Thramer and Haggerty both had four kills in the first set, while Cook tabbed 15 assists. Nebraska hit .289 in the set, while Northern Iowa hit .128. Both teams totaled two team blocks in the set.

The Huskers used the momentum from the end of the first set to take an 8-5 lead in the second set following another ace from Haggerty. Thramer came on strong for the Huskers, notching two kills and a double-stuff block with Mancuso to make it 11-6, Huskers. Northern Iowa started to make a run, notching three consecutive points as Nebraska was forced to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Broekhuis tallied two kills, helping Nebraska to the 25-16 second-set win.

Broekhuis had four kills in the set, while Mancuso, Thramer and Werth all had three. Cook notched 13 assists as Nebraska hit .607 in the set and had one team block.

Nebraska came out in the third set and took a 4-1 lead over the Panthers, but UNI came fighting back to take a 9-7 lead. The Huskers would string together a 6-0 run to take a 13-9 advantage, punctuated by a kill from Thramer as Northern Iowa used its final timeout. A kill by Werth made it 19-15, Nebraska, while the Huskers used a kill from Mancuso to take the third set 25-21 and sweep Northern Iowa.

Mancuso and Werth both had four kills in the final set, while Cook notched 14 assists. Nebraska hit. 282 in the set and had two team blocks.

With the win, the Huskers advance to the Omaha Regional and will face the winner of the first and second rounds in Seattle, Wash. Fans can purchase tickets for next weekend’s matches through Ticketmaster.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Leah McNary had 14 kills while Kelli Browning had 12 more as the No. 21 Creighton Volleyball team won its NCAA Tournament opener, 3-0, over Marquette on Friday evening in Minneapolis, Minn.

Scores of Creighton’s 17th straight victory were 25-22, 25-23, 28-26.

The win was Creighton’s (29-3) second NCAA Tournament victory in three years, as the Jays also won in five sets in its NCAA Tournament debut in 2010 over Iowa State on the same Sports Pavilion floor.

Marquette ends its season with a 27-7 mark.

Creighton advances to play eight-seeded and 11th-ranked Minnesota, which swept Liberty (25-21, 25-10, 34-32).  Saturday’s contest will start at 6 pm. A free video webcast will be available.

Creighton hit .412 in the opening set to down Marquette, 25-22. Browning had five kills in as many swings to pace the Jays, while  McNary had three kills including the winner on set point. The match was tied five times early on before Kate Elman served up a pair of aces during a 5-0 run that helped CU to an 11-7 lead. MU got no closer than two the rest of the frame. MU hit .366, getting five kills by Erin Lehman, as setter Elizabeth Koberstein dished 16 assists.

Creighton won an even tighter second set that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes. The Jays trailed 21-20 late, only to go on a 5-2 run to close out the set. A kill from Browning evened the score and CU went ahead on a Golden Eagles attack error. MU would answer with a Danielle Carlson kill to tie the score at 22-all.  McNary then followed with back-to-back kills, giving CU a 24-22 lead. Marquette earned a sideout on another Carlson kill, but the Jays then went back to McNary for the clincher, closing out the 25-23 set victory.

Creighton trailed much of the third set, but used a 3-0 run to go ahead 19-18. Marquette scored the next two points to go up 20-19, and the teams would then exchange 14 straight drama-filled sideouts (as Creighton survived three MU set points) until the score was knotted at 26 all. The Jays evened the score at 26-all on a Golden Eagles service error. Michelle Sicner then slammed her seventh kill to give CU a match point opportunity, which McNary finished with a kill on the next chance.

McNary led CU with 14 kills on .294 hitting, while Browning had 12 kills and hit .600 while also sharing team-high honors with Heather Thorson with four blocks. Jereb finished with a team-best 15 digs, while Elman tallied 14 digs. Sicner hit .500 in 14 swings without an error. The Jays hit .267 and finished with 48 kills, five aces, 54 digs and 12 blocks.

Marquette was paced by 13 kills each from Holly Mertens and Danielle Carlson, while Lehman had 10 kills. Julie Jeziorowski had 19 digs to lead all players on the afternoon. MU hit .231 and finished with 49 kills, two aces, 62 digs and three blocks.

