The biggest hurdle for Nebraska volleyball the last several years has been that team from Madison, and on Friday they tripped up the Huskers yet again.
No. 5 Nebraska fell to No. 3 Wisconsin in Lincoln in four sets on Black Friday: 21-25, 25-21, 21-25, 19-25. The Badger victory gave them their fourth-straight Big Ten championship.
Wisconsin has now won the last 10 matches between the two teams, dating back to 2017.
The Badgers out-hit the Huskers .235 to .200 and committed both fewer attack errors and fewer service errors in the match.
Playing without defensive specialist Kenzie Knuckles, Nebraska had to rely more on other defenders. While NU out-dug Wisconsin and posted more blocks, the Badger hitters proved too much as they continued to take massive swings.
Kaitlyn Hord had a team-high 13 kills on .500 hitting to go with four blocks. Lindsay Krause had 12 kills on .370 hitting. Ally Batenhorst added 10 kills and five blocks.
But two of Nebraska’s best hitters were held in check. Madi Kubik notched seven kills but also had seven attack errors. Whitney Lauenstein had just four kills with a trio of attack errors.
Now simply playing for seeding to host the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, Nebraska hosts No. 9 Minnesota Saturday.