On the day after Halloween, No. 2 Nebraska exorcised some demons.
The Huskers (21-1, 11-0 B1G) snapped an eight-game losing streak at UW Field House and earned its first win in Madison since 2013 with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 sweep of No. 7 Wisconsin (15-5, 9-2 B1G). The victory was Nebraska’s 18th in a row and made the Huskers’ case as the Big Ten frontrunner.
Taylor Landfair led the Nebraska attack with 13 kills, while Merritt Beason added 11 on .391 hitting. Rebekah Allick had seven blocks and seven kills while Bergen Reilly led NU with 32 set assists and five digs. The Huskers’ tough defense held Wisconsin to .094 hitting. Nebraska outblocked the Badgers 10-9 while outserving them five aces to two.
Nebraska took control of set one with the set tied at 15. The Huskers ran three straight points with a Harper Murray kill, a triple-stuff block with Landfair, Allick and Reilly, then an ace by Kennedi Orr swung set one to Nebraska 18-15 and forced Wisconsin to use its first timeout. The Huskers held the lead for the rest of the set and closed out the set with Merritt Beason slamming a kill from the back row to clinch the set. Nebraska’s big advantage was the block, as the Huskers outblocked the Badgers in set one, 6-3.
In the second set, a 7-1 run by Nebraska gave the Huskers an 12-7 lead. Three straight attack errors by the Badgers with Lexi Rodriguez back to serve forced Wisconsin to take timeout before the media break. After the teams traded points, the Badgers established control by winning nine out of 10 rallies to take a 17-14 lead after forcing Nebraska to take both timeouts. Landfair worked the Huskers back into the set with three kills and a block. After back-to-back attack errors, Landfair again came up with a big kill to tie the set at 21. An Olivia Mauch ace gave Nebraska the lead, and Murray followed with an ace to make it 23-21. An Allick block brought up setpoint. Wisconsin denied the Huskers on the first try, but Beason again terminated the set with a kill on the right pin to give NU a commanding two sets to none advantage.
Nebraska took early control of set three, winning seven of the first nine rallies. The Badgers fought their way back into the set with four straight points to cut the NU lead to 8-6. The Huskers led the set until three straight Wisconsin points gave the Badgers a 10-9 lead in the third and forced a Husker timeout. Landfair smashed a kill down the right sideline to stop the run and tie the set at 10. An Allick kill gave the Huskers an 11-10 lead, but the Badgers won the next rally to tie the set at 11. The set was tied at 12, 13, 14 and 15. But back-to-back attack errors and a Landfair roll-shot kill gave Nebraska an 18-15 lead. Wisconsin cut the Huskers’ lead to 20-19, but five straight points closed out the Nebraska victory.
The Huskers return to action Sunday at Northwestern. First serve is at noon, with pregame at 11 a.m. on B-107.3.