A masterful performance from Harper Murray led No. 1 Nebraska volleyball to a 3-0 win at No. 12 Purdue on Sunday afternoon.
The Huskers (16-0, 6-0 Big Ten) took down the Boilermakers 25-23, 25-16, 25-15 at Holloway Gymnasium to secure their seventh straight sweep.
“I just thought one of the most impressive things of our game today is that we got better and better throughout the match, and it felt like as Purdue was trying to adjust, we were one step ahead,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said on the Huskers Radio Network. “So just really impressive effort by our team.”
Purdue outside hitter Kenna Wollard earned AVCA National Player of the Week after totaling 49 kills in a pair of ranked road wins for the Boilermakers last week. On Sunday, Murray made her case to take the award home next with a near-flawless performance, finishing with 16 kills on 25 errorless swings (a .640 clip), five digs, four assists, two aces and two solo blocks.
“That’s a pretty impressive stat line, and she was doing it from all over the court,” Busboom Kelly said. “It’s not just that she was getting one-on-ones in the front row, she was killing out-of-system balls, she was crushing out of the back row, and we really needed her to play that well in game one, or we would have lost that set for sure.”
Bergen Reilly found Murray early and often, finishing with 44 assists and 10 digs, her fifth double-double of the season and a career high for assists in a three-set match. She set Nebraska to a .349 hitting percentage with 53 kills.
“She’s done an awesome job,” Busboom Kelly said of the reigning Big Ten Setter of the Week. “She does an awesome job every day in practice, and it’s showing in the matches.”
Andi Jackson added 12 kills on .450 hitting and three blocks. After a quiet first set, Tayor Landfair terminated on all five of her swings in the second and third sets to finish with six kills on .385 hitting.
Olivia Mauch led the defensive effort with 12 digs as Nebraska held Purdue (13-3, 4-2) to .186 hitting, including .119 hitting and 16 kills in the final two sets.
The stars shined early, with Wollard, Murray and Jackson combining for 23 of the 33 kills in the first set, which saw 19 ties and five lead changes.
The largest lead of the set was 10-7 Purdue, and Nebraska immediately fired back with a 4-0 run to jump back in front. Purdue hit the 20-point mark first, but Jackson put together a personal 3-1 run with two kills and an ace to give the Huskers the lead. Purdue tied it up on a Nebraska error, but the Huskers won three of the final four rallies to pull it out.
Murray ended an extended rally on set point with a back-row rocket for her eighth kill. Jackson added seven kills for the Huskers as the two combined for 15 kills on 20 errorless swings. However, the rest of the Huskers combined for just three kills and four errors on 25 attacks as Nebraska hit .311. Reilly assisted 17 of Nebraska’s 18 kills. Wollard matched Murray with eight kills on 17 swings.
The second set looked to be following the same script as the first with seven ties and three lead changes in the first 20 rallies. However, with the game tied at 10-all, Nebraska’s defense woke up.
The Huskers used an 8-3 run to pull ahead 18-13, then after Purdue pulled within three, they closed the set on a 6-0 run. Landfair delivered the set-point kill. With Virginia Adriano struggling, Allie Sczech checked in late in the set and terminated on her only swing.
The second set saw a return to Nebraska’s usual offensive balance as the Huskers hit .333 with 17 kills. Nebraska also held Purdue to eight kills and .069 hitting, with Wollard in the negative (two kills, three errors on eight swings).
“Our block was a little slow, and sometimes it’s a lot different,” Busboom Kelly said. “You can prep, you can prep, you can prep, and then when you see it live, you might be a little bit surprised. Our block just did a much better job, and I also thought we were just more aggressive, and we came out a little passive at the net early on.”
Nebraska didn’t waste any time in the third set, racing out to an 8-1 start including back-to-back solo blocks from Murray, and Purdue never truly threatened. Busboom Kelly left Sczech in to finish the match and gave Teraya Sigler a chance to play all six rotations in the second half of set three. The freshman had two of Nebraska’s final four kills while Sczech terminated on match point.
Nebraska hit .412 with 18 kills in the third while holding Purdue to eight kills on a .167 clip. Murray put down five more kills on eight swings while Sczech added four, finishing with five kills on eight errorless swings.
“It just felt like it was kind of going to be Allie’s day, and it even felt like that a little bit before the match,” Busboom Kelly said. “We’re just lucky that we have the depth and that somebody’s been performing great in practice. Typically, that translates into the match, and so I just felt like Allie could have a big match today.”
Busboom Kelly gave her team an A grade for its performance this weekend, with sweeps over Washington and the Boilermakers.
“The teams that we played played really well, and we just didn’t give them an inch,” Busboom Kelly said. “I was talking to the Purdue coach before the game, and he said, ‘Wow, Washington played great; they play like that, they’re going to win a lot of games.’ I thought Washington played well, Purdue came out on absolute fire, and I just thought we were really steady, didn’t get flustered, stayed with what our identity is, what makes us great, which is balanced offense, setting … All signs of great team that’s continuing to develop.”
Elsewhere on Sunday, No. 2 Indiana suffered its first loss of conference play, 3-0 against Michigan State. The Huskers will head into week four of Big Ten play alone atop the standings.
