ISU volleyball coach Christy Johnson brought in her first three recruits from her home state of Nebraska this season.

Those three players — Kelsey Petersen, Caitlin Mahoney and Carly Jenson — will all get the opportunity to play close to home at Nebraska on Saturday.

“Growing up in Nebraska — Nebraska volleyball is a really big deal,” Mahoney said. “It will be really exciting to be a part of it in the [Nebraska] coliseum.”

All three players said they would have plenty of family and friends at the match, but that they had trouble getting tickets to the Nebraska Coliseum, which seats just over 4,000.

“There are not that many seats for the players because we only get two passes,” Mahoney said. “My dad luckily found a bunch of tickets.”

Petersen said her family tried to get tickets right away, but still had trouble.

“They are borrowing tickets from other people, so I have a lot of family and friends coming,” Petersen said.

The Huskers sold out their ticket allotment in 45 minutes for the 2008 season, which runs their sellout streak to 118 matches.

Johnson, who won a National title as a player at Nebraska in 1995, said part of what makes the coliseum a great venue is how close the players and fans are to the court.

“You can reach out and touch the crowd,” Johnson said. “They have kept it at just over 4,000 to make it more premier, so its become more of a rabid, fanatical type of thing. It’s not a mean crowd, it’s not a hostile crowd, it is a very respectful crowd that will clap no matter what team plays well.”

Petersen, the Cyclones’ starting right side hitter, is from Kearney, Neb., which is just over two hours from Lincoln. Both Jenson, a reserve outside hitter, and Mahoney, a starting defensive specialist, are from the Omaha metro area, which is less than an hour to the east. Jenson attended Millard north, the same high school that Johnson went to.

Johnson said this will be a great experience for the three players, partially because some of them grew up wanting to go to Nebraska.

“Not everyone can go play there. It’s an exciting opportunity for them to experience that atmosphere,” Johnson said. “It’s a special place to play — it gets really loud and you can hardly hear yourself think in there.”

In a state where Husker pride is the dominant way of thinking, all three players were Husker fans in some fashion before they came to Iowa State.

“I was a Husker fan in football, but not in volleyball, but I went to a lot of the matches,” Jenson said.

Petersen said that is just the way of life for many Nebraskans.

“I was a big Husker fan growing up,” Petersen said. “Especially in volleyball; I always wanted to play there when I was watching them.”