Volleyball team Nebraska (No. 5) defeats Stanford (No. 2)

LINCOLN, Nebraska (Huskers.com) – The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team swept the No. 2 Stanford team (25-17, 25-22, 25-14) in front of 8,952 spectators at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night.

It was Nebraska's first win over Stanford in four tries at the Devaney Center since the Huskers moved into the building in 2013.

NU posted a .263 batting average in the game and held Stanford to .100, its lowest batting average of the year. Stanford entered the game with the fourth-best batting average in the nation.

The Big Red had a 9-4 advantage in blocks and a 5-2 advantage in service aces. Nebraska also committed only four service errors compared to the Cardinals' 10.

Andi Jackson had nine kills with a .600 hitting percentage. She also added five blocks. Lindsay Krause recorded nine kills, while Merritt Beason had eight and Harper Murray had six. Rebekah Allick had four blocks in total.

Bergen Reilly added 27 assists, four kills and a season-high .667 hitting percentage. She also had eight digs. Lexi Rodriguez had nine digs and two service aces.

Elia Rubin led Stanford with 10 kills.

Set 1: Thanks to kills from Beason, Murray and Jackson and an ace from Rodriguez, NU took a 5-1 lead. Reilly and Jackson blocked together and Murray made it 9-2 with an overpass. Stanford narrowed the gap to 16-11 before three errors by the Cardinals put the Big Red ahead 19-11. Jackson's third and fourth kills of the set extended the lead to 21-13 and a kill from Krause put the Huskers at set point. A kill from Beason completed the 25-17 set win. Nebraska had a batting average of .406 in the set and held Stanford to .114. The Huskers were eliminated at 77.8 percent.

Set 2: A block by Jackson/Murray, two kills by Beason and an ace by Rodriguez gave NU an 8-2 lead. But Stanford went on an 8-0 run against Rubin's serve to take a 10-8 lead. Two kills by Reilly helped tie the score at 13-13. The Cardinal took a 17-14 lead, but the Huskers fought back, and two consecutive kills by Jackson and a hitting error by Stanford gave the Big Red a 20-18 lead. Murray's fourth kill of the game and a solo block by Allick gave the Huskers a 23-20 lead. Krause floored the ball to give Nebraska a set point at 24-21, and a kill by Beason won the set 25-22.

Set 3: Jackson added two kills and an assisted block with Beason to give the Huskers a 6-3 lead, and kills each from Murray and Krause extended the lead to 8-4. Allick had a kill and two consecutive assisted blocks – one from Krause and one from Beason – to make the score 12-6. The Big Red went on a 6-2 run to take an 18-8 lead. Two consecutive Murray aces extended the lead to 23-10. Reilly's fourth kill gave NU match point, and a kill from Krause completed the 3-0 victory. Nebraska hit a .400 batting average in the third set and was outshooting at 80 percent.

Up Next: The Huskers travel to Louisville, Kentucky to face the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, Sept. 22. The game will begin at 11:30 a.m. CT and will be televised on ABC, with audio coverage on the Huskers Radio Network.

Click here to subscribe to our daily 10/11 NOW digest and breaking news alerts sent directly to your email inbox.

Copyright 2024 KOLN. All rights reserved.