by Ann Arbor, Mich. – The No. 8 Nebraska volleyball team fell 3-0 at Michigan on Sunday, 19-25, 30-32, 21-25. The Huskers dropped to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, while Michigan improved to 8-8 with a 3-3 Big Ten record.
Alicia Ostrander (Oglala-Lakota) had a team-high 12 kills. Mary Pollmiller had 35 assists, and Annika Albrecht had a team-best 12 digs.
Michigan’s Abby Cole had 19 kills, and Adeja Lambert had 13 and Caroline Knop 12. Lexi Dannemiller had 46 set assists, and Tiffany Morales had 17 digs.
Michigan outhit the Huskers .331 to 222 and outdug them 57-46. Nebraska had an 8-to-3 edge in blocks.
Michigan controlled set one from the onset, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and extending it to 12-4 with a 6-0 run. The Huskers scored three straight to get within 19-14 with Meghan Haggerty and Kadie Rolfzen (twice) providing kills, but Michigan held on and won 25-19. Michigan hit .308 to just .167 for the Huskers.
The second set started similarly as Michigan jumped out to a 3-0 lead and went up 5-1. Melanie Keil and Kadie Rolfzen recorded consecutive kills to pull within 5-3. The Huskers kept digging and finally took their first lead of the match at 9-8 on a block by Haggerty and Ostrander. But it was short-lived, as Michigan scored three in a row to reclaim an 11-9 lead after kills by Cole and Lambert. Trailing 14-12, the Huskers strung together a 5-0 run for a 17-14 lead, with a kill by Keil, a solo stuff from Kadie Rolfzen and a service ace by Annika Albrecht leading the way. But Michigan inched back and tied it at 20-20 on a kill by Cole. Michigan had the first two set points, but Kadie Rolfzen and Haggerty answered each time, and then Michigan committed a net violation to give Nebraska its first set point at 26-25. The Huskers had four chances to win the set, the last three coming off Ostrander kills. But Michigan staved off the Huskers each time and the momentum shifted when Dannemiller’s serve fell to the Husker floor untouched, and Lambert finished off the 32-20 win with her 11th kill.
Nebraska took a 5-3 lead in the third set after a kill from Haggerty, but the Huskers surrendered a 4-0 run to the Wolverines and then trailed 7-5. Three kills by Kelsey Fien gave Nebraska a 10-9 lead. An Ostrander kill made it 11-10 Huskers, but Michigan came back with a 4-0 run to go up 14-11 with the final three points coming on hitting errors by the Big Red. Cole’s 18th kill added to the Michigan lead, 19-14, and the Wolverines wrapped up the sweep with a 25-21 win.
The Huskers are back at home on Wednesday to face No. 24 Northwestern at 7 p.m. on NET.
