Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
No. 1 Nebraska volleyball clinched a share of its fourth straight Big Ten championship and grabbed its second straight top 20 win in 24 hours with a 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 sweep of No. 18 Washington Sunday in Seattle, Wash. It’s the Cornhuskers (25-0, 14-0 Big Ten) 38th conference championship and seventh Big Ten title. It’s first time since 2004-2008 that Nebraska has won four straight conference championships. The win over the Huskies comes on the heels of a victory over No. 12 Oregon last night.
Harper Murray turned in another efficient and dominant match, leading NU with 13 kills while hitting .357. Virginia Adriano added nine kills while hitting a surgical .438. Manaia Ogbechie and Murray tied for the team lead with three blocks each. Bergen Reilly tallied 37 set assists. Samantha Destler led Washington (18-5, 9-5) with 12 kills. The Huskers outhit the Huskies, .477-.210, and outblocked them, 5-3.
The first set started close, with Washington edging ahead, 13-11. But Nebraska took control of the set, winning 10 of the next 14 points to push ahead, 21-17. The Huskers cruised in from there to clinch set one. The second set started close as well, with the teams tied at nine. But a six-point run with Olivia Mauch serving shifted control of the set, with the Huskers building a 15-9 lead. Washington cut the deficit to 16-11, but a six-point run including two Murray aces opened a 22-11 advantage, and Nebraska cruised in from there to jump ahead, two sets to none.
Neither team held a lead larger than two points with Washington ahead, 15-14. But the Huskers tallied four points in a row to jump ahead, 18-15. The Huskies won six of the next eight points to push ahead 21-20. Nebraska responded by winning five of the last six points to clinch the match, the 19th sweep of the season for the Huskers.
Nebraska’s .477 hitting percentage was its highest against a ranked opponent in the rally-scoring era.
The Huskers can clinch the Big Ten championship outright with a win in one of its final three matches. Nebraska is next in action Thursday at 6 p.m. against Illinois at John Cook Arena. Pregame coverage begins at 5 p.m. on KLIN and B-107.3.