The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team decimated Kansas with little difficulty in the third round of the NCAA Tournament, as the Cornhuskers (33-0) swept the Jayhawks (24-11), 25-12, 25-11, 25-12, Friday night at John Cook Arena. Nebraska now advances to the regional finals to take on Texas A&M, which overcame a 2-0 deficit to Louisville to defeat the Cardinals in five sets, 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-12.
While the Aggies’ win over Louisville was hotly contested, the Huskers’ win over Kansas was not. The Jayhawks never led in any of the three sets and only twice had the score tied in a set: in both the second and the third sets, 1-1. Nebraska won the next point in both sets and dominated from there.
The Huskers’ middle blockers set the pace for NU. Rebekah Allick and Andi Jackson both notched nine kills each. Neither committed an error. Allick hit a perfect 1.000 for the match, nine kills on nine attacks, while Jackson was nine-for-15, hitting .600 for the match while not committing an error. Jackson had five blocks while Allick had three. Harper Murray added seven kills and a team-leading 10 digs. Bergen Reilly, playing through an illness, registered 30 set assists, while Olivia Mauch notched three service aces. Three Kansas players had six kills each to lead their efforts. Nebraska outhit KU, .450-.029, outblocked it 10-1 and outserved it six aces to one.
The tone was set early. After the start of the match was delayed nearly an hour by Louisville vs. Texas A&M going five sets, the Huskers bolted out of the gate. Nebraska took a 4-0 lead on a kill from Allick and two blocks from Jackson. After a Jayhawks sideout, the Huskers ran six straight points to balloon the lead to 10-1. Included in the run were two aces by Mauch. From there, Kansas drew no closer than to within seven points of the Huskers for the set.
Nebraska also got things going quickly in the second set. After the teams traded points on the first two rallies, the Huskers notched three in a row to take a 4-1 lead. After two straight Jayhawks points, Nebraska scored three more in a row to lead, 7-3. The Huskers kept a two-point cushion between themselves and KU before taking control of the second set with a five-point run keyed by two kills and a block by Allick to push the advantage to 14-7. After back-to-back Kansas points, the Huskers buried the Jayhawks with six straight points with Teraya Sigler serving to open a 20-9 lead. After back-to-back KU points, Nebraska finished off Kansas with a five-point run, punctuated with a Laney Choboy ace.
Set three started similarly, with the Huskers opening leads of 5-1 and 8-2. Nebraska gradually pulled away, removing all doubt of a sweep with a four-point run to lead 20-9. The Jayhawks scored three of the next four points before another four-point run by the Huskers clinched the sweep.
Nebraska now advances to the regional final, trying to advance to the national semifinals for the third straight year. The Huskers will take on Texas A&M Sunday, with pregame coverage starting at 1 p.m. and first serve at 2 p.m. at John Cook Arena. The match can be heard on KLIN and B-107.3.