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For a long time, they played in the same conference. Custom St. Louis Blues Jerseys . But now Nebraska is in the Big Ten, and Missouri in the SEC. Sunday, they both played exciting five-set NCAA volleyball matches that could be key to conference titles. Theres still a long way to go, of course, but the past weekend was big for the Tigers and the Cornhuskers.Missouri atop the SECKentucky was riding a 13-match winning streak coming into Mizzou on Sunday, but the Tigers got off to a fast start by taking the first two sets. The Wildcats responded by winning the next two.Then it came down to a fifth-set battle in which Tigers senior outside hitter Carly Kan took over. She had five of her 17 kills in that set, leading Mizzou to a 15-12 victory.Kan is a native of Hawaii, yet went all the way to Missouri because she loved the coaching staff and team atmosphere. At 5-foot-9, Kan is a bit small these days for an outside hitter. But her role model in that regard is former Hawaii star Kanani Danielson, who finished her career for the Rainbow Wahine in 2011 as a three-time AVCA first-team All-American. The 5-10 Danielson had 1,760 kills for Hawaii; Kan is at 1,527 for Mizzou.While the Wildcats streak was snapped, the Tigers now have won 13 in a row. Theyre 18-3 overall and 9-0 in the SEC. Sundays victory didnt quite get Missouri into this weeks AVCA Top 25, but that could come if the Tigers can extend their streak. Wednesday, theyre on the road at last years SEC champion, Texas A&M (9 p.m. ET, ESPNU). The Aggies stand fourth in the SEC behind Missouri, Kentucky and Florida.Nebraska solidifies No. 1The top ranking in the AVCA poll was a hot potato for the past few weeks, but it stayed put Monday.The Huskers, who started the season ranked No. 1, dropped to third in the Oct. 3 poll after a loss to Ohio State. But Nebraska went back to No. 1 on Oct. 17 after both Minnesota and Wisconsin had taken a turn in the top spot.Those two teams visited a packed-as-usual Devaney Center over the weekend, and Nebraska beat them both. The matches were quite different. The Huskers crushed it in a 3-0 sweep Friday against the Badgers, who had trouble getting anything going. Contrast that to Sunday, when Nebraska prevailed in a gritty 3-2 win over Minnesota.The Gophers looked a lot more like themselves than they did in a surprisingly difficult, come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Iowa on Friday. Nebraska vs. Minnesota had the look of a national championship match, with some thrilling rallies and great plays from both sides.Perhaps the ultimate decider was defense. Huskers senior Justine Wong-Orantes set a school record for digs in a match with 35. Shes now 35 away from becoming Nebraskas career leader in that category.The Huskers also had a season-high 17 blocks against Minnesota, led by Briana Holmans 10.But the overall star of the weekend for the Huskers was senior middle blocker Amber Rolfzen. She had a career-high 16 kills against Wisconsin, and then equaled that with 16 more against Minnesota. That earned her the Big Ten player of the week award Monday.Nebraska is now tied atop the Big Ten at 9-1 with Penn State, which lost 3-2 at Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines Carly Skjodt had a career-high 27 kills in that match.By the way, the Huskers and the Nittany Lions still have two meetings this season: Nov. 4 at Penn State and Nov. 16 at Nebraska.Texas vs. Kansas, Part 2Texas remains atop the Big 12 at 8-0, but it hasnt been easy for the Longhorns. They have just one sweep in their conference matches, vs. TCU. And three of their last five matches have gone five sets.The most recent was Friday at Texas Tech, which is winless in the Big 12. But the Red Raiders pushed the Longhorns the distance after winning the fourth set 28-26. Texas won the fifth set 15-7, but it was still a little too close for comfort for the Longhorns.Meanwhile, Kansas is 7-1, with its only loss coming at Texas on Sept. 24. Now its almost time for the rematch. No. 2-ranked Texas visits No. 6 Kansas on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3).First up, though, its Oklahoma for the Longhorns on Wednesday, while the Jayhawks are at Texas Tech that night.Irish testCoach Jim McLaughlin left Washington, where he won a national championship in 2005, to try to turn Notre Dame into a true volleyball powerhouse. In his second season with the Irish, hes already made great progress.Last year, Notre Dame was 7-25 overall and 2-18 in the ACC. This year, the Irish are 18-4 and 9-1, tied with Florida State for second in the league behind 10-0 North Carolina.The Irish gave the visiting Tar Heels a run for their money on Oct. 14, but UNC escaped 15-13 in the fifth set. This weekend, Notre Dame is host to Miami and Florida State.Meanwhile, out WestNo. 