This weekend, you could hardly be blamed if you were carving pumpkins and putting the finishing touches on your Halloween costume instead of binge-streaming every single Big Ten volleyball match.

In case you missed it, here are the top storylines from last week's Big Ten action.

1. Nebraska might just be home free.

Obviously, John Cook and the Huskers would never openly agree to this idea, but Nebraska looks to be in a great position to win out the season and take the Big Ten title. Over the weekend, they played their last top-10 team of the season, and earned a four-set victory over Michigan State in East Lansing.

On Friday, Nebraska takes on Purdue, the last ranked opponent for the Huskers. Nebraska defeated the Boilermakers in four sets in their first meeting of the season, and this time the Huskers are hosting. Watch Nebraska vs. Purdue on November 3rd at 8:00 PM ET right here on FloVolleyball.

Nebraska's closest challenger for the Big Ten title, Penn State, is 11-1 in conference, with its only loss coming to the Huskers. The Nittany Lions, however, have a much tougher road to the end of the conference season, with matches versus top-10 Michigan State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin still to go.

2. A breakthrough for Maryland.

Since Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2014, the Terrapins have had limited success. Entering the 2017 season, Maryland had only garnered wins over five of the league's 14 total teams: Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Rutgers.

But over the weekend, Maryland added another team to that list of vanquished foes. The Terrapins took down then-No. 18 Purdue in five sets, marking their first victory over the Boilermakers in program history.

The victory improved Maryland's 2017 overall record to 16-8, the Terrapins' first 16-win season since 2010. In conference, Steve Aird's squad is now 5-7. Even if Maryland were to lose all eight remaining matches, it would match its best conference record since joining the Big Ten.

3. Close, but no cigar for Illinois.

The Fighting Illini had a tough pair of matches last week. The first was a road match versus Minnesota, and Illinois came oh-so-close to an upset, losing in five sets (22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 20-25, 15-11). Illinois out-blocked the Gophers 17 to six, but Minnesota edged the Illini in hitting percentage (.233 to .220), digs (87 to 75), and aces (eight to four).

In their next outing of the week, Illinois matched up against Penn State, the No. 1 team in the country, in the Nittany Lions' home gym in State College. In the first set, Illinois pushed Penn State well past 25 points, but ultimately lost 28-30. In total, set No. 1 featured 19 ties and five lead changes. From that point on, Penn State maintained a strong hold on the momentum and won 30-28, 25-11, 25-15.

Watch Big Ten VB On FloVolleyball

This week, FloVolleyball will provide live coverage of 11 Big Ten volleyball matches. See the full schedule below.

Date	Visiting Team	Home Team	Site	Time (ET)	Live Stream
November 1, 2017	Rutgers	Michigan	Ann Arbor, MI	7:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 3, 2017	Maryland	Minnesota	Minneapolis, MN	7:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 3, 2017	Purdue	Nebraska	Lincoln, NE	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 3, 2017	Indiana	Iowa	Iowa City, IA	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 3, 2017	Ohio State	Wisconsin	Madison, WI	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 4, 2017	Rutgers	Penn State	University Park, PA	7:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 4, 2017	Indiana	Nebraska	Lincoln, NE	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 4, 2017	Maryland	Wisconsin	Madison, WI	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 4, 2017	Ohio State	Minnesota	Minneapolis, MN	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 4, 2017	Michigan State	Northwestern	Evanston, IL	8:00 PM	WATCH LIVE
November 5, 2017	Purdue	Iowa	Iowa City, IA	3:00 PM	WATCH LIVE

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