Freshman outside hitter Madi Kubik broke out in a big way for the Huskers last week and her performance earned her not only the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, it landed her the Big Ten Player of the Week honor as well.
Kubik, the freshman from West Des Moines, Iowa, averaged 4.57 kills end 1.71 digs per set while hitting .320 in wins against No. 20 Purdue and at Maryland.
Kubik posted a career-high 22 kills on .314 hitting in Nebraska’s 3-1 win against the Boilermakers at the Deveney Center on Wednesday and followed that up with 10 kills on .333 hitting and eight digs in a sweep at Maryland in Saturday.
🔲 @MadiKubik 🔲
» Big Ten Player of the Week
» Big Ten Freshman of the Week#GBR pic.twitter.com/QlEZsovsaO— Husker Volleyball (@Huskervball) October 21, 2019
After a slow start to her Husker career, Kubik has come on strong of late, hitting over .300 in four of her past six matches. She’s hit .268 in that stretch after posting a .168 hitting average in her first 11 matches.
Kubik is the first freshman to win Big Ten Player of the Week this season and is the second Husker to win Big Ten Freshman of the Week as libero Kenzie Knuckles took him the honor in week one.
Minnesota libero CC McGraw won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week while Penn State’s Gabby Blossom took home Big Ten Setter of the Week to round out the conference’s weekly honors.
This week’s AVCA Coaches Poll saw minimal changes including none for the six Big Ten teams in the top 25. Nebraska (15-2, 7-1 Big Ten) rained at No. 5 after a 2-0 week with Wisconsin (12-4, 8-0), Minnesota (13-3, 7-1) and Penn State (14-3, 7-1) right behind. Illinois (9-8, 4-4) held at No. 17 and Purdue (12-5, 4-4) stayed at No. 20 despite the loss to the Huskers. Michigan (13-5, 6-2) is among others receiving votes.
Creighton (15-3), Nebraska’s first opponent of the season, moved up to No. 10 after a loss by BYU knocked the Cougars down three spots. San Diego (15-4), who the Huskers beat in five sets in week two, went from unranked to No. 22 after winning at BYU in five sets.
The Huskers will return to action on Friday with a trip to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers (12-9, 1-7). Nebraska closes out the weekend with a rematch against the Boilermakers in West Lafayette on Saturday night.
Jacob is in his third year with Hail Varsity covering Husker athletics. He has also written extensively for SB Nation’s Bright Side of the Sun and The Creightonian. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.