Slow start, strong middle, solid finish.
No. 2 Nebraska dropped set one, but rebounded to win 26-28, 25-17, 25-11, 25-21 over Michigan Saturday night at the Devaney Center to win their 17th straight match and their 35th straight home match dating to last year.
Harper Murray led the Huskers’ (20-1, 10-0 B1G) attack with 17 kills, three aces and seven digs. Merritt Beason added 16 kills and three aces while hitting .370, while Andi Jackson had 10 kills and five blocks. Rebekah Allick also had five blocks, while Bergen Reilly tallied 42 set assists and 10 digs. Allison Jacobs led the Wolverines (16-5, 6-4) with 18 kills, while Valentina Vaulet added 10 kills and nine digs.
It wasn’t the sharpest match for the Huskers in hitting, understandable as the second match of a back-to-back, but NU still outhit Michigan, .206-.150. The Huskers outblocked the Wolverines, 10-7. Nebraska’s real advantage may have been from the service line, where it notched six aces and four errors compared to no aces and 14 errors for UM.
Michigan got out to an early lead in the first set and ran four points late in the set to take an 18-17 lead. The teams traded points, then Nebraska scored to tie the set at 19. Three set Wolverines points gave Michigan a 22-19 lead. After the teams traded points, the Huskers ran four straight points to build a 24-23 lead. But the Wolverines fought off a set point, then won four out of five rallies to capture the first, snapping Nebraska’s 14-set winning streak.
The Huskers secured control early, winning 11 of the first 15 points to lead 11-4. Michigan never drew closer than five points as Nebraska cruised to a set two win to even the match despite hitting just .152. The third set was all Huskers. Michigan won the first point, but Nebraska won eight of the next nine to lead 8-2 10 points in. The lead was 11-3 Nebraska, and the Wolverines were never closer than seven the rest of the set. The Huskers slammed the door on the set, winning seven of the last eight points to clinch the set and take a 2-1 lead in sets.
Nebraska burst out of the gates in set four, taking an 8-3 lead before Michigan won seven of the next nine points to tie the fourth at 10. The Wolverines later won five of six rallies to push ahead 18-15, but the Huskers responded by winning 10 of the final 13 rallies. Beason was the rocket fuel behind the strong finish, notching four kills in the final five points of the match.
Nebraska now heads to No. 8 Wisconsin (15-4, 9-1 B1G) Friday at 8 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 7 p.m. on KLIN & B-107.3. The match begins a four-match stretch on the road, and a month of November where the Huskers will play ranked opponents in five of the last 10 matches.