Husker volleyball sweeps Kansas State

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By TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star

With two hours to watch from the sideline at Kansas State earlier this season, Tara Mueller obviously used the time wisely.

The sophomore outside hitter, suspended for Nebraska’s volleyball win against the Wildcats back in September, overwhelmed K-State in Saturday’s showdown of ranked teams at the NU Coliseum.

Mueller scored 20 kills, one shy of Nebraska’s season high, and she did so by routinely going over the block of 6-foot-3 Nataly Korobkova. Mueller stands just 6-foot, but with 39 kills in Nebraska’s last two matches, she’s playing a huge role for the Huskers.

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Nebraska's Tara Mueller hits past the Kansas State defense Saturday at the Coliseum. (Jacob Hannah)

Nebraska's Tara Mueller hits past the Kansas State defense Saturday at the Coliseum. (Jacob Hannah)

“(Seeing K-State) kind of got me fired up a little bit,” said Mueller, who along with libero Kayla Banwarth, could only watch as a make-shift Nebraska team won in Manhattan earlier this season.

Unlike that match, one that Nebraska won with big serves and wall-like blocking, the No. 3 Huskers went on the offensive in sweeping the 15th-ranked Wildcats 25-23, 25-22, 25-17 Saturday for their 83rd consecutive home win.

NU hit .352, its best mark in Big 12 play this season. Mueller was 20-for-31, a career-best .613 hitting performance.

“She was playing higher than that block tonight, and she was doing a great job of moving that ball around,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “Both Jordan (Larson) and Tara put on a clinic tonight as left-side hitters.”

Coming on the heels of Wednesday’s thrilling five-set win at Texas A&M, Nebraska (23-1, 14-1 Big 12) played all of Saturday’s match with an intensity level much closer to what the Huskers say they are striving for.

That said, even Saturday’s sweep — Nebraska’s first since before the jolting loss at Colorado — had its anxious moments.

The Wildcats (21-5, 11-4) hit .548 in the first set, scoring on 17 of 31 error-free swings, and also had four blocks. But K-State couldn’t overcome the five service errors that gave NU its lead, and ultimately, the cushion that the Huskers needed to sideout to win.

“We found a way, but I don’t necessarily know how,” said Cook, whose defense came into the night leading the Big 12. All season, opponents had hit just .131 against the Huskers.

But Nebraska adjusted, first to the high sets to Korobkova and later to the Wildcats’ strategy to hit around the Huskers’ block that recorded 16 rejections in Manhattan.

Korobkova, who put away 7 of 8 swings in Saturday’s first set, went just 2-for-13 in set two. The defining plays were Sydney Anderson’s block against Rita Lilliom on a rally where the Huskers survived their own overpass, and Mueller’s resounding kill on a point extended by two Larson digs of Korobkova.

Mueller, whose kills accounted for seven of NU’s first 13 points, capped the night with her 20th kill, a rare feat coming in a three-match sweep. Sarah Pavan did it only once last season, back when the games went to 30 points. Larson did it just once her sophomore year.

“She was going to show them,” Cook said.

Briefly

Kansas State, playing its first match without injured starter Jenny Jantsch, hit .245. The Wildcats had six more blocks than the Huskers, but NU’s advantage in digs was 46-34. … In Saturday’s other matchup of top teams in the Big 12, Texas escaped with a 29-27, 28-26, 25-17 win at Iowa State.

Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.