VB: Huskers' season ends with heartbreaking 5-set loss against Kansas State

For the first time since 1993, Nebraska volleyball won't make it to the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Late Friday night, the Huskers were upset by unranked Kansas State in a five-set thriller 25-22, 22-25, 31-29, 22-25 and 15-11.

It was the third time the Wildcats beat the Huskers at the NU Coliseum, the most of any squad. But before Friday, the last time KSU defeated Nebraska was in 2003.

"Not very many people have the opportunity to come into this building and win one," KSU coach Suzie Fritz said.

Despite the atmosphere in the building, K-State kept what they had to do in mind. The players turned to junior setter Caitlyn Donahue, who had played matches in Lincoln previously.

"We're lucky to be able to come here and play at Nebraska," she said. "Because we know the gym and we know the fans and we know the atmosphere and that helped us settle down when things were getting hectic."

Sophomore Kaitlynn Pelger led KSU with 22 kills on her way to hitting .314 on the night. The middle blocker also managed 2.5 blocks and 12 digs in KSU's victory.

And for Pelger, the win was so special she could barely speak about the victory against NU.

"I'm at a loss for words," she said. "It's just so awesome."

The deciding set proved to be the dramatic third. After KSU jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, Nebraska went on a 10-2 run and took a 13-8 lead. However, the Huskers couldn't finish off the Wildcats and KSU capped off the set with a 5-0 run to take an 18-17 lead over NU. And the Wildcats and Huskers traded points back and forth until Pelger finally managed a kill to give KSU a 31-29 victory.

NU had KSU at set point three times while Kansas State was a point away from beating Nebraska four times, and that final set point became the determining factor in the match, NU coach John Cook said.

"We win that game, maybe we win this match in four," Cook said. "We certainly had our chance, we just gave K-State a chance to come back. We didn't make plays when we needed to, they did."

For Cook's counterpart, the set was more of a rush. By the time the postgame press conference rolled around, Fritz still couldn't recall what was running through her head during the third set.

"All I know is that I just kept saying, ‘Let's keep siding out with them, keep siding out with them.'

"If we could just stay in it and just keep chipping away, (I know) that we would get our opportunities."

A disparity between the Huskers and Wildcats was serving. NU committed 11 service errors with only two aces while KSU committed seven service errors and converted four aces.

The errors for NU came from the atmosphere of the tournament and the Coliseum, Cook said.

"It was a big match," Cook said. "It was hyped up, and we just made errors. Sometimes it happens."

Another issue for the Huskers was their inability to maintain a balanced attack, an area Cook had praised all season.

Gina Mancuso accounted for 58 of NU's total attacks, Morgan Broekhuis had 46 and Hannah Werth, who had almost 30 percent of NU's total attacks this season, only had 35 of NU's 195 total attacks.

But the biggest problem for Cook's Huskers on the evening came from not executing the fundamentals.

The Huskers notched more kills than the Wilcats and hit 21 percentage points higher, but NU committed more careless errors and didn't execute, Cook said.

"We were just relying on our athleticism to make plays, and that can only get you so far," he said. "You've gotta play good volleyball and control the ball and make good contact and Kansas State totally controlled that area tonight."

But this match wasn't K-State's first win in five sets on the season. The Wildcats are 8-1 in five-set games in 2011, so in the end the victory wasn't a surprise for the team that doesn't feature any seniors.

"We thought we could play with them honestly, and we tried to instill that in our team," Fritz said. "Our team carried through."

Next on the Wildcats agenda is Pepperdine on Friday in Honolulu.

And the young squad is ready for the contest, Fritz said. She's pleased with how her team has played down the stretch.

"We're playing well at the right time, and I like the confidence our team has," she said. "We have tremendous team chemistry, we have 15 kids committed to the success of this team and I think it's rare, I think it's unusual and I think it's special."

RobbyKorth@

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