NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER

For the entire month of November, Nebraska’s volleyball schedule should resemble the playoffs, similar to other sports such as Major League Baseball. Nebraska will have to win big in each of the next five weeks to achieve its goals of winning the Big Ten Championship and earning one of the top four overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

There are five weekends on the Huskers’ November calendar, and it’s an incredible list. That’s 10 matchups, five of them against teams ranked in the top 15, including three matches against the two teams with which Nebraska competes most heavily for the Big Ten title (Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).

Seven of the 10 matches will be away.

The November run begins Friday night in Madison, Wis., against No. 7 Wisconsin and runs through Nov. 30, when No. 2 Nebraska could play for the Big Ten title near Washington, D.C.

Friday’s game airs on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m.

As the Big Ten schedule approaches the mid-turn, Nebraska and Penn State are undefeated in league play and Wisconsin trails by one at 9-1.

However, the Huskers’ schedule gets tougher in the second half. After playing two ranked teams in the first five weeks of Big Ten play, Nebraska will play five games against ranked teams in the second half: No. 3 Penn State, No. 7 Wisconsin (twice), No. 10 Oregon and No. 15 Minnesota. .

The month starts with a big game in Wisconsin. Earlier this week, Nebraska players tried to maintain the notion that every game and every practice is important, but by the time the Huskers take the court Friday, it will be a different game.

“Obviously we have our goals and we know this game could define the Big Ten in some ways,” setter Bergen Riley said. “But we talk every day about making every day like a national championship.”

The combination of a tall and talented team and what goes on inside the UW Field House has made Wisconsin one of the most intimidating places to play sports in the last decade. Over the past five years, Wisconsin has won 91% of its games at the Field House (71-7).

Fans arrive early and sit courtside. When the Badgers gain momentum, opponents can feel like they have an uphill climb ahead of them.

The Badgers encouraged all fans to wear white at Friday’s game.

“We know it’s going to sell out,” Nebraska coach John Cook said of the 7,000-seat arena. “Playing in that environment is also fun because it’s intense and brings out the best.”

Cook knows the UW Field House well, having been the head coach at Wisconsin for seven years and taking Nebraska there multiple times in the regular season and twice in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s loud in here because it’s the Field House,” Cook said. “This is an old building, built in the 1920s. It’s like the NU Coliseum with a metal roof. It’s just an old building and it can be noisy.”

Like Nebraska and the Devaney Sports Center, Wisconsin is what coaches want college volleyball to be.

“Their group is great; their student section is great. It’s a fun place to play,” Cook said. “I’m just glad they finally got the TaraFlex (trial).”

In recent years, more schools, including Wisconsin, Oregon and Purdue, have added a softer Taraflex playing surface that rolls out over a wood floor.

New this year for the NCAA Tournament is a requirement that schools that earn the opportunity to host a regional tournament must have a Taraflex court or purchase one for use that week.

“So it turned out to be a lot of checkbooks,” Cook said.

Nebraska has used Taraflex court since 2011.

Nebraska enters Friday’s matchup on a 17-game winning streak and is one of the best teams in the country in terms of offense, serving and receiving.

Wisconsin has a 25-game home winning streak over two seasons. Key to the streak was 6-foot-4 forward Sarah Franklin, an All-Big Ten selection and national player of the year last season. On average, she kills pets 4.4 times with a hit percentage of 0.295.

Franklin can get kills in a number of ways, including a left-to-right shot that many teams have had a hard time stopping this season.

“She has every chance,” Cook said. “As we say, ‘All six (players on the court) are protecting her.’

Earlier this season, Franklin set the school record for kills in a match (33), surpassing Dana Rettke’s record (30).

Wisconsin (15-4, 9-1) improved after losing its Big Ten opener at Minnesota. In the nine matches since then, the Badgers have lost just two sets while hitting .338 and holding opponents to .115. Wisconsin has combined for 29 blocks in its last two games.

Nebraska and Wisconsin split two games last season, with each team winning at home.

Over the past nine years, Nebraska has had more national championships (two) than wins over the Badgers in Madison (zero).

The Huskers will look to turn things around this Friday. Nebraska middle blocker Andy Jackson is excited to play in another big game.

“It’s not scary, it’s more exciting because it’s going to be a really fun match and we worked really hard,” Jackson said. “They’re a really good team, but we’re a really good team too.”