No. 1 Nebraska volleyball clinched at least a share of its third straight Big Ten championship with a 25-15, 25-21, 25-18 sweep of Iowa Thursday at John Cook Arena. The match was played before the 350th consecutive sellout crowd, in a run that dates back to 2001.
The conference championship is the 37th all-time for the Cornhuskers (27-0, 17-0 Big Ten), including the sixth Big Ten championship. The current run of three straight conference titles is the first for Nebraska volleyball since the Huskers won the Big 12 five straight years from 2004-08.
Harper Murray led the Huskers with 11 kills. Andi Jackson added 10 kills on an efficient .571 hitting percentage. Virginia Adriano tallied nine kills while hitting .500. Rebekah Allick piled up a team-leading six blocks, while Bergen Reilly had 34 set assists. Alyssa Worden led the Hawkeyes with eight kills. Nebraska outhit Iowa, .384-.073, outblocked them 9-4 and outserved them, six aces to three.
The Huskers jumped all over the Hawkeyes early, racing out to an 11-3 lead in set one. Nebraska won six of eight rallies later in the set to open a 20-10 lead, and the Huskers cruised from there to the victory.
The second set was more closely contested, as Iowa forced seven ties. But the Hawkeyes could never get over the hump and take the lead. Iowa last had the match tied at 20 before Nebraska won five of the final six rallies to clinch set two.
Set three started out similarly evenly matched, with the Hawkeyes taking their first lead of the match at 9-8. Iowa also led 11-10 and 12-11 before the Huskers took control. After a Adriano service error tied the set at 13, Nebraska won four straight points and the Hawkeyes never seriously challenged from there.
The Huskers are next in action Saturday at 5 p.m. against Indiana in Bloomington, Ind. A Nebraska win would clinch the outright Big Ten championship. Pregame coverage begins at 4 p.m. on B-107.3.