No. 1 Nebraska volleyball dominates Illinois in sweep
No. 1 Nebraska volleyball (23-0, 13-0) extended its sweep streak to 14 with a win over Illinois (12-10, 7-6). The Huskers dominated the Fighting Illini in three lopsided sets (25-11, 25-15, 25-14).
Andi Jackson led Nebraska with nine kills on nine swings, a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage. Harper Murray and Virginia Adriano followed with eight kills each. Laney Choboy held it down for the Huskers defensively with a career-high 20 digs.
NU hit a whopping .488 clip, by far the highest opponent hitting percentage Illinois has allowed this year. The Huskers finished with just seven attack errors for the third time this season.
On top of the elite night on offense, Nebraska held the Fighting Illini to a season-low .095 hitting percentage. Taylor de Boer led the team with eight kills, but hit .080 in the match.
Set 1: Huskers absolutely dominate
Nebraska started the match with a bang, taking the first set 25-11. It hit at an unreal .714 mark with 20 kills and zero attack errors. They held Illinois to a .111 clip.
The Husker attack got going fast with six kills on its first eight swings. Adriano had three of them as they jumped out to a quick 8-1 lead.
The Fighting Illini struggled against Nebraska’s defense, which held them to a .048 hitting percentage, up 17-7. With the comfortable lead, the Huskers subbed in Allie Sczech and Campbell Flynn for Adriano and Bergen Reilly. Flynn made her mark early with an impressive dig leading to a Murray kill.
Teraya Sigler ended the set with three of the last four points, finished off by an overpass kill. This was the second set of the season where Nebraska finished with zero attack errors, the first coming in the second set against Utah on Sept. 12.
Set 2: Nebraska continues to deliver
Nebraska may not have been as dominant as it was in the first set, but it did win the second convincingly, 25-15. The Huskers hit .385 in the set compared to Illinois’ .129.
While the Fighting Illini took a 4-2 lead, Nebraska quickly responded with a 4-0 run led by a pair of Murray kills. Illinois matched the Huskers early, with NU struggling to pull ahead at a .300 hitting percentage.
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Adriano and Rebekah Allick eventually shook Nebraska out of the funk with two kills apiece, giving it a 15-10 lead. A service ace from Choboy forced a Fighting Illini timeout, but the libero wasn’t done yet. A pancake dig from Choboy on the ensuing play led to an emphatic Murray kill.
Illinois looked much improved in the second set, but errors continued to haunt the team and extend the advantage. The Huskers ended the set on a 5-0 run with a Reilly ace, putting them up 2-0 on the night.
Set 3: Huskers complete one-sided sweep
The Huskers left no room for doubt and took the third set 25-14. Nebraska hit .312 in the deciding game while holding the Fighting Illini to a .054 hitting percentage.
Like the second set, Illinois went up early on multiple blocks. However, the Huskers battled back on a 6-0 scoring run. Skyler Pierce gave them the lead on her first swing. Jackson kept up her perfect hitting percentage with her eighth kill of the match right after.
Sczech and Manaia Ogbechie each recorded kills off the bench to extend Nebraska’s lead to 14-7. It didn’t take long for Flynn to check back into the match, ending Reilly’s night at 29 assists, seven digs and five blocks.
Nebraska put the finishing touches on the sweep with a match point kill from Ogbechie. The freshman finished with three kills, two blocks and hit .750.
The Huskers travel to Minnesota on Saturday, Nov. 8, to take on the No. 22 Golden Gophers. The match is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Peacock.
