No. 2 Nebraska Volleyball Secures Gritty Victory over No. 16 Minnesota

‘Gritty over pretty’ is one of the no. 2 Nebraska volleyball’s mantras, and it showed Thursday night when the Huskers took down the No. 16 Minnesota with 3-1.

For just the second time in the last 10 games, Nebraska dropped a set, but the Cornhuskers (25-1, 15-0 Big Ten) rallied to win the last two for a 25-12, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19 victory.

“I knew this was going to be a tough game tonight and it was a fight,” Coach John Cook said. “I thought there was some really good volleyball and there was some shaky volleyball, but I think we responded really well after losing game two… It felt weird to lose a set, but I thought we responded really well well, and I thought Minnesota gave a great effort tonight.”

The Cornhuskers cruised through the first set, but hit well below their standard in the final three games to finish at .199 overall. Nebraska struggled in transition most of the night, allowing Minnesota to extend rallies.

“We hit .199, which is not great,” Andi Jackson said. “It’s definitely not our team goal. But we just talked about it in the locker room, ‘gritty over pretty,’ and sometimes there’s going to be those games where the stat sheet might not be pretty, but that they come together and just be the team first in the moments it will reflect on the court.”

Bergen Reilly recorded 20 digs and six kills – both career highs – to go with her 40 assists and four blocks. She hit .500, but the team struggled to get out of system when she took first contact.

“She did a great job of attacking and winning duels at the net,” Cook said. “Laney (Choboy) did a great job of pushing her up there so she could do it. She dug great, but we hit .199, so we have some things we need to clean up and get in a little bit better rhythm and improve on for Saturday.”

Harper Murray led the Huskers with 13 kills on .250 hitting and a career-high 19 digs. Taylor Landfair added 12 kills against her former team, but also had nine errors and hit .067. Jackson contributed nine kills on .471 hitting and six blocks.

Lexi Rodriguez added 16 digs and seven assists as Nebraska held the Gophers to .130. Junior outside hitter Julia Hanson took over down the stretch and finished with 20 kills, but the Nebraska defense also forced her into 11 errors and a .155 hitting percentage. The Huskers outrebounded the Gophers 12-7, which Jackson said was a big part of the win.

“It not only slows down the offense for our defense, but I’ve said it before: as a hitter, when they touch a lot of your shots, it’s a lot of defeat and you start to lose confidence,” Jackson said. . “I think when our team has that big block and just touches a lot of balls, it really lingers in the other team’s confidence and so it can help us slow the game down a little bit and it feels like we’re in a little more control.”

The first set was all Nebraska as the Huskers raced out to a 6-1 lead and continued to build on it the rest of the way. A 4-0 run pushed the advantage to 13-6 at the midway point, and the Huskers doubled up the Gophers the rest of the way, closing out the set on another 6-1 run. Landfair delivered the set point kill, her fifth of the set.

Nebraska hit .367 and held Minnesota to .029. The Huskers recorded three more blocks (including a solo tally from Reilly and three assists from Jackson) and six more digs than the Gophers.

The second set was much more competitive. Minnesota used a 4-0 run to take its first lead, then used another 3-0 run to pull ahead 13-10. Nebraska had four attack errors and two service errors in the first 22 rallies of set two after notching three and zero, respectively, throughout the first set.

Nebraska ended the run with a back-to-back hit from Murray and kept it close for a while until the Gophers rattled off four straight, including three kills, to take a 22-17 lead. Minnesota grabbed set point at 24-19 before a 3-0 Nebraska run, but the Gophers capitalized on their fourth chance with a Hanson kill.

Minnesota put forth a much tougher defensive effort in set two with 17 digs, holding Nebraska to .098. The Gophers hit .175 as Hanson had five more kills to give her a match-high 10 at the break. Nebraska got five more blocks but mustered just 11 kills.

“Giving credit to Minnesota, they’re a very good team and they had really, really strong blocking in the second set and going forward,” Jackson said. “So we had to adjust to them. Obviously, we rolled them the first set and they turned it on a little bit. Both teams had to adjust, and I think they probably adjusted a little faster in the other, and then we came back.”

Nebraska regained momentum with a 6-1 run for a 9-5 lead early in set three. Minnesota rallied to tie the game at 12-12, but never got over the hump. The Gophers kept applying pressure, making it a one-point game late at 21-20, but Nebraska closed out the set on a 4-2 run that included two Gopher service errors.

Hanson notched nine more kills, but the rest of the Gophers hit .000 and gave Nebraska five free points at the service line with errors. Nebraska hit .151.

The teams traded shots early in the fourth set, but Nebraska took control with a 9-1 run — including seven straight with Kennedy Orr serving — to open a 13-4 lead. Minnesota used a 4-0 run late to cut the deficit to four, but Reilly found Murray out of the back row for a kill and then served an ace to cap the comeback. Merritt Beason added a kill for match point and Nebraska closed it out three contests later with a kill from Rebekah Allick.

Nebraska hit Minnesota .238 to .136 in the fourth set while holding Hanson to one kill and three errors. Murray came alive with five kills on eight flawless swings in the frame.

“As I told the team, the margin of victory is getting smaller and it’s harder to win,” Cook said. “Everybody’s fighting for something and we’re playing really good teams. So part of it was that Minnesota did a really good job and sometimes you’ve just got to win when it’s not pretty and everything’s going your way. It we’ve been used to the last couple of games where everything’s just been going and we’ve been at crossroads. But they got us out of our comfort zone tonight.”

Nebraska volleyball returns to the Devaney Center on Saturday to host an Indiana team that fell in straight sets at Iowa on Thursday night. The Hoosiers are 12-13 overall and 5-10 in conference play.

First serve is set for 7:30pm CT on the Big Ten Network with Larry Punteney and Lauren Stivrins on the call.