No. 1 Nebraska dominates Lady Vols

OMAHA, Neb. — The defending national champions were simply overpowering in sweeping past Tennessee.

Nebraska defeated the Lady Vols 30-15, 30-19, 30-18 Friday night in the first round of the AVCA College Volleyball Showcase at Qwest Center Omaha.

The No. 1 Cornhuskers play UCLA for the title tonight at 9:30 EDT following the consolation matchup of Tennessee and Utah, which starts at 7. UCLA defeated the Utes 3-0 (30-23, 30-21, 30-27) in the first match.

The Cornhuskers, who have five All-Americas including the last two players of the year in Sarah Pavan (2006) and Christina Houghtelling (2005), are 5-0 all-time against Tennessee after a dominating performance.

The Lady Vols, going against a top-ranked team for the first time since 1996, performed in front of 10,158 fans, the largest crowd ever to see a Tennessee team play. But a roster with nine of 14 players who are either sophomores or freshmen proved no match for the powerful, experienced Huskers.

Nebraska scored four consecutive points three times in Game 1 in building a 14-4 lead. Pavan, seeking to become college volleyball’s fourth player to earn first-team All-America four times, opened her senior season with four kills and a pair of service aces in the opening game.

Senior Yuliya Stoyanova, coming off knee surgery last November, had three kills for the Lady Vols, who managed to score no more than two straight points while hitting only .167 to Nebraska’s .516. The game ended on the fourth service error for the Lady Vols.

“They were psyched up to play,” said Tennessee coach Rob Patrick, who called a quick timeout with the score 4-0. “They weren’t afraid. But they were trying so hard it kind of backfired on us.

“I wanted to do everything I could to slow it down, keep them from getting those big runs. We were very tentative early. Then we got a little more aggressive and got some kills.”

Two kills each by Mindy Flynn, Leah Hinkey and Stoyanova helped the Lady Vols stay close in Game 2 as Nebraska’s hitting percentage dropped to .233. It was tied at 8, though, when Pavan rose from the back row for a cannonading kill and Nebraska was never headed.

It was 14-11 when the Huskers went on an 8-0 run to more than offset three kills by Milan Clarke and two by Farren Powe. Tennessee also had four more service errors and its hitting percentage was reduced to .062 in the game.

The only leads of the night for Tennessee came early in the third game. It was 4-2, but the Huskers scored five straight points and didn’t trail again in methodically putting away the Lady Vols.

In one sequence, the 6-foot-5 Pavan had back-to-back kills, followed by a stuff block and another kill. She had five kills in the game and 14 for the match to lead all players. Jordan Larson added 13 kills.

“They have some amazing hitters and they come at you,” Hinkey said. “We just let out nerves get to us a little bit.”

Notebook: Powe, who started for the second time in her career, tied her personal best with a team-high nine kills and had a career-high hitting percentage of .571. But the team hit only .088 for the night. ... The Lady Vols finished with nine service errors to only four for Nebraska. ... The Huskers hit .361 for the match.