Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
No. 1 Nebraska volleyball cruised past USC, sweeping the Trojans 25-12, 25-16, 25-13 Saturday at John Cook Arena. The Cornhuskers moved to 21-0 overall, 10-0 in Big Ten play, opening a two-match over second-place Oregon with seven matches to go in the regular season. The match was played in a brisk one hour, 22 minutes.
Nebraska has dominated through two months in the season, winning 63 of 67 sets. Husker opponents have reached 20 in a set just 14 times in 67 sets, just 21 percent of sets this season. In Big Ten, Nebraska has won 30 of 31 sets, only allowing the opponent to reach 20 points just seven times, 23 percent of sets.
Harper Murray dominated for Nebraska, tallying a team-leading 14 kills on a razor-sharp .462 hitting, while adding seven blocks. Virginia Adriano pitched in 13 kills while hitting .500. Andi Jackson added eight kills and team-leading four blocks. USC (9-11, 3-7) was led by Leah Ford’s seven kills. The Huskers outhit USC, .400-.095, outblocked them 7-2 and outserved them three aces to one.
Nebraska led wire-to-wire in set one, scoring the first four points of the set, The Huskers pushed the lead to 11-4 and never led by fewer than five the rest of the set. Nebraska hit a blistering .471 for the set, while holding USC to a meager .118. Then in the second, the teams were tied at six through 12 rallies. A three-point run with Teraya Sigler serving opened a 9-6 lead for NU. After allowing a Trojans point, the Huskers ran three more points, including back-to-back Jackson kills pushed the advantage to 12-7. USC drew only as close as three points, but Nebraska won eight of the final 11 rallies to clinch the set.
In the third, the Trojans tied the set at one and two. Points on five of the next seven rallies opened a 7-3 Huskers lead. USC pulled to within one at 7-6 before Nebraska answered with three straight points of their own, pushing the lead back to 11-7. USC tallied back-to-back points to slice the lead to 11-9, but the Huskers locked down the set with nine straight points with Sigler serving. Nebraska cruised in from there to victory.
The Huskers now prepare to head to Michigan Friday, with first serve scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. on KLIN and B-107.3.