by 
Lincoln – The No. 9 Nebraska volleyball team fought toe-to-toe with No. 2 Texas but came up just short in a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 8-15) thriller before 8,312 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday.
Kadie Rolfzen paced the Huskers (6-3) with a career-high 21 kills and 16 digs. Alicia Ostrander, coming off a strong outing off the bench against Creighton, earned the start and tallied 14 kills and four blocks.
The Huskers hit .165, while Texas hit .189, the lowest it has hit all season. Texas (8-0) entered the match with the nation’s eighth-ranked attack at .307 percent, but NU held the Longhorns well under their season average. Texas had also lost just one set all season before the Huskers topped them twice on Saturday.
Nebraska outblocked Texas (15-13) and outdug the Longhorns (78-76). The Big Red also committed fewer service errors with 11 to Texas’ 13. But in the fifth set with the match on the line, Texas produced nine kills on 22 attacks with one error for a .364 hitting percentage, while Nebraska put together five kills on 23 attacks with three errors for a .087 hitting percentage.
The Huskers are back in action on Wednesday night, as they start Big Ten play by hosting Iowa at 7 p.m. at the Devaney Center.
