No. 1 Nebraska volleyball celebrated the arrival of the Big Ten championship trophy in style Friday night, sweeping No. 25 Penn State during the “Blackout at the Bob” night.
The Huskers secured their second sweep of the season over the rival Nittany Lions in dominant fashion, winning 25-14, 25-11, 25-14.
“It feels great,” Harper Murray said. “I feel like we got our redemption back from last year, and that’s something a lot of us never have forgotten, and I’m sure we won’t. It feels great to come out here the past few months and beat them in a sweep both times, especially in their gym, because that’s a hard gym to play in, so it’s really cool for us.”
Though Nebraska secured the title on the road last week, the Big Ten’s Grace McNamara presented the championship trophy to the team following the match, per Nebraska’s request.
“The past two years, we’ve celebrated at away arenas, so I think it was just cool for us to be able to do it here,” Murray said. “I believe that we asked them to push back the celebration so that we had the chance to do it at home. I think it’s just really cool for us — the blackout, all the fans here, I think they deserve to be a part of this, because we give them so much credit for our success. I think it’s also special for them to be involved and for them to see us with our trophy and with our hats and just celebrating, because they do a lot for us and they push us to win a lot of the time.”
In addition to celebrating with fans, celebrating in Lincoln allowed more family members and friends to be in attendance to share the moment with the Huskers.
“When we’re away, not everyone’s family has the opportunity to go,” Jackson said. “I had the opportunity of having my aunt and uncle and my two cousins coming, who don’t get to catch very many games, so I think it’s just super special that they have the opportunity to come watch us celebrate.”
The fans didn’t have to wait long for the celebration to begin as the Huskers took care of business in just 73 minutes. They recorded an 87.8% sideout rate while also winning more than half their service points (53.4%). The Huskers hit .385 with a 7-0 edge in aces and a 9-2 advantage in blocks.
“It was so smooth,” Andi Jackson said. “This is, I think, by far one of the smoothest games we’ve played. Everything was just clicking for us. We served amazing, we played amazing defense and I think offensively, we were just clicking, and that’s because of our passers and because of Bergen, of course. It just felt very smooth and very calm on the court.
“Never was there a moment of doubt, never did it feel like there was pressure on the court. It just felt if they scored a point, we were right back and we went on another eight-point run.”
Bergen Reilly totaled 29 assists, a match-high 12 digs, two kills and two aces. Murray led the attack with 11 kills on .476 hitting, seven digs and four blocks. Rebekah Allick added nine kills on 12 errorless swings (a career-high .750 hitting percentage) and four blocks (two solo).
Defensively, Laney Choboy started at libero and recorded 11 digs as the Huskers out-dug the Nittany Lions 41-23. They held Penn State to .011 hitting, its second-lowest percentage of the season behind only the first meeting with the Huskers. Nebraska held the Big Ten’s kills leader, opposite hitter Kennedy Martin, to 11 kills on a season-low .094 hitting.
“We know Kennedy is obviously a great player,” Jackson said. “She’s doing amazing in the Big Ten right now. She has most of their attempts by far, so we knew going in they’re going to set her the most, and if she can get going, she becomes a real threat for teams. You’ve seen it. She’s had 40-plus kills in a lot of games. We knew going in we were just going to have to touch her swings early and try to shut her down as much as we could, and I think we did a really good job of that early on. We made it really hard, our defense overall on all their players.”
Nebraska won the first two rallies and never looked back thanks its dominance in the sideout game. The Huskers used a 12-3 run to build a 21-11 lead, turning the game into a rout. The Nittany Lions didn’t score their first point on serve until the 34th rally of the match.
Though it wasn’t quite 25-6, Nebraska still dominated the first set. The Huskers hit .452 to Penn State’s .111, only erring once. They also totaled three blocks and two aces, with zero of each for the Nittany Lions. Harper Murray had five of Nebraska’s 15 kills, hitting .556.
Nebraska used a 4-0 run early in set two to take control, with Virginia Adriano’s serve driving it. She notched back-to-back aces to force a timeout, then she induced an overpass that Jackson took care of to make it 7-3 Huskers, firing up both the crowd and her teammates in the huddle.
“I almost have to tell them, like, ‘Hey, we need to calm down and stay focused,’ because not only is it those aces are pretty ridiculous, but everybody’s so excited for Virginia, and it just creates a lot of joy,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “That’s one thing we talked about before the game, is playing with a ton of joy today, as much as we possibly could, and I thought we did that.”
Attendance for Nebraska volleyball’s Blackout at the Bob against Penn State was 8,537 — with most of them in black. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Nebraska continued to deal from the end line, with Reilly serving back-to-back aces as well during an 8-0 run, the longest of the season for the Huskers.
With Nebraska in firm control, Busboom Kelly turned to her bench, with Manaia Ogbechie and Skyler Pierce getting an extended run. Teraya Sigler put an exclamation point on the set with a game-point back-row attack she blasted off Martin’s body and out.
Nebraska hit .350 and held Penn State to minus-.190 with four kills and eight errors. The Huskers served five more aces and added three blocks to their total.
Penn State scored back-to-back points early in set three to earn their first tie and first lead of the match at 2-1, but the Huskers responded with a 4-0 run featuring Adriano at the line once again. It was all Huskers from there as they gradually pulled away throughout the set. Murray put the finishing touches on the win with a kill off the block on match point.
Allick came alive late with five kills on six swings as Nebraska hit .333 and held Penn State to .027.
Nebraska marketed the match as a blackout, and the fans delivered on their end with a high participation rate. Nebraska played on its black court, wore black jerseys and played an altered pre-lineup video featuring plenty of black.
“We were talking about it before the game, how excited we were to see the Bob covered in black, because it’s always in red,” Jackson said. “When we’re at practice, it’s red, and at normal games, it’s red. So it was a really cool atmosphere to be in. I think the crowd brought so much energy. It was just an overall different vibe and they were so loud between points, and it was just a really, really fun atmosphere to play in.”
Nebraska now turns its attention to its regular season finale on Saturday against Ohio State. Though Nebraska is a lock to host postseason matches at the Devaney Center, the Huskers will honor their four seniors — Allick, Maisie Boesiger, Allie Sczech and Taylor Landfair — on senior night.
“It’s going to be so special,” Jackson said. “They are just such an amazing group, and it’s going to be really, really, really sad, but I think very bittersweet, because all of them have such bright futures ahead of them, and we’re so excited for them … Just as people and as players, they have really impacted our program on and off the court, and they’ve been such amazing teammates, and it’s really hard when you have to celebrate saying goodbye.
“But I think also, we’re not done yet, so it’s going to be really sad, but at the same time, we have a lot of special moments ahead.”
First serve at the Devaney Center is set for 8 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