17 Stanford is an uncharacteristic 6-4 and tied for fifth in Pac-12 play. But its been kind of a weird season overall in the conference. The Cardinal have a chance to make up some ground this week. Theyll host league-leading Washington, 8-2 and ranked No. 7, on Wednesday. Then Stanford takes on No. 18 Washington State -- which is tied for third at 7-3 with UCLA and Oregon -- on Friday.San Diego remains unbeaten atop the West Coast Conference, but the match of the year in conference play is Friday. No. 5 San Diego travels to Provo, Utah, to face No. 16 BYU. The Toreros are 10-0 in the WCC, while the Cougars are 8-2. Custom Toronto Maple Leafs Jerseys .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. http:///...ls-jerseys-609b.html . On Mar. 16, coming off a "fight of the year" performance at UFC 154 the previous November, St-Pierre faced Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in what would be his eighth defence of the welterweight title. Using his superior athleticism, St-Pierre cruised to a five round, unanimous decision victory setting up a much-anticipated title defence against number one contender Johny Hendricks. STORRS, Conn. -- UConns new athletic director says hes waiting to hear from the Big 12 about its interest level in the school before reaching out with an official pitch to join the conference.The Big 12s school presidents on Tuesday moved closer to expansion, directing Commissioner Bob Bowlsby to begin evaluating schools interested in joining.UConns David Benedict, in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Friday, acknowledged the Huskies are interested in being evaluated.At this point in time the Power Five conferences certainly are looked to as the most competitive conferences, he said. They derive the most money from their multi-media agreements, their television agreements. And therefore, certainly we aspire to be in those conferences and compete at that level.UConn currently competes in most sports in the American Athletic Conference.Benedict was hired in March to succeed Warde Manuel after he left for Michigan. Benedict said of all possible candidates, UConn is the most similar to the Power Five schools, with $71 million athletic budget.He noted it was one of three division one schools this past year to send its football, baseball and mens and womens basketball teams to the postseason. And since 1995, UConn has won 11 womens national basketball championships, four mens basketball titles, two in field hockey and one in mens soccer. The schools football program also has been to six bowl games.But Benedict said he has no plans to pick up the phone and call Bowlsby or head to Texas with a PowerPoint presentation.He said its his understanding that the Big 12 will reaach out to those it knows have an interest. Custom Boston Bruins Jerseys. dont think circumventing that process is the way to go, he said. But I dont think there is a question as to whether or not the Big 12 is aware that we would have an interest if they are interested in us.Benedict said if the school does join the Big 12, he believes it would eventually need to expand its 40,000-seat football stadium in East Hartford. But he said they cant do that until Husky fans consistently sell out the building.He said the school is currently concentrating its efforts on raising private donations to upgrade its baseball, softball, soccer and hockey facilities. There is still no timetable for construction, but Benedict said the school has about $14 million committed to the project, with a goal of raising another $11 million.Thats a priority for us, because it also sends out the message that we are going to invest in facilities that are up to (Power Five) standard, he saidBenedict said an intact American Conference is still a viable alternative should the Huskies be passed over by the Power Five. But he said the idea that UConn would consider rejoining the Big East for sports other than football is not currently on the table.Everybody is jockeying for position, he said. Part of my role and responsibility is making sure were looking at all options, keeping all options open to make sure we put ourselves as a university and an athletics program in the best possible position to compete. ' ' '