No. 1 Nebraska volleyball continued its historic winning streak over No. 18 Creighton, beating the Bluejays for the 24th straight time, 25-17, 21-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-9, Tuesday at the CHI Health Center in Omaha. Creighton has never beaten the Cornhuskers in volleyball, though the Bluejays have taken NU to five sets three times in the past four years. The match drew a crowd of 17,675, an NCAA record for an indoor match.
Harper Murray paced the Huskers (9-0) with 17 kills (on 50 attempts) on 10 digs, along with three blocks. Virginia Adriano added 13 kills, hitting .320, while Andi Jackson added 13 kills and four blocks. Taylor Landfair tallied 12 kills, while Bergen Reilly registered 43 set assists and 19 digs. Ava Martin led Creighton (5-5) with 16 kills, while Kiara Reinhardt notched 11 kills and six blocks. Nebraska outhit the Bluejays, .250-.173, but CU outserved NU seven aces to four and outblocked them, 8-7.
Two aces by Nora Wurtz got Creighton the board in the fifth. Nebraska responded with two points, then the teams traded points, with the Bluejays taking a 4-3 lead. But back to back kills by Murray and an attack error built a 6-4 Huskers lead and forced a Creighton timeout. A big swing by Andi Jackson from the right pin pushed the NU lead to 7-4, before the Jays broke the run. A service error pushed the Huskers’ lead to 8-5 as the teams switched sides. An Allick kill forced the Bluejays to spend their final timeout of the fifth, trailing 9-5. Creighton pulled to within 10-8, but four straight Nebraska points brought about matchpoint. A net violation by NU cut the lead to 14-9, but Allick finished the match with a tip from the middle.
The first set started closely contested. It was tied nine different ties, including the teams alternating the first 16 points. Nebraska was the first team to score back-to-back points, taking a 10-8 lead. Creighton evened the set at 10, before the Huskers won seven of the next nine rallies to build a 17-12 lead. The Bluejays never drew closer than within four points, and Nebraska dominated late, scoring on six of the last eight rallies to finish off the set. Jackson set the paced for NU, notching five kills in the first set.
Creighton scored the first three points of the second set and never looked back, never trailing in the set to cruise to a set two win. But Nebraska responded in the third set. The Huskers scored the first three points of the set to take early control. The Bluejays came back to tie the set at six and seven, but were never able to pull ahead of Nebraska. The Huskers scored on nine of 10 rallies in the middle of the third set to build a 19-9 lead and cruised to victory from there. Adriano paced the Huskers with seven kills in the third set.
With Nebraska ahead two sets to one, Creighton pulled out to an early 3-1 lead in the fourth set. The Huskers pulled back to even, and neither team held a lead larger than two points in the first half of the set. After the set was tied at 11, Nebraska won four straight rallies to build a 15-11 lead. Creighton won five of the next six rallies to tie the set at 16. After the Bluejays took a 20-19 lead in the set, the Huskers won three straight points to build a 22-20 lead. The Bluejays responded by scoring the next three points to lead, 23-22. The teams traded service errors to give CU a 24-23 lead, but a block by Reilly and Jackson evened the set at 24. But after an attack error by Landfair, Martin notched a kill to clinch the fourth set for Creighton.
Nebraska will have its final tuneup for Big Ten play Saturday at 8 p.m. as the Huskers take on Arizona at John Cook Arena in Lincoln. Pregame coverage begins at 7 p.m. on B-107.3.