Keao Burdine for back-to-back blocks, securing the 32-30 third-game win and the match.

Nebraska trailed 23-19 in game one after Robinson posted her fourth kill of the match. Pilakowski slammed a kill to pull NU within three, and Cook turned to Lynch. Playing in the first match of her career after redshirting the 2001 season, the left-handed jump server ripped two serves that kept USC off-balance and resulted in kills for Elmer. But Burdine and Adams blocked Greichaly Cepero on the next play, and the Trojans maintained a three-point lead the rest of the way. USC took the first game, 30-26, on a hitting error by Holmquist.

The Huskers led by as many as four early in game one, but USC battled back and tied the score at 10 with a kill from Katie Olsovsky, and the Women of Troy then reeled off eight straight points. Nebraska closed it to 23-18 with a kill from Saleaumua, but Melissa Elmer erred at the service line on the next play, and USC outscored Nebraska 6-1 the rest of the way for the 30-19 win. The Huskers hit minus - .029 in game two, as Cepero was called for four ball-handling errors and NU committed 10 hitting errors.

The Huskers return to action Friday, Sept. 6, when they take on eighth-ranked Pepperdine at 6:30 p.m. in their opening match of the Wildcat Classic in Tucson, Ariz. Saturday, NU will face No. 6 Arizona at 2 p.m

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.