Pavan Leads NU to Sweep of A&M

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What, no going-away present for Sarah Pavan?

 

Surely, if Laurie Corbelli had more time on her hands, Texas A&M’s head coach would have picked up a nice photo album or pieced together a scrapbook filled with memories of Nebraska’s senior All-American.

 

In her final match against the Aggies, Pavan ripped 20 kills Wednesday as Nebraska swept Texas A&M for the eighth time in eight tries during her four-year career. In those eight matches, Pavan averaged 5.83 kills per game on .456 hitting.

 

For comparison’s sake, Pavan’s career numbers are 4.58 and .332.

 

“It’s not just Texas A&M, I think everyone we play will be happy to see Pavan go away,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said following the win.

 

With Texas A&M clinging to faint postseason hopes, the No. 2-ranked Huskers scored a solid 30-26, 30-23, 30-22 road win before 1,613 in College Station.

 

While it was NU’s 21st sweep in 25 tries this season, this win was far from ordinary. Texas A&M was only the fourth Big 12 opponent to score 20 or more points in three games against the Huskers this season.

 

One of those points came courtesy of Cook, who drew the first red card in his 15 seasons as a head coach early in game two. Incensed by what he believed was the third missed call by one of the line judges, Cook bolted from his seat — with assistants Lee Maes and Lizzy Stemke close behind — and barked at officials Richard Bleau and Steve Robb.

 

After being given a caution and told to sit down, Cook pressed on, asking Robb, “How many points are we going to have to win? Is it 33 or 35?”

 

Following the match, Cook said, “Sometimes you have to make a statement.”

 

While it wasn’t the prettiest of wins, Nebraska (24-1, 16-1 Big 12) certainly was the dominant team late in games. The Huskers overcame deficits of 16-12 in game one and 14-9 in game two, in large part due to some timely aces.

 

Nebraska finished with nine, four coming off the jump serve of junior Jordan Larson. Pavan served two aces, meaning 10 of her 130 career service winners have come against the Aggies.

 

“There were definitely moments in every game where we weren’t playing that great,” Pavan said. “But the encouraging thing was, at the end of each game, we were able to pull away.”

 

Nebraska hit just .254, its worst offensive night since the loss at Texas. But defensively, NU had its best statistical effort in nearly seven weeks, scoring 10.5 blocks and holding Texas A&M to .099 hitting in freshman libero Kayla Banwarth’s second start.

 

After posting at least 20 kills in three of her last four matches, Texas A&M sophomore Sarah Ammerman had only eight kills and hit .000 against the Huskers.

 

For Nebraska, Pavan, the Big 12 leader in kills, aces and points per game, added 10 digs for her third double-double in four matches, and Larson chipped in with 11 kills.

 

The Huskers return home Saturday to face No. 22 Oklahoma. The Aggies (18-10, 7-10) will face Missouri in the first of three straight must-win matches for Texas A&M.

 

linky