Huskers rally to win five-set thriller against Penn State, advance to national title match

-
Nebraska volleyball

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mikaela Foecke's 19 kills paced four Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska escaped with a 25-18, 23-25, 24-26, 28-26, 15-11 win over No. 1 Penn State in the national semifinals at Sprint Center.
The Huskers will play for their fifth NCAA championship on Saturday night against the winner of Thursday's second semifinal between Florida and defending champion Stanford.
Briana Holman and Annika Albrecht each had 13 kills, and freshman Jazz Sweet added 12.
Redshirt freshman middle blocker Lauren Stivrins had nine of Nebraska's 13 blocks as the Huskers held Penn State to a season-low .217 hitting.
All-American Simone Lee led the Nittany Lions with 18 kills, and fellow All-American Haleigh Washington had 13.
NU setter Kelly Hunter had a double-double with 47 assists and 23 digs as five Huskers reach double-digit digs. Libero Kenzie Maloney had 21 digs and four of the Huskers' 10 aces. Foecke added 19 digs, and Sydney Townsend and Albrecht each had 13.
Game 1: Nebraska got out to an early 3-1 lead on kills by Foecke and Jazz Sweet along with a Penn State service error. The Nittany Lions would answer with three straight points that included Lee's first two kills of the night.
With NU up 8-7, Penn State would run the next four points, including back-to-back Lee kills, to take an 11-8 lead and force a Nebraska timeout.
The Huskers responded in a big way out of the timeout with Foecke's kill putting Kenzie Maloney at the service line. The junior libero landed two aces in a 5-0 run. When Holman slammed down an overdig, Nebraska led 15-12, and Penn State called its first timeout. It would turn into a 9-1 run. When Holman's tip landed deep in the corner, the Huskers had stretched the lead to 17-12.
The teams traded sideouts until Kelly Hunter found the donut on a dump, and Foecke blocked Heidi Thelen's tip to put Nebraska up 22-17. The Huskers would end the opener on a 3-0 run with Maloney's third ace and Holman's fifth kill on set point.
NU hit .407 in Game 1, while Penn State managed .182.
Game 2: Weiskircher ran four straight points to start Game 2 including an ace. Haleigh Washington would add two straight kills to put the Nittany Lions up 6-2 before the Huskers answered. NU won five of the next six rallies started by a Foecke kill, tying it 7-7.
Penn State wasn't fazed with a 6-2 run to go up 13-9, forcing Nebraska's first timeout of the set. Foecke kills bookended Nebraska's 4-1 run to pull within 15-14, and NU would chase the lead until back-to-back blocks by Lauren Stivrins put the Huskers in front for the first time of the set at 19-18, prompting a Penn State timeout.
After Frantti's fourth hitting error of the match, she was replaced by Nia Reed, and Penn State's junior responded with kills on her first two swings. Stivrins fired wide on the next rally to put Penn State up 21-20, and the Nittany Lions wouldn't trail again in the set. Lee's kill gave Penn State a set point up 24-23, and on the next rally Abby Detering and Thelen were there to block Holman to give PSU the set.
Penn State out-hit the Huskers .262-.189. Washington, who went without a kill in Game 1, had seven kills on eight swings in the second set.
Foecke led Nebraska in Game 2 with five kills.
Game 3: Foecke put down kills on the first two rallies of the third set, but Penn State's tough serving limited Nebraska chances, and Lee put down three kills in four rallies to put the Nittany Lions up 5-2.
The lead grew to 10-4 on a 4-0 run capped by a Thelen kill. That's when the Huskers woke up in the third. A kill by Holman and block by Sweet started five straight Nebraska points. When Albrecht's roll shot fell, the Huskers were on an 8-1 run to go up 12-11, their first lead of the set.
The Huskers added another 4-0 run later with an Albrecht ace making it 15-13. After Penn State cut it to 17-16, Nebraska stretched it to 20-16 on a PSU serving error, a Kelly Hunter ace that was given on a video review, and a transition kill by Sweet to force a Penn State timeout.
Penn State found its poise late, while Nebraska's evaporated. After Sweet's kill put Nebraska up 22-18, the Nittany Lions forced an NU timeout with three straight points on two Tori Gorrell kills and an ace by Lee to cut the Huskers' lead to 22-21.
After Lee served into the net, Penn State would score the next three on Nebraska errors. Hunter and Stivrins stuffed Frantti to erase the Nittany Lions' first set point, but Thelen scored out of system to make it 25-24, and on the next rally Stivrins pulled a cross-court swing wide to give Penn State the third set and a 2-1 lead.
Nebraska hit .122 in the set, thanks partly to four Penn State blocks.
Game 4: In a mirror of her Game 2 start, Weiskircher's serving put Nebraska on its heels with the Nittany Lions scoring the first four points of Game 4. Keeton Holcomb added an ace to make it 6-1, forcing an early Husker timeout.
The lead would grow to 10-5 before the Huskers mounted their comeback. Kills by Sweet and Albrecht started a 5-2 run, and Albrecht's ace cut the PSU lead to 12-10. Thelen's tip put Penn State up 13-10, but Stivrins' kill started a 6-1 run. Hunter Atherton served two straight aces, and Foecke and Holman teamed up to stuff Washington to give Nebraska a 16-14 lead and force a Penn State timeout

Postingan populer dari blog ini

ames Franco was airbrushed out of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood cover after sexual misconduct allegations

-
Gambar
AMES Franco was removed from Vanity Fair's star-studded Hollywood cover after he was accused of sexual misconduct. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor, 39, sat for the Annie Leibovitz photoshoot and was interviewed for the special edition.   But it says the actor was removed digitally before publication. The publication quoted a magazine spokesman as saying: "We made a decision not to include James Franco on the Hollywood cover once we learned of the misconduct allegations against him." The Disaster Artist actor was accused of sexual misconduct, in a report in the Los Angeles Times, by five women. He has denied allegations against him, calling them "not accurate   The Crown star Claire Foy appears alongside a host of big screen heavyweights including Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford on the US magazine's annual fold-out cover. Michael B Jordan, Zendaya, Jessica Chastain, Mi
Baca selengkapnya

Harden Scores 48, Lillard 35 as Rockets Beat Blazers in Shootout

-
Gambar
The Portland Trail Blazers faced the Houston Rockets tonight without the services of center Jusuf Nurkic, recovering from an ankle injury. For three quarters, it didn’t look like they’d miss him. Damian Lillard hit threes like they were layups. Portland’s patchwork lineup hustled to fast break points and forced turnovers. If they couldn’t out-muscle or out-talent the Rockets, they’d simply outscore them. But even in the midst of amazing runs, the Blazers had no answer for James Harden and Chris Paul. When the game hung in the balance in the fourth quarter, the Rockets trailing by 14, those two superstars keyed a 40-19 period to put their team in the lead. As Houston bore down, Portland’s 60% shooting from the field slipped towards 50%...brilliant on any other night against any other team, but not enough to preserve the victory. Despite dead-eye marksmanship and a spirit effort, the Blazers watched the Rockets exit with a 124-117 win, completing a humbling 0-4 home stand an
Baca selengkapnya