EXAMPLE OF THE CONTEST
• The fifth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team will face its second straight top-five opponent when it travels to No. 4 Louisville on Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center. First serve is set for 11:30 a.m. CT and will be televised on ABC and streamed on WatchESPN. Courtney Lyle, Holly McPeak, Katie George and Christine Williamson are scheduled to attend.
• Huskers Radio Network with John Baylor and Lauren (Cook) West will air all the action on their affiliated volleyball stations, on Huskers.com and on the Huskers app.

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska swept No. 2 Stanford 25-17, 25-22, 25-14 on Wednesday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. It was Stanford’s first loss of the season and Nebraska’s first win over the Cardinal at the Devaney Center in four tries.
• Nebraska is 4-0 against teams ranked in the top 15 this season.
• This will be the Huskers’ second visit to the KFC Yum! Center this season. NU defeated Kentucky 3-1 in the AVCA Showcase on Aug. 27.
• The Huskers rank eighth in the nation and second in the Big Ten with a team hitting percentage of .299.
• NU ranks ninth in the country in kills per set (14.26) and 16th in assists per set (13.26).
• Outside forward Harper Murray leads the Huskers with 3.18 kills per set.
• Opposite hitter Merritt Beason is averaging 2.82 kills per set for the Big Red. In her last four matches, Beason is averaging 3.36 kills per set with a .353 hitting percentage.
• Winger Lindsay Krause scores 2.55 points per set and has hit 11 aces, the most on the team.
• Middle blocker Andi Jackson averages 2.68 kills and has a team-best .510 hitting percentage, which ranks third in the nation.
• Middle blocker Rebekah Allick adds 2.00 kills per set with a .370 batting average and 1.41 blocks per set.
• Setter Bergen Reilly averages 11.26 assists per set, which ranks sixth nationally. She also adds 3.15 digs per set and has nine aces.
• Three-time All-American Lexi Rodriguez leads the Husker back row with 3.62 digs per set.

SCOUTING REPORT: LOUISVILLE
• No. 4 Louisville was coming off a 3-1 win over No. 11 Kentucky on Wednesday.
• The Cardinals also have wins over No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 9 Creighton and No. 15 Tennessee. Louisville’s lone loss came at No. 3 Penn State.
• Charitie Luper leads Louisville with 3.10 kills per set and is hitting .319 this season. Anna DeBeer adds 2.45 kills per set.
• Louisville ranks fifth in the nation in blocks per set (3.03).
• Former Husker national champion and assistant coach Dani Busboom Kelly is in her eighth year as head coach at Louisville and has a career record of 181-39.
• Busboom Kelly was NU’s libero during the 2006 national championship season, when she set the school record for digs in a season with 580. She was an assistant coach on the Huskers’ 2015 national championship team.

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska has a 5-1 record against Louisville, but the Cardinals’ lone win came in the most recent game in the series, a 3-0 sweep of the Huskers on Sept. 18, 2021, in Lincoln.
• Nebraska’s last win against Louisville was on September 8, 2006, a 3-0 sweep in Lincoln.

RODRIGUEZ AMONG THE GREATEST NU LIBEROS OF ALL TIME
• Lexi Rodriguez is in the final year of a stellar career as the Huskers’ libero. A four-year starter and three-year team captain, Rodriguez will go down as one of the greatest players in Nebraska volleyball history.
• Rodriguez is a three-time AVCA All-American, earning first-team honors in 2021 and 2023, and second-team honors in 2022. She will attempt to join Kadie Rolfzen (2013-16) and Sarah Pavan (2004-07) as the only four-time All-Americans in program history.
• Rodriguez made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2021, winning the AVCA National Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Over the past two seasons, Rodriguez has led the Huskers to the nation’s No. 1 defense and won the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year again in 2023, becoming the fifth player in Big Ten history to win the honor twice in her career.
• Rodriguez has 1,547 career digs, which is fifth in school history. U.S. Olympian Justine Wong-Orantes is the career leader in digs at NU with 1,890. With 21 more digs, Rodriguez will tie Jennifer Saleaumua for No. 4 all-time.

BEASON BACK TO LEAD HUSKER OFFENSE AGAIN
• Opponent Merritt Beason had a sensational 2023 season — her first as a Husker after transferring from Florida — and was named AVCA first-team All-America and AVCA North Region Player of the Year. She became just the second Husker (Kelly Hunter) to achieve that honor.
• Beason averaged a team-leading 3.76 kills per set on .282 hitting with 2.05 digs per set. She was named Big Ten Player of the Week four times and was the AVCA National Player of the Week on Oct. 23 after averaging 4.25 kills per set and 1.75 digs per set in wins over Northwestern and top-ranked Wisconsin.
• Beason was named MVP of the NCAA Lincoln Regional after recording 19 kills, 11 digs and a personal-best eight blocks in a regional final win over Arkansas.

