Huskers Open B1G Play at Home

• The third-ranked Nebraska volleyball team begins Big Ten play this weekend with a pair of home matches. The Huskers host Michigan State on Friday at 7 p.m. and turn around 24 hours later to host No. 7 Ohio State at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. 
• Friday’s match will not be televised but will be streamed on B1G+ with a subscription. Saturday’s match will be televised in Nebraska on Nebraska Public Media and will be streamed on B1G+. Larry Punteney and Kathi Wieskamp 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 head coach John Cook enters the weekend with 799 career wins – 638 at Nebraska and 161 at Wisconsin. With one more win, Cook will become the 19th Division I coach in NCAA volleyball history to reach 800 career wins, and the sixth active coach do to so. Cook will become the 16th coach to have accumulated 800 wins solely at the Division I level.

• The Huskers are hitting .265 as a team and are holding their opponents to .127 hitting, which ranks third nationally. 

• Nebraska ranks 12th nationally in kills per set at 14.10.

• Outside hitter Whitney Lauenstein is averaging a team-high 3.60 kills per set with a team-leading .325 hitting percentage to go with 1.03 blocks per set. Lauenstein had a career-high 25 kills on .385 hitting in a win at No. 17 Creighton on Sept. 7. It was the most kills by a Husker in a match since Mikaela Foecke had 27 kills in the NCAA Championship match against Stanford in 2018. Last week, Lauenstein became a regular server for the Huskers and logged four total aces against Stanford and Kentucky. 

• Outside hitter Madi Kubik is averaging 3.37 kills per set and 2.43 digs per set. Kubik surpassed 1,000 career kills on Sept. 10 against Long Beach State, becoming the 24th Husker all-time to reach that mark. 

• Middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord is averaging 1.43 kills and a team-best 1.50 blocks per set, which ranks 11th nationally. Hord ranks…