11/8/02

Longhorns Preview: No. 5 Nebraska

When: 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 9
Where: Gregory Gym (Austin, Texas)
Texas: 18-6, 9-5 Big 12
Nebraska: 21-1, 13-0 Big 12
Series: Nebraska leads 19-11
Last Meeting: Nebraska 3-0 (9/21/02 in Lincoln, Neb.)

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	With her parents in attendance for the first time, sophomore Mira Topic had a season-high 31 kills against Colorado on Wednesday night.

Match Promotions: Fans who have a Texas-Baylor football ticket stub will receive free general admission. Kids 18 and under can see the match for $1 general admission for "Take a Kid to the Game" night.

Notes: Texas is looking to end its two-match losing streak as the Longhorns host Nebraska in an evening contest on Saturday. The current streak ties the longest streak of the season in which UT dropped Big 12 opening week matches to Missouri and Nebraska on Sept. 18 and 21. Nebraska enters the match ranked fifth in the nation and is looking for its fifth consecutive Big 12 title. The Huskers have not lost a conference match since Texas defeated NU in a 3-2 decision on Oct. 24, 1999 in Austin.

No. 5 Nebraska: No. 5 Nebraska comes to Austin in the only match on the Huskers' schedule this week.Senior leadership anchors John Cook's squad that brings a record of 21-1 and 13-0 in Big 12 play into the match on Saturday. Senior middle blocker Amber Holmquist leads the team in hitting percentage at .387 and in blocks at 1.98 while is second in kills with a 3.29 kills per game average. Senior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski averages a team best 3.72 for a .330 average. Senior setter Greichaly Cepero has a 12.32 assists per game average in her final season. Holmquist, Pilakowski and Cepero all were selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. The final of the four seniors, libero Lindsay Wischmeier, leads NU in digs at 3.35 per game. The future looks good for the Huskers as well as redshirt-freshman middle blocker Melissa Elmer is second on the team in hitting percentage at .375 and blocks at 1.18 while true-freshman outside hitter Jennifer Saleaumma averages just under 3 kills a game.

Texas: Texas is 18-1 when winning game three; the lone match of the year lost when winning the third game came in the five-game loss to Missouri (10/26) ... On the flip side, Texas is 0-5 when losing the third game ... Two Horns have started every match so far this season (24): outside hitters LaTonya Coates and Mira Topic, while libero Stacy Millichap has played in every game (Liberos are not allowed to start a match or game) ... Setter Abbie Schindler has totaled 1,586 career assists to rank her ninth on the career assist list, 587 assists shy of Lisa Denker, who is eighth all-time at 2,173 ... Right behind Schindler is freshman setter Caron Blotch, who is 10th on the career assist list with 902 assists; Blotch has tallied 20+ assists in every match she has played in this season except against Texas-San Antonio when she left the match early with 12 assists and against Iowa State, leaving due to an injury with 13 assists ... Blotch set a career-high against Baylor (10/2) in the digs category, coming up with 12 digs, a number she tied against Colorado (11/6) ... Blotch had 60 assists and eight kills against Missouri (10/26) for a career-high in those categories ... Middle blocker Kathryn Wilson set a new season-high of 11 kills against Baylor (10/2) in her first double-figure kill tally of the year; Wilson set a season-high for hitting percentage (.667) at Texas Tech on 10 kills on 12 attempts ... Libero Stacy Millichap has come up with 10+ digs in 15 matches this year, including a career-high 20 against Kansas (10/5); Millichap ended a seven-match streak of 10 or more digs which began against Kansas and ended against Baylor (10/30) when she tallied five digs ... Outside hitter Bethany Howden slammed a season-high 22 kills in the second match against Missouri this season at Columbia while putting down 20 kills in the Big 12 opener against Missouri (9/18) and has hit for double-digit kills in 15 of 23 matches; she followed the 22 kills in a five-game match at Missouri (10/26) with a 21 kills in a three-game match against Baylor (10/30) ... Howden set a career-high against Missouri when she served five aces (four of those aces were in a row) ... Outside hitter LaTonya Coates has set new career-highs in every category this season except for hitting percentage (1.000 at Texas A&M on 12/01/01) ... Coates also has recorded three double-doubles this year; the last against Missouri (10/26) and has had 10 matches with 10+ kills and eight matches with 10 or more digs ... Leading the Longhorns in double-doubles is outside hitter Mira Topic, finishing nine matches with 10+ kills and digs ... Topic has also notched double-digit kills in 20 of 24 matches, falling a kill short (9) in victories over Baylor (10/30), Texas Tech (10/12), Kansas (10/5) and Texas-Pan American (8/30) ... Topic has six matches with 20+ kills, the last match was at Kansas (11/2), and one 30+ kills match (vs. Colorado 11/6) this season ... She also is closing in on 1,000 career kills, entering the match with 935 ... Kathy Hahn has hit for 10+ kills in 18 of 24 matches this season for a 3.42 kills per game average while hitting .346 in 79 games ... she broke her career-best mark for hitting percentage against Kansas when she hit .667 (17 kills with 1 error in 24 attempts) ... Hahn also is averaging 1.10 blocks per game.