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| Nebraska averages nearly 4,092 in attendance and currently has a 7-game home win streak |
First, let's preview what could be one of the biggest games of the season: #1 Illinois (19-0, 8-0) at #4 Nebraska (15-1, 8-0). The storied Nebraska program faces Iowa (11-10, 1-7) at home tonight, but on Saturday they will be playing host to the #1 team in their first ever head-to-head Big Ten battle. Nebraska is coming off of a five set win at #14 Minnesota (11-6, 4-4) and plans to thrive in their home environment for the next two games. If you'll recall Nebraska's Big Ten opener against Penn State, it took five sets for the Huskers to dispatch the Nittany Lions, and many will say that the crowd was rocking throughout the match, which is sure to be no different when the top-ranked Illini come to town this weekend. Illinois, however, is feeling quite strong themselves to say the least, riding their 19-game win streak that in the past few weeks has included wins over ranked foes Michigan, Purdue, Penn State, and Ohio State.
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| Stanford's Karissa Cook was named AVCA National Player of the Week for her stellar performances against Wash. and Wash. St. |
Secondly, I'd like to look at a Pac-12 matchup that will be taking place this Friday night in Tucson, Arizona as the Arizona Wildcats (13-6, 5-5) welcome in the hot #5 Stanford Cardinal (14-3, 8-3). Stanford is cruising with a six-game winning streak that has included a road win over the #18 Oregon Ducks (12-6, 5-5) and a home sweep of then #2 Washington (15-3, 7-3). Arizona isn't playing too shabby either with three straight wins, one of which was a home upset over the then #2 UCLA Bruins (16-3, 9-2). The Wildcats are sitting one spot outside of the AVCA Coaches' Top 25, and surely could use a marquee victory like this to push them into the polls. This game will also be Arizona's first home game since that upset over UCLA, which hopefully will draw out a good crowd for what appears to be a crucial game for the Wildcats season.
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| From left to right: Scott, Grant, McClendon |
Lastly, look for #9 Penn State (13-5, 6-2) to be challenged this week with two Big Ten matches against ranked teams in #21 Michigan (15-5, 3-5) and #23 Ohio State (14-7, 4-4). Tonight, the Buckeyes will be travelling to University Park, Pennsylvania with hopes of notching a solid conference win, but the Nittany Lions' strong hitters Deja McClendon and Ariel Scott are sure to thrive in the home environment where they have lost only once in conference play, having fallen to #1 Illinois back on October 8th. On Saturday, the Wolverines will get their turn, and they are aiming to turn around their season which saw a 4-game skid in conference play before they defeated Northwestern in five sets last weekend.
So as you keep your eyes on these games in the coming days, be sure to look out for the next installment of the Interview Series this Friday. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at jonathan.ketterer@avca.org. Thanks for reading!
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