No. 1 Nebraska volleyball rolled to a 25-19, 25-10, 25-12 over Ohio State Saturday at John Cook Arena. The Cornhuskers (13-0, 2-0 Big Ten) defense was stifling, holding the Buckeyes (8-4, 1-1) to (-.010) hitting for the match. Nebraska doubled Ohio State in blocks, 10-5.
Virginia Adriano, Manaia Ogbechie and Skyler Pierce tied for the team high with seven kills each. Ogbechie was especially efficient, hitting .667 on nine attacks. Andi Jackson and Bergen Reilly tied for the team lead with four blocks each. Pierce and Olivia Mauch tallied two aces each to lead NU.
The match started hotly contested, with neither team holding a lead larger than a point through the first 23 rallies, with the Buckeyes leading 12-11. OSU would tack on two more points to push their lead to 14-11. But the Huskers scored eight of the next 10 points to push ahead, 19-16. Ohio State pushed to within two points, 20-18, but Nebraska scored five of the next six points to finish set one.
The Buckeyes scored the first two points of set two, but the Huskers stormed back, tallying nine of the next 12 points to jump ahead 9-5. After Ohio State scored a point, Nebraska hit the afterburners, going on a 13-2 run to open a 22-8 advantage and all but clinch set two. The Huskers wasted no time controlling set three, bolting out to an 11-3 lead and never leading by fewer than six points the rest of the set. Nebraska won seven of the last eight rallies to finish the match.
The Huskers now prepare for their first road test in the Big Ten, as Nebraska heads to Penn State Thursday at 6 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 5 p.m. on KLIN and B-107.3.