With victories over Maryland and Indiana, Nebraska is now 13-3 in the Big Ten and back to being tied with Wisconsin for first place. The Badgers lost to Purdue in four sets on Friday.

Purdue, Penn State and Minnesota are not far behind with 12-4 conference records. Ohio State is next with an 11-5 record. The Big Ten is extremely competitive and the end of the season is where great teams separate themselves.

The Huskers have a difficult four remaining games of the regular season but also have an opportunity to take the Big Ten crown.

This weekend, Nebraska hosts Penn State on Friday at 8 p.m. on BTN and Rutgers on Saturday at 7 p.m. on Nebraska Public Media.

Here is a full breakdown of the Huskers’ upcoming matches:

No. 15 Penn State (19-7, 12-4):

All four of the Nittany Lions Big Ten losses came in October. Nebraska started it off by beating Penn State in College Park 3-1. Then they lost to Purdue and Wisconsin in five sets and fell to Illinois 3-1 on Oct. 30.

Penn State is on a four-game winning streak by winning two matches against both Michigan and Michigan State.

Against the Huskers, the Nittany Lions hit .176, their lowest hitting percentage of the Big Ten season. Nebraska hit .244 with three players in double-digit kills. Penn State setter Gabby Blossom had 29 assists in four sets and 11 digs.

Rutgers (8-19, 0-16):

The Scarlet Knights are ranked last in the Big Ten and haven’t won a conference match this season. They rank last or second-to-last in eight of the 12 statistic categories such as hitting percentage, assists, blocks, kills and more.

Rutgers has won eight sets all season. They took Indiana and Illinois to five sets and beat Purdue and Penn State in one set each.

Nebraska completely dominated Rutgers on Oct. 10, sweeping them 25-19, 25-9, 25-12. The Scarlet Knights hit .042 and two players had a team-high five kills.

Jonni Parker, Penn State:

Outside hitter Jonni Parker is No. 6 in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.76) and in points per set (4.32). She is hitting .249 on the season, a solid number for an outside hitter in the Big Ten.

Parker had 11 kills, four errors and hit .184 against Nebraska earlier this season. She has been inconsistent hitting percentage-wise this season but when she is on, watch out. The 6-foot-0 senior notched out a 23 kill performance against Purdue in five sets.

She is leading Penn State with 365 kills, 178 digs and 78 blocks.

Kaitlyn Hord, Penn State:

Kaitlyn Hord is one of the best middle blockers in the Big Ten. She ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten with a .434 hitting percentage. Her teammate Allie Holland is behind her with a .396 clip. Hord is No. 4 in blocks with 1.34 per set and 129 total.

Hord hit .409 against Nebraska with 11 kills and two errors. She had two solo blocks and one block assist.

Cook said in a press conference before this match in October that Hord was going to get her kills no matter what but the Huskers needed to limit the players around her. That will likely be their plan again on Friday.

Beka Kojadinovic, Rutgers:

Kojadinovic, who is from Serbia, is the Scarlet Knights leading scorer. The 6-1 right side hitter has recorded 262 kills and averages 2.79 kills per set. She also has the third most blocks with 52.

She struggled against Nebraska, just like each hitter did with the exception of middle blocker Megan Vernon, who hit .417 with five kills. Kojadinovic had four killls, five errors and hit -0.043 and added 13 digs. She had one of her best matches against Indiana when she had 15 kills and hit .361.

Madyson Chitty, Rutgers:

Libero Madyson Chitty has 326 digs this season and averaged 3.43 digs per set. She has 14 service aces and 17 service errors. During the preseason matches, she had a career-high 23 digs. Against Nebraska, Chitty had 10 digs and three assists.

.277:

Penn State is ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten in hitting percentage. Their .277 clip is only behind Wisconsin’s .292 percentage. Hord and Holland give the Nittany Lions a big boost with high hitting percentages as mentioned earlier.

Cook said on Wednesday that the Big Ten this season has some of the best defense he has seen in this conference.

“Indiana, which is one of the worst, they're still really playing at a really high level defensively,” Cook said “It was hard to kill balls. And we're still killing a lot of balls compared to other teams. We look at our kills per game, I think we're No. 1 but it doesn't feel like it.”

Ohio State is No. 1 in kills per set and the Nittany Lions are No. 3 in kills per set with 14.52. Nebraska, while Cook says are first place in kills per game, are No. 4 in kills per set (13.80).

While Nebraska’s overall hitting percentage is .225, which is ranked seventh in the conference, it’s good to put some perspective on the advanced defense this season.