VERSATILE MURRAY KEYS SOPHIE CLASS
• Along with Bergen Reilly, Andi Jackson and Laney Choboy, sophomore winger Harper Murray made an immediate impact at Nebraska in 2023, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, AVCA North Region Freshman of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team and AVCA All-America Third Team honors.
• Murray finished her freshman campaign with 3.23 kills per set, the highest kills-per-set average by a Husker freshman since Kadie Rolfzen (3.46) in 2013. Murray, one of the Big Ten’s top six-rotation players, also added 2.07 digs per set with a team-high 36 aces. She was a three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
• Murray has started her sophomore season on a strong note, leading the Huskers in kills with 3.18 per set, with 2.30 digs per set and nine service aces.

KRAUSE WANTS TO CONTINUE WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
• Senior outside hitter Lindsay Krause was having the best year of her Husker career in 2023 before it ended with an ankle injury in mid-October. At the time of her injury, Krause was averaging 2.50 kills per set and hitting .285 for the season.
• Additionally, Krause had 2.82 kills per set with a .366 batting average in six Big Ten games, which was the most outside hitter in the Big Ten at the time.
• Krause was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Oct. 9 after posting season-high 15 kills on .519 hitting at Michigan and nine kills on .381 hitting at Michigan State.
• This season, Krause is averaging 2.55 kills per set and leads the team with 11 service aces.

REILLY SETS THE TONE
• Sophomore setter Bergen Reilly was the 2023 Big Ten Setter of the Year, becoming the first freshman to win the award since it was created in 2012. Reilly was also an AVCA second-team All-American and an All-Big Ten first-team selection.
• Reilly was the Big Ten’s leading setter in 2023 with 10.51 assists per set and has earned Big Ten Setter of the Week honors six times, including Sept. 2 and Sept. 16 this season.
• Reilly was named Best Setter at the AVCA First Serve Showcase in Louisville, Kentucky, when she led the Huskers to a 3-1 win over No. 9 Kentucky with 39 assists and 11 digs.
• Reilly ranks sixth in the country with 11.26 assists per set this season.

JACKSON IN ACTION
• Sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson showed tremendous athleticism and potential when she first stepped on the court as a Husker, and she followed it up with a strong debut season that saw her earn AVCA All-Region, All-Big Ten Second Team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors.
• Jackson averaged 2.01 kills per set and 1.09 blocks per set with a .399 hitting percentage in 2023, which ranked third in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation. Her hitting percentage was the best ever by a Husker freshman and ranks seventh all-time in the rally scoring era.
• Along with Reilly, Jackson helped the U.S. U.S. National U21 team win the gold medal at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Toronto this summer. He hit .654 during the tournament with 39 kills and 10 blocks.
• Jackson has taken her game to new heights in 2024 as she averages 2.68 kills per set with a .510 hitting percentage, which ranks third in the nation.

ALLICK ON A BLOCKING TEAR
• Junior middle blocker Rebekah Allick is a two-time AVCA All-Region and All-Big Ten second-team selection. Last season, she averaged 1.76 kills per set with a team-high 1.50 blocks per set, which was second among Big Ten players and seventh in the nation. Her 1.50 blocks per set also tied for the No. 2 mark in school history in the rally scoring era.
• Allick was at her best late in the 2023 season, with 12 blocks in the NCAA regional final against Arkansas, a personal best, and 10 blocks in the NCAA semifinal against Pittsburgh.
• In the season-opening win over Kentucky, Allick had 11 kills and hit .667 while matching her career high with 12 blocks. The performance earned her Best Middle Blocker and Most Valuable Player honors at the AVCA First Serve Showcase. She averaged 1.90 blocks per set through her first three matches of the season, earning her Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
• Allick leads the Huskers with 1.41 blocks per set so far this season. Offensively, she has contributed 2.00 kills per set with .370 hitting.

HALL OF FAME COACH COOK IN YEAR 25 AT NU
• Nebraska head coach John Cook will enter his 25th season as Nebraska volleyball head coach in 2024. He has led the Huskers to four national championships, 11 Final Fours, 13 conference championships and 22 top-10 finals rankings since 2000.
• Cook has 859 career victories and is one of the all-time winningest coaches in NCAA history. Since taking over the program in 2000, Cook has led the Huskers to a nationally leading .874 winning percentage (698-101).
• Under Cook, the Huskers have earned 68 AVCA All-Americans and 20 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, both ranking among the nation’s best. He is a three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, earning the prestigious honor in 2000, 2005 and 2023, and an eight-time conference coach of the year, including Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2016, 2017 and 2023.
• In 2023, Cook was named AVCA National Coach of the Year and Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading a young Nebraska team without seniors to its first Big Ten title since 2017. The Huskers finished the regular season 28-1 overall, their best regular-season record since 2005, when they went 28-1. After going 26-6 last year and missing the NCAA regional finals for the first time since 2011, the Huskers again started with a starting lineup that included four true freshmen and a junior transfer (Beason). Cook’s Huskers won their first 27 games of the season and held the No. 1 ranking from Oct. 23 through the end of the regular season. Despite having no seniors on the roster for the second time in his tenure at Nebraska — and Cook fielding a true freshman at the setter position for the second time in his tenure — the Huskers secured an overall first-seeded appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and the sixth time under Cook.
• Cook was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2017, along with former Husker volleyball coach Terry Pettit.