No. 1 Nebraska volleyball opened Big Ten play with an emphatic win on Wednesday, serving Michigan off the court in the final two sets to earn a 25-22, 25-10, 25-13 victory at the Devaney Center.
For the 11-0 Huskers, conference play arrived at just the right time following a front-loaded nonconference slate with three top-five opponents in the first two weeks.
“We kind of talked to the team that we needed to be on a mission, and I felt like the end of the nonconference, we were kind of fizzling out and needed to reset and it was kind of a new season and new mindset, and it was great to see us show that,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “It’s one thing to say you’re in a great mindset, but for that to translate into your play is huge.
“I think Michigan is a really good team, and I’ll be surprised if they’re not in the tournament. I thought we played great. I thought it might be closer the whole game; I’m actually surprised at the end that it was so fast, but that’s hats off to just our team and the way we stayed consistent and got better throughout the match, which I don’t think we’ve done yet this year.”
The Michigan match featured the continuation of a promising trend for the Huskers. Freshman opposite hitter Virginia Adriano finished with 10 kills on .444 hitting, her fourth straight over .300. She notched eight, 13, nine and 10 kills in those four matches, and she took at least 16 swings in each of them after attempting double-digit attacks in just two of her first six matches.
“The main thing for Virginia is feeling that the team and the coaches have confidence in her,” Danis Busboom Kelly said before the Michigan match. “So can we set her in big moments, and can we set her out of system? When we do and she’s successful, I feel like it really snowballs into a great game for her. If she gets the feeling that we’re avoiding her, that’s when she gets really tight, and I think that’s pretty it’s real for all players. If you feel like you’re being avoided then you get a ball, that one rep is magnified, like ‘I have to kill it.’ You don’t want her, or anybody, worried about one singular rep.”
The 6-foot-5 Italian freshman is up to 2.07 kills per set on .246 hitting — including 2.86 kills per set on .373 hitting in her last four — after a slow start to her Nebraska career. The connection between Adriano and her setter, Bergen Reilly, has continued to grow.
“It’s getting really good,” Adriano said. “We’re walking on that a lot in practice to also be consistent on that. I’m working a lot on trying to not start early and try to not hit the block, of course, and try to make some swings. It’s really improving, and I’m very happy with that.”
Reilly has upped her aggressiveness at the net as well. While she’s averaging a career-low 9.59 assists per set, she is leading the team in digs at 3.09 per set, a career high, and is also averaging a career-high 0.77 kills per set on .411 hitting. The 6-foot-1 setter scored five kills in each of Nebraska’s last two matches (both sweeps), one shy of her career high.
She had 12 kills in her first 23 sets before amassing 14 in her last 11, starting with four in the five-set win over Creighton.
“Bergen’s a very, very high volleyball IQ type player, so I’m not surprised that this is coming alive when it is,” Busboom Kelly said. “The last two games have been our best passing games by far, so that coincides with it being easier for her to be aggressive. It’s just good to see her take advantage of that, and the more confident she gets even just setting the ball, she’ll probably be throwing it down even more. It’s just a confidence thing as a setter.”
Reilly credited her teammates for her attack numbers spiking.
“It’s due to great passing; I’m on the net all the time, and it’s just really a feel,’ Reilly said. “Our hitters have also been on fire — four people are hitting over .400 — that really opens it up for me, because they really have to respect our hitters too, so then they kind of have to leave me a little bit. So props to the passing and props to our other hitters.”
Adriano, Reilly and the Huskers will look to keep things rolling on Saturday as they close out week one of Big Ten play against Maryland inside John Cook Arena. The Terrapins are 7-4 on the season and dropped their conference opener 3-0 at Iowa on Thursday.
Maryland is last in the Big Ten in kills per set (12.14) and hitting percentage (.205) but is second in blocking at 2.9 per game. Ajack Malual, a 6-foot-1 senior opposite hitter, is leading the Terps with 3.51 kills per set and is tied for second in the Big Ten with 22 aces. Maryland has two players in the top five in total blocks in the Big Ten in 6-foot-3 sophomore Duru Gökçen (1.37 per set) and 6-foot-2 junior Eva Rohrbach (1.33 per set).
First serve on Saturday is set for 3 p.m., and Nebraska Public Media will televise the match locally with Larry Punteney and John Cook on the call.