.150:

Speaking off defense, Nebraska leads the Big Ten with a .150 opponent hitting percentage and 17.13 digs per set.

Penn State is No. 10 in opponent hitting percentage (.204) and Rutgers is No. 13 (.239).

Cook said he emphasized in practice this week hitting better percentage-wise and making better decisions. If the Huskers can hit even just a little less high error, they could take advantage of the Nittany Lions' lower opponent hitting percentage.

“Statistically, we look at the Big Ten stats. We're No. 1 in several categories. The one we're not is in attack efficiency so that's kind of been our focus is how can we raise that?” Cook said. “Well, it's a combination of passing, it's a combination of setting, it’s a combination and making good decisions.”

While Nebraska’s defense has been the most consistent star of their season, the offense has an opportunity to highlight themselves this weekend.

If the Huskers can get the offense humming along with the defense and serve tough, this team could be hard to beat. But so far, they haven’t had those three phases at their best against top-ranked opponents like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio State.

Senior Night on Saturday:

Super seniors Lexi Sun and Lauren Stivrins will officially get the Senior Night they deserved after having no fans in the stands in 2020.

While Sun and Stivrins will be saying goodbye to college volleyball after six years, there are three other Huskers who have an a decision to make.

Nicklin Hames, Kayla Caffey and Callie Schwarzenbach can return for another season if they choose too.

Caffey, who transferred from Missouri before the 2020 season, said she will be 25 years old next season if she decides to return. She said she hasn’t decided whether she will return for another season as a Husker.

“If I was giving the most improved players by far, she is our most improved player in the last year,” Cook said. “She has developed to be a really good blocker for her size, she's an exceptional blocker. We already knew she was a great attacker and has a great arm and really the only person that stops her is Nicklin.”

If Caffey and the other seniors decide to return in 2022, they will give Nebraska a boost but if not, the Huskers have many talented young players who will have big shoes to fill at setter and middle.

The home stretch:

This is it. The end is in sight and Nebraska still has all of their goals ahead of them.

They could still win the Big Ten as they are tied for first place. And consequently, get a good seed in the NCAA tournament.

But they have to go through No. 15 Penn State, Rutgers, No. 5 Wisconsin and No. 6 Purdue. A tough schedule with a lot of opportunities to grab their goals, exactly what a team wants.

Cook said Nebraska hasn’t been talking about the end of the season and it’s importance. They are approaching it with a game-by-game mentality and are “just trying to get two wins this weekend,” according to Cook.

“We don't really talk much about it,” he said. “We're just trying to talk about how what level we want to play.”

Nebraska will have to play at a very high level to come out of the last four games unscathed, but it’s not impossible for this squad.

Penn State win potentially the best win:

Nebraska dominated Penn State earlier this season in a surprising away game victory. The Rec Hall is known for being one of the rowdiest environments in college volleyball and Nebraska used it to their advantage.

“That was my favorite match all like this entire season,” middle blocker Kayla Caffey said. “It was just so fun and really good energy even though it was at their house like we were feeding off their fan section.”

Winning the Penn State match gave Nebraska a ton of momentum and confidence to defeat their next five opponents, including a talented Purdue team in the Devaney Sports Center. The reason the Penn State win could be more impressive than the Purdue match is because that game was at home.

The Huskers have the homecourt advantage on Friday and are 18-3 all-time against the Nittany Lions in Lincoln.

Just like always, Nebraska fans rally around the Penn State rivalry and create one of the most electric environments of the season when the Nittany Lions come to town.

Defensive specialist Kenzie Knuckles said she didn’t know about the Nebraska-Penn State rivalry before becoming a Husker but looks forward to it every year. She said Penn State head coach Russ Rose and Cook are “frenemies” and that the Huskers want to play well to have Cook’s back.

Lexi Rodriguez named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week:

Freshman libero Lexi Rodriguez was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this season. She has also earned three Freshman of the Week awards.

Rodriguez had 22 digs against both Maryland and Indiana and averaged 6.29 digs, 1.57 assists and 0.57 aces per set.

‘(Rodriquez) has always been a stud since she got to the program,” Knuckles said. “She's always been great. And it's kind of just been like, that's what (Rodriquez) does. But she actually has gotten a lot better and I didn't think that was possible because the girl does everything.”

Knuckles said Rodriguez, who is a quieter person, has “come out of her shell” more as the season has progressed.

“She's grown so much as a teammate and a player and everything else,” Knuckles said. “I'm super proud of her for that.