After backing Nebraska against the wall before being swept on Oct. 10 in Lincoln, the ISU volleyball team has the confidence to know it can play with one of the premier teams in the nation.

At the time, the Huskers were a dominant 15-0 and had dropped just one game all season, but a lot of things have changed in the past month. The once-invincible Huskers (22-1, 14-1 Big 12) have since shown that they are, in fact, human.

Since these teams last met, No. 2 Nebraska has been swept convincingly by No. 3 Texas in Austin, and was taken to five games for the first time all season in wins over Missouri and No. 12 Kansas State.

Sunday, Iowa State will face the Huskers in the friendly confines of Hilton Coliseum, a game which consistently draws the largest home crowd of the season.

“There’s always a little more added excitement in the week leading up to this game,” said sophomore setter Kaylee Manns. “We always know we’ll get great crowds and it’s so fun to play in an atmosphere like that.”

The Cyclones (15-10, 9-6) were able to take the Huskers to the wire in game one of their match last month, but fell short to Nebraska for the 71st consecutive time in a 33-31, 30-19, 30-20 sweep in front of 4,061 fans at the Nebraska Coliseum.

“When we really got after it against Nebraska, we were able to stay right with them,” said coach Christy Johnson, who was a two-time All-American and won a national title as a setter for Nebraska in 1995. “A lot of this is a mental game. A lot of teams may see Nebraska walk in and just get ready for a loss, but we have to have faith that if we play hard, anything can happen.”

Iowa State is one of just five teams to hold Nebraska under a .300 hitting percentage in a match, and also outdug Nebraska 54-51, and ran nearly even on blocks, with Nebraska holding a 9.0-8.5 advantage.

“Going into their place and almost taking the first game from them was great,” said senior Erin Boeve. “But we can’t settle for that, playing well the first game and taking the rest of them off. It’s really important that we have confidence in ourselves to be able to stay with them the whole match.”

Last season’s home matchup with Nebraska had 2,500 fans witness the Cyclones drop the match 3-1 (30-20, 22-30, 30-27, 30-25), but their game two win was their first against the Huskers since Oct. 22, 1994.

The largest home crowd in the history of ISU volleyball also came against Nebraska when 4,228 fans saw the Huskers’ national title team sweep the Cyclones on Oct. 7, 1995. Johnson was a member of that Nebraska team.

The ISU athletic department is asking Cyclone fans to “Cram the Coliseum” for the marquee matchup at 4 p.m. Sunday against the Huskers, in hopes of breaking the attendance mark set in 1995.

The match will follow the women’s basketball game against Pepperdine at 1 p.m. Any fan that presents a women’s basketball ticket or wears gold-colored attire will get free admission to the match. General admission tickets will be $1.

Scouting the Huskers

Record: 22-1, 14-1 Big 12

Ranking: No. 2 in the nation, T-first Big 12

Good wins: No. 9 UCLA (3-1), No. 1 Penn State (3-0), No. 22 Cal Poly (3-0), No. 14 Duke (3-0), No. 3 Texas (3-0), No. 12 Kansas State (3-0, 3-2), No. 23 Oklahoma (3-0)

Bad losses: Only loss came at No. 3 Texas (3-0)

Player to watch: Sr. RS Sarah Pavan ranks first in the Big 12 in points (5.76 per game), kills (4.91 per game), and service aces (0.43 per game) on a .342 hitting percentage. She has twice been named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and once the AVCA National Player of the Week.

Notes: Aside from Pavan, the 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year, Nebraska runs a balanced, high-octane offense that features four other All-Americans from 2006. The Huskers have faltered after a rock-solid 19-0 start, as they were swept by Texas and were taken to five games in wins against Missouri and Kansas State. The Cyclones are still looking for their first-ever win against Nebraska, who leads the all-time series 71-0.