No. 1 Nebraska volleyball reached the 20-win mark on Saturday by sweeping Michigan State for the second time in nine days.
The Huskers (20-0, 10-0 Big Ten) beat the Spartans (15-5, 5-5) 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 at the Devaney Center to close out week five of conference play.
The Cornhuskers have swept 11 straight opponents, hitting above .300 in each of those matches. Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said the only way to accomplish such a feat is with consistency across the board and strong, confident play from a setter, with everyone else taking the lead from her.
Bergen Reilly displayed that on Saturday, finishing with 37 assists, eight digs, five block assists and four kills on four swings. The junior moved into fourth plays on Nebraska’s rally-scoring assists list, passing Lauren (Cook) West. She set Nebraska to a .382 hitting percentage with another balanced attack as Michigan State was the third straight match in which the Huskers didn’t have a hitter with double-digit kills.
Freshman Teraya Sigler led the way with nine kills on .316 hitting, playing six rotations in the first set before rotating with redshirt freshman Skyler Pierce — who missed the previous two weeks with an ankle injury — in the last two. Busboom Kelly gave Taylor Landfair the night off after tweaking her ankle midway through Friday’s win over Northwestern.
“I thought Teraya was good,” Busboom Kelly said. “I wanted her to be a little more aggressive, and she was a little bit tentative in the front row, but I thought she did a really nice job, and she didn’t let playing front row affect her passing. I thought she passed great tonight and played great defense, and then it was good to get Skyler some reps coming off her minor injury.”
Harper Murray recorded eight kills and 10 digs while Rebekah Allick added eight kills and four blocks in two sets of work. Laney Choboy matched Murray with 10 digs in her fourth straight start at libero. The Huskers held Michigan State to .118 hitting and earned a 46-27 edge in digs while also notching 11 blocks.
Opposite hitter Virginia Adriano added seven kills on nine swings (.667 hitting) in two sets before Allie Sczech took her place in the third and went 3-for-3 on swings.
“Every time she came on the court, she did amazing, so I was very, very proud of her,” Adriano said of the senior transfer from Baylor. “If I’m able to do that when I when she comes out the court, I give a little advice, the same that she does for me when I go on the court. We really try to push each other in practice, especially, and in the games.”
Andi Jackson matched Adriano with seven kills on .500 hitting while adding five block assists.
Nebraska wasted no time in set one, terminating on its first six swings and eight of its first 10 to race out to an 11-2 lead. Later, Nebraska used a 5-0 Sigler serving run including back-to-back kills from Adriano to push the lead to 11 at 18-7 before cruising to the finish.
Michigan State extended the set a few extra points before Allick closed it out with a kill and a block assist, teaming up with Murray on set point.
Nebraska hit .343 and held the Spartans to .088, making them earn their eight kills with 20 digs. Adriano and Sigler led the way with five kills apiece, though Adriano did so on only seven swings, including going 2-for-2 during the first two rallies of the match.
Virginia Adriano swings over the Michigan State block. Photo by John S. Peterson.
“When I start the matches like that, I think it’s kind of obvious that my confidence builds up for the rest of the game, and I think that’s what helps me the most,” Adriano said. “I’m really working on not being too hard on myself, because we have such a high standard. We say in the locker room that when we don’t play perfect, we think we’re playing very bad. It’s never true, but I’m the first one to do that.”
The second set was much tighter with four early ties before Jackson served a 5-0 run to put Nebraska in front, 8-5. The Spartans kept it close for a bit, pulling within one at 11-10, but Nebraska blew the game open with a 12-2 run as Allick took over the set. The teams traded points until the senior middle closed it out with her seventh kill of the frame (on her 11th swing).
Nebraska hit .393 and held the Spartans to .036 as the block came alive with five stuffs.
Busboom Kelly went to her bench in the third set, with Ogbechie and Sczech starting in place of Allick and Adriano.
Michigan State got the better of play early in game three, winning six of the first nine rallies, but the benched turned things around with a 4-0 run to put Nebraska in front, 11-9. The run included kills from Pierce, Sczech and Ogbechie plus a block from Sczech and Ogbechie.
Michigan State kept it close, but the Huskers gradually pulled away before ending the match on a 4-0 run including a kill and two block assists from Jackson.
Nebraska out-hit Michigan State .410 to .226 as the Huskers totaled 22 kills as a team. Jackson and Ogbechie notched five kills apiece to lead the way, with the freshman doing so on six errorless swings.
The freshman middle has come in cold off the bench and performed at a high level multiple times this season. She said it isn’t easy and she does feel pressure to maintain the standard established by the starters, but she doesn’t let that impact her play.
“To a degree, I think I do, but I feel like we lean on each other the most,” Ogbechie said. “That’s at least what I do, I lean on my teammates. There is pressure, but I feel like leaning on each other resolves a lot of it.”
With half of conference play in the books, Nebraska will head to No. 12 Wisconsin to open week six on Friday.