NOTES: Kate Elman became the third player in Creighton history with at least 600 digs in a season and stretched her career-opening streak of 10 or more digs to 32 straight contests … Creighton improved to 24-0 on the year when winning the first set and 18-0 when leading a match 2-0 this fall … Creighton improved to 8-2 this year against teams in the NCAA Tournament field … Creighton has now won 11 straight matches away from home and are 7-0 on neutral floors this fall … Creighton finishes the month of November with a 9-0 record after also going undefeated in August (4-0) and October (7-0) … Creighton is one of eight teams to win at least one match in every NCAA Tournament apperance in program history. The only other teams still alive in the 2012 NCAA Tournament that can say that are Stanford, Texas and Florida …Creighton improved to 3-1 all-time vs. Marquette …Megan Bober set a school-record by playing in her 127th career match …Creighton improved to 11-1 against teams from the 2011 NCAA Tournament field … The MVC went 3-0 in the first round, as Northern Iowa swept Kansas State and Wichita State overcame an 0-2 deficit to beat Arkansas … Kelli Browning now owns 184 block assists on the season, four shy of the MVC single-season record … The 55 combined wins between Marquette and Creighton entering the match were more than any other NCAA Tournament first-round pairing … Megan Bober increased her school-record with her 23rd double-double of the season.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Jess Samorodova poured in 31 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team improved to 10-0 with an impressive win 91-68 against the Las Vegas Heat in the second day of the Air Force Prep tournament on Friday.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said they shot the ball a lot better against the Heat then they did on Thursday against the Adam College junior varsity. The Cougars converted on nine 3-pointers, led by Shalisa Moffitt with three treys and Samorodova and Laurin Rivera with two each.

“The first half we struggled a little bit defensively. They are a good team with some height,” Harnish said. “We then scored a lot better in the second half.”

Samorodova, the 6-foot-3 post player from Russia had a season-best score of 31 points followed by Moffit with 11 points and Jessica Aratani with 10 points. Kelsey Doddridge followed with nine points, while Mikayla Brower and Rivera each had seven points.

The Cougars will finish off the Air Force Prep Classic on Saturday at 4 p.m. when they face the host school. The Cougars will then return home to host the Lady Cougar Holiday Classic beginning Thursday when they face Colby Community College at 7 p.m.

WNCC (10-0)                      41 50 – 91

Las Vegas Heat                  35 33 – 68

WNCC

Mikayla Brower 7, Laurin Rivera 7, Kelsey Doddridge 9, Gritt Ryder 6, Katie Kerkhoff 2, Simone Evans 2, Shalisa Moffit 11, Ashley Stevens 6, Jessica Aratani 10, Jess Samorodova 31.

SHERIDAN, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received 43 points from Charles Ward and Cody Johnson and the Cougars hung on to clip Gillette College 65-61 in the Holiday Classic at Sheridan, Wyo., on Friday.

WNCC coach Russ Beck said the big reason for the win was their defense, which held the Pronghorns to just 34 percent shooting. Beck also said they took care of and distributed the ball. The Cougars had 17 assists and committed just 12 turnovers.

The Cougars held a 32-30 halftime lead thanks to 46.4 percent shooting in the first half, including connecting on four 3-pointers. WNCC finished the game shooting 44.6 percent and hit seven 3-pointers. Ward nailed 3 of 5 attempts, while Johnson, the 6-foot-10 post, had two treys.

Ward finished the contest with 22 points, five assists and five rebounds, while Johnson had 21 points and six rebounds. Willie Mangum was the next leading scorer with five points and five assists.

WNCC, 4-4, will be back in action Saturday when they take on the host team Sheridan College. Sheridan lost to the Midwest Elite team 88-83 after holding a 50-42 lead. Sheridan and WNCC met in the second game of the season the Generals won 107-104 in overtime.

WNCC (4-4)        32 33 – 65

Gillette                 30 31 – 61

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Gritt Ryder and Jess Samorodova each scored 15 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team remained unbeaten with a 64-38 win over Adams State College junior varsity Thursday at the Air Force Prep tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said his team played well defensively, but came out sluggish offensively. He said that might because of the 10-day layoff between games. The Cougar women last played Nov. 20 when they defeated Casper 72-42.

“The first half we were a little bit sluggish and we actually didn’t pull away. We didn’t score well tonight, but I thought we played defense well,” Harnish said. “The second half we came out real strong and opened up a 30-point lead at 55-20 before we started to play the bench.”

Harnish said it was tight for the first part of the contest until they opened up the contest with a late first-half run to lead 31-13 at the break. The second half saw the Cougars lead balloon to 30 points.

“We haven’t played in a week and a half,” he said. “We just didn’t shoot the ball very well. We need to play better tomorrow [Friday]. The Las Vegas Heat has a 6-foot-4 girl that is athletic and most of their players are like 25 years old.”

The Cougars also received seven points each from Laurin Rivera and Maurissa Ortega, while Shalisa Moffitt collected six points.

WNCC, 9-0, will get a test tonight at 6:00 when they take on the Las Vegas Heat, which is an all-star team.  The Cougars will then wrap up the Air Force Prep Classic tomorrow against the host team at 4 p.m.

WNCC (9-0)                        31 33 – 64

Adams State JV                 13 25 – 38

WNCC

Gritt Ryder 15, Kelsey Doddridge 2, Jessica Aratani 2, Jess Samorodova 15, Ashley Stevens 4, Laurin Rivera 7, Shalisa Moffitt 6, Mikayla Brower 4, Jenna Lindquist 2, Maurissa Ortega 7.