Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
Behind a blistering offense that hit at a .425 clip, No. 1 Nebraska volleyball throttled No. 12 Oregon, 25-13, 25-16, 25-20, Saturday in Eugene, Ore. The Cornhuskers (24-0, 13-0 Big Ten) now lead the Big Ten standings by two games over Wisconsin. With a Nebraska at Washington Sunday, coupled with a Wisconsin loss to Penn State Sunday, the Huskers could clinch the Big Ten championship for the fourth straight season and the No. 1 seed for the first-ever Big Ten Tournament later this month.
Harper Murray set the pace, tallying 14 kills while hitting .481. Teraya Sigler also notched 14 kills while hitting a healthy .458. Virginia Adriano pitched in 11 kills for Nebraska. Bergen Reilly contributed 43 set assists. The Ducks (19-4, 10-3 Big Ten) were led by the 16 kills of Alanah Clemente, but no other Oregon player had more than five.
The Huskers have their eighth 24-0 start in school history while winning their 55th consecutive regular-season match. Nebraska has also won 26 consecutive road and neutral-site matches, tied for eighth all-time in NCAA history and tied for second in program history.
The drama was removed from the match early, as the Huskers bolted out to a 7-1 lead to begin the match. Oregon was never closer than six points after that in set one. In the second, the Ducks held a brief 2-1 lead before seven straight NU points gave Nebraska definitive control of the set and an 8-2 lead. Oregon drew to within 12-9 later in the set, before another 7-0 Husker run opened the lead to 19-9. Nebraska cruised from there to go up 2-0.
The Ducks were closer in set three, with the set tied eight times in the first half of the set. The Huskers took control by winning six of the next seven points, building a 20-15 lead and cruising from there to victory.
The Huskers faces the Huskies Sunday afternoon in Seattle. Pregame coverage begins at 4:30 p.m., with first serve at 5:30 p.m. on KLIN and B-107.3.