After a dominant performance at Wisconsin Friday, the No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team made quick work of Northwestern, 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 in a brief 81-minute match Sunday in Evanston, Ill. The win was the Huskers’ 19th straight and kept NU in first place in the Big Ten.
Before the first-ever sellout crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena for a volleyball match, Nebraska dominated throughout and in all phases. The Huskers outhit the Wildcats, .287-.087, outblocked them 7-2 and outserved them seven aces to two. Merritt Beason hit a blistering .643 en route to nine kills to lead a balanced Nebraska attack, while Andi Jackson had eight kills on .545 hitting, and Harper Murray served three aces for the Huskers.
Shaking off any worries of a hangover after the win in Madison Friday, Nebraska sprinted out to a 6-1 lead in set and never looked back, never leading by fewer than three points in crusing to the set one win. The Wildcats scored the first point of set two and held an early 2-1 lead. But the Huskers won six of the next eight points and eight of the next 11 to put a stranglehold on the set. Similarly in the third, Northwestern won the first rally, but Nebraska won the next four and six of the next eight to build up a 6-2 lead that it would never give up on the Huskers’ way to an easy set three win.
Nebraska now prepares for its first Big Ten west coast trip, as the Huskers will face Oregon Thursday in Eugene, then head to Seattle to face Washington Saturday.