Texas A&M shocked No. 1 Nebraska volleyball by upsetting the Cornhuskers, 25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 35-37, 15-13, Sunday at John Cook Arena. The Aggies handed Nebraska its first loss of the 2025 season after the Huskers had won the first 33 matches of the campaign, losing just seven sets the entire season until Sunday.
Kyndal Stowers led Texas A&M with 25 kills on .327 hitting. Logan Lednicky tallied 24 and six blocks. Emily Hellmuth registered 13. Morgan Perkins had a team-leading nine blocks. Nebraska was led by Harper Murray’s 25 kills. Rebekah Allick added 15. The Aggies outhit the Huskers, .275-.270, outblocked them 17-8, outserved them nine aces to eight.
Set one started as so many have for Nebraska this season, with a decisive early surge. The Huskers built an early 10-3 lead. But then Texas A&M started chipping away, winning five of the next six rallies to get back into the set, cutting Nebraska’s lead to 11-8. The Huskers led 15-10 before the Aggies ran 10 straight points with Ifenna Cos-Okpalla serving. Cos-Okpalla served for two aces in the last three rallies of the run. Nebraska won five of the next six rallies to slice the Aggies’ lead to 21-20, but A&M was able to stem the tide. The teams traded points until the Aggies won the set with back-to-back points.
In the second set, the Huskers won the first point before Texas A&M scored the next four. The Aggies held the lead until Nebraska scored four straight points with Murray serving to take an 8-6 lead. A&M tied the set at nine and at 10. Then after a Husker point, Texas A&M ran four straight points to build a 14-11 lead. The Aggies scored three of the next four to open the advantage to 17-13. The Huskers pulled to within two twice, but got no closer and Lednicky notched a kill to finish the second set.
The third set began with another Husker surge, as Nebraska took a 7-4 lead early on. A three-point NU surge opened the lead to 10-5, before Texas A&M answered, scoring four straight points to cut the NU lead to 10-9. The Aggies were able to pull within one four separate times, but were never able to equal Nebraska. The Huskers pushed the set to the brink by winning four of the next five points, opening a 24-19 lead. A&M fought off one set point, but Murray terminated to clinch set three for Nebraska.
Texas A&M got off to the stronger start in the fourth set, building a 5-2 lead. The Huskers won five of the next seven points to even the set at seven. The Aggies ran four straight points to build an 11-7 lead. Texas A&M took five of six points in a stretch to open the lead to 18-11 before Nebraska won three straight points to shrink the A&M lead to 18-14. After a Lednicky kill, the Huskers ran five straight points to tie the set at 19. The teams traded points to tie the set at 20. The set was tied at 21, then Murray’s attack went out-of-bounds to give the Aggies a 22-21. Murray rapidly atoned with a kill to tie the set at 22. Manaia Ogbechie followed a kill to give Nebraska the 23-22 lead, but a Murray attack was blocked by A&M to tie the set at 23. Virginia Adriano’s kill brought up set point for Nebraska, but Lednicky terminated again to tie the set at 24. A Sigler tip found floor to give the Huskers a 25-24 lead, but Lednicky again scored to even the set at 25. Reilly scored on a setter dump to make it 26-25 NU, but Ogbechie, making her first serve of the season, served out of bounds. A&M returned the favor with a service error to put Nebraska ahead, 27-26. A Stowers kill evened the set at 27, but Allick again gave Nebraska the lead on a slide, 28-27. On the fifth set point for the Huskers in the fourth, Nebraska was called for a net violation to tie the set at 28. Allick blocked the next Aggie attack to give NU its sixth set point, but Murray’s attack was blocked to tie the set at 29. After a wild shot landed for a Nebraska point, Texas A&M won the joust at the net to tie the set at 30. An Ogbechie kill gave NU its seventh set point chance, but Lednicky’s kill tied the set at 31. A Husker attack error gave the Aggies their first set point chance, but Lednicky served into the net to tie the set at 32. Ogbechie served long to give A&M a 33-32 lead, but the Aggies’ service error tied the fourth at 33. Stowers tipped for a kill to give the Aggies their third match point chance, but Allick terminated on a slide to tie the set at 34. A Texas A&M attack error gave Nebraska its eighth set point, but Stowers got the kill to tie the set at 35. Murray snuck a roll shot through the Aggies’ defense to give NU a 36-35 lead, and Adriano hammered a shot off the A&M block to win set four.
Set five started close, with the set tied at one, two and three. A three-point run by Texas A&M built a 5-3 lead. After back-to-back Nebraska points tied the set at five, the Aggies scored five of the next six points to build a 10-6 lead. After a Texas A&M service error, two more Aggies points pushed the lead to 12-7. Nebraska scored five of the next six to cut A&M’s lead to 13-12. A Lednicky kill brought the Aggies to match point, but a Murray roll shot cut A&M’s lead to 14-13. Lednicky terminated to send the Aggies to the national semifinals.
The loss brings to a shocking end what had been one of the most dominant seasons in Nebraska athletics history, in which the Huskers lost just one set in Big Ten play and rolled to 33 straight wins to start the season. The No. 1 national seed in the NCAA bracket, the Huskers were picked by many to win the national championship, but fell short of the title.