No. 1 Nebraska volleyball clinched the outright Big Ten championship with a 25-19, 25-16, 25-22 victory Saturday at Indiana.
The Cornhuskers had already clinched a share of the conference championship with their sweep Iowa, but Saturday’s win over the Hoosiers put the Huskers alone atop the Big Ten standings with two regular season matches to go.
Harper Murray led NU with 11 kills. Virginia Adriano added nine kills and a team-leading six blocks. Andi Jackson tallied nine kills and four blocks. Bergen Reilly notched 33 set assists. Candela Alonso-Corcelles led Indiana with 10 kills, but hit only .083. Nebraska outhit the Hoosiers, .340-.147 abd outblocked them eight to one.
Indiana started set one strong, building an early 9-5 lead. But the Huskers swung the match in their favor in a stretch where they won 10 of the next 12 rallies to take a 15-11 lead. Nebraska pushed the lead to 20-14 and held on from there for the set one win.
The Huskers started the second set stronger, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. The Hoosiers ran six straight points to take a 9-7 lead, but Nebraska won the next four points and 10 of the next 12 to take a 17-11 lead. IU cut the Huskers’ advantage to 18-14, but NU scored seven of the last nine rallies to finish off the set two win.
In set three, Nebraska scored the first two points and led by two or three for most of the early going of the set. Indiana was able to tie the set at 16 and 17, but three straight Husker points gave NU some breathing room and a 20-17 lead. The teams alternated points from there and Nebraska held on to win the set and the match.
The Huskers play their next-to-last match of the regular season Friday at John Cook Arena against defending national champion Penn State. First serve is slated for 5:30 p.m., with pregame coverage starting at 4:30 p.m. on B-107.3.