Huskers slow down Sun Devils in Friday Night Sweep

FRS stands for Failure Recovery System in Nebraska's volleyball arena, and it was evident in Friday night's win over No. 14 Arizona State.

The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team slowed down the Sun Devils' fast offense on Friday night in the Nebraska Classic and took its third win of the season (25-20, 26-24, 25-19).

“One thing we talked about a lot as a team is to cheer each other on and be great teammates. Tonight we knew that FRS, our Failure Recovery System, was going to be a key part of tonight's game,” said captain Merritt Beason. “They're a great team, they have great players, we knew they were going to score, and for us it was about how quickly we could recover and keep going when they made those plays.

“I think that's what I'm most proud of. When they did something good throughout the game, we thought, 'OK, they're great players, we're going to do something good right back.'”

Nebraska (7-1) posted a .319 batting average overall, with three Huskers recording double-digit kills. Bergen Reilly led the Huskers with 40 assists and 15 digs, her sixth double-double in eight games. The Huskers held the Sun Devils (7-1) to .213 hitting, handing them their first loss of the season, with Lexi Rodriguez contributing 10 digs and freshman Olivia Mauch adding nine off the bench.

“You saw another great game,” said coach John Cook. “Both teams played really, really well and made very few mistakes. It was really top-notch volleyball. I'm very impressed with Arizona State and it was a great win for the Huskers. The highlight is that we didn't hit an ace. They're a very good serving team and have made more aces than mistakes this year…The other great thing is that you play against their speed first. I've never seen a team that's that fast, so it took us a while to adjust…Our team did a great job of making adjustments and wearing them down and slowly slowing them down.”

Beason continued her comeback week with her second straight strong offensive performance, recording 15 kills on a .429 batting average, along with three blocks and an ace, which was a game-high. Andi Jackson recorded double-digit kills for the second straight game, with 10 on a .389 batting average, while fellow middle blocker Rebekah Allick added seven kills on a .462 batting average and five blocks, which was a game-high.

“It really makes my job easier when I have two middle blockers that are catching a lot of balls because that creates a lot of space for me,” Beason said. “So kudos to those two because their middle blockers plan a lot and they're in a lot of different situations and scenarios. I just knew I was going to have a lot of space tonight and when I had that opportunity, I had to take advantage of it. I think what was really good as a team offensively was we just were creative and knew we had to find ways to get kills and I think we did that tonight.”

Jackson picked up where she left off on Tuesday, sinking the first five balls thrown to her and finishing with six kills on seven attempts, the most ever. Nebraska shot 90% and had a .419 batting average, taking an early lead and holding on the rest of the game to secure a five-point victory.

The Huskers couldn't stop the Sun Devils either, as they had a .355 batting average and a 72% sideout rate. Arizona State gave Nebraska five free points at the service line without an ace, giving the host team a comfortable lead.

“I don't know if we've ever done that in a whole game before… Really, really impressive,” Cook said of the sideout rate. “But it was also 72%. It was like men's volleyball tonight. It just came down to who could make some big plays because both teams made great sideouts.”

The teams traded blows in the second set. Nebraska fell behind 15-12 at halftime thanks to a 4-0 run by the Sun Devils, but the Huskers rallied to take a 19-18 lead, prompting the first timeout of the night for both teams. Six more ties and two lead changes followed as Arizona State fended off a set point, but the Huskers sealed the deal on the second attempt with a kill by Beason.

The senior captain took over the second set with seven kills on nine clean shots, and Nebraska posted a .294 batting average. Arizona State doubled its attack errors with six in the set (including three blocks by Nebraska) and posted a .227 batting average. In total, there were 18 ties and eight lead changes in the set.

Nebraska used a 5-0 run with Lindsay Krause at the service line to take a four-point lead early in the third set, but Arizona State rallied and took the lead back with a 5-2 run to make it 11-10. Nebraska responded with three consecutive kills – one each from Allick, Beason and Krause – to regain the lead, and the Huskers held on to it for the rest of the night. Nebraska won seven of the final 10 rallies to complete the sweep.

After a slow start to the game, Harper Murray finished the game strong with six kills in the third. Nebraska was almost twice as successful as Arizona State with 19 kills at .271 compared to 10 at .106. Arizona State's fast-paced offense caused problems for Nebraska's defense at first, but the Huskers eventually got going and began to put the Sun Devils under pressure as the game went on.

“I think it just takes a while to know how to block them and how to play them off,” Cook said. “It's hard for both teams to play at the level we played at for that long. You have to watch an hour and a half of it when you play at that level. It was still a really high level at the end, but I think our blocking and our defense started to do some things. We had some touches and we converted.”

A quick turnaround is in store for Nebraska as the Cornhuskers return to the Devaney Center on Saturday afternoon to complete the Nebraska Classic against Wichita State.

The Shockers lost their first two games of the tournament 3-0 to Arizona State and 3-1 to Long Beach State. Wichita State is the fourth consecutive Husker opponent to have at least one Nebraska native on the roster. Defensive specialist Katie Galligan (Elkhorn South) and middle blocker Haley Wolfe (Elkhorn) play for the Shockers.

First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CT on Big Ten Plus.