A late first-set rally and a dominant third-set finish powered No. 1 Nebraska to a sweep over No. 25 Illinois in the Huskers’ return to the Devaney Center following two weeks on the road.
Nebraska beat Illinois 25-23, 25-20, 25-12 on Thursday to claim the Big Ten regular season title outright for the third time in four seasons. They also shared the title with Penn State in 2024.
“It’s obviously a huge accomplishment,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “The Big Ten is arguably the toughest conference in volleyball, and for this class to be able to win it four years straight, the seniors, is so impressive. They have a lot of pressure to do that, and so to do that with two games left is an even bigger accomplishment. Now it feels like we can focus on the next goal, which is the Big Ten tournament.”
Bergen Reilly (2) sets the ball for opposite Virginia Adriano (3) in the first set against Illinois. Photo by John S. Peterson.
One match after setting a rally-scoring era program record for hitting percentage against a ranked opponent with a .477 clip at No. 18 Washington, the Huskers (26-0, 15-0 Big Ten) one-upped themselves by hitting .483 against the Illini. They have now hit .400 or better in five of their last six and tallied just 22 errors in their last three matches combined, all against top-25 opponents.
“Everybody wants to keep improving, and I think Bergen [Reilly] is playing probably the best she’s played in her career the last four or five matches, so that’s a pretty good reflection; our hitting percentage has been unbelievable. I just like buying into the offensive game plan, and then players know they might not get a ton of sets. We don’t have anybody on our team that’s going to get 50 sets a games, so when they get the ball, they want to kill it because they don’t know when the next one is coming.”
Nebraska’s leader in kills only took 19 swings, but she made the most of her opportunities as sophomore Teraya Sigler terminated on 13 of them for a .684 hitting percentage. Sigler fit right in with Nebraska’s middles as Ogbechie had nine kills on .750 hitting and Andi Jackson matched her with nine kills on a .643 clip.
“That is a crazy stat,” Ogbechie said of Sigler’s hitting percentage. “I’m not surprised though, from T. She hits with so much power, and now she’s opened up so much range as well. Just constant training; she works so hard. She deserves it.”
Harper Murray added 12 kills on .391 hitting and two aces while Bergen Reilly dished out 40 kills and recorded seven digs. Olivia Mauch posted a match-high 13 digs as Nebraska held Illinois to .200 hitting. Ogbechie was in on five of Nebraska’s seven blocks, including one solo stuff.
First Set
The first set saw nine ties in the first 18 rallies before Nebraska ran into a bit of trouble. The Huskers’ passing broke down with overpasses and an error, allowing the Illini to put together a 7-1 run for a 16-11 lead.
Illinois had an 18-13 advantage when the Huskers locked in, ripping off eight straight with Reilly at the service line. Sigler had three consecutive kills at one point during the run and teamed up with Ogbechie for a block a couple rallies later.
Illinois ended the run with three straight to tie it up at 21-all, but the Husker middles closed it out as Nebraska won four of the last six rallies including two kills from Ogbechie and one from Jackson on set point.
“Being able to regain our focus after a momentary lapse is so incredibly important in postseason, because at that point in time, it’s, I don’t want to say sudden death, but it’s very important to keep composure,” Ogbechie said. “Little moments like that, it’s great practice for postseason, and honestly, getting put in positions like that is also important, because now we know how to deal with it.”
Nebraska outside hitter Teraya Sigler spikes the ball for a kill against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Sigler set the tone for the Huskers with five kills on eight attacks. She’s hitting over .400 in conference play.
“That’s pretty unbelievable for an L1, because she gets a lot of crappy balls too,” Busboom Kelly said. “We’re setting her out of the back row, so she’s not just hitting go balls one-on-one. She’s hitting everything. She gets set behind the setter in rotation one. So just for her to be able to handle all that, and be a great passer, and be a great server, and take pride in getting better in the back row, it’s just a sign of a great leader in the future.”
Jackson added four kills on five swings. The Huskers hit .567 with 18 kills and only one error as Reilly dished out 15 assists. Nebraska had five service errors without an ace, while the Illini aced up Nebraska twice with only one error.
“When we gave ourselves a chance to make a play, we were doing some good things, but we were getting aced and serving it out of bounds, so we didn’t even give ourselves a chance to play the ball or play defense or control the game,” Busboom Kelly said. “We just talked about getting control back and staying calm, and I felt like we were a little erratic at the beginning for whatever reason. I don’t know, but they did a good job of finishing that out and then kind of taking off from there.”
Second Set
The Huskers got off to a quicker start in set two, winning four of the first five points, but Illinois rallied to tie it four times and briefly take the lead in the middle of the set.
However, a personal 3-0 run from Murray featuring two kills and an ace gave the Huskers the lead for good at 14-12. The Illini kept it relatively close, but Murray’s second ace capped a 3-0 run and gave the Huskers set point at 24-19. She missed her next serve, but Sigler had her teammate’s back and closed it out with her fourth kill of the game on the next rally.
Murray led the Husker attack with five kills as the Huskers hit .345, though the Illini countered with a .300 clip. Nebraska turned the serve and pass game around, however, as the Illini had twice as many errors (6-3) and half as many aces (1-2).
Third Set
The Illini went toe to toe with the Huskers for the first half of the set until Reilly called her own number to give Nebraska a 13-11 lead. That brought sophomore Keri Leimbach to the service line for the first time, and the Lincoln native proceeded to reel off eight more points to turn the game into a blowout.
The Cornhuskers celebrate match point against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Photo by John S. Peterson.
“It was funny; I was like, ‘She’s making us look like idiots for not playing her, having her serve every game,’” Busboom Kelly said. “Just so much confidence going after it. It was great to see her, and I don’t think the team understands, sometimes, the decisions, or maybe non-volleyball people might not understand. Sometimes we want to save Keri to go in and pass for somebody, or sometimes we want to save Campbell [Flynn] to go in and set, so they all have to be ready, and there are different reasons why we would sub somebody in.
“It just felt like Keri has a great serve in practice, and every time she’s gone in, she’s proven herself. We know, down the stretch here, we’re going to need everybody, so it’s just trying to get more people ready for when their name is called in a big moment.”
Leimbach forced an overpass for an easy Sigler kill to cap the run, and after Illinois scored a kill to end it, the Devaney Center crowd rained cheers down upon Leimbach as she returned to the bench.
“Keri’s been working so hard in practice, so I’m super proud of what she did,” Mauch said. “She came in and was really thumping her serve, so I’m proud of her.”
The Huskers didn’t waste any time capitalizing on the momentum from Leimbach’s run as they won the next four rallies to complete the sweep. Reilly fired an ace on match point to put an exclamation point on the victory.
Murray and Sigler led the Huskers with four kills apiece as they hit .536 and held the Illini to .037. The Huskers terminated 10 more times than the Illini.
Up Next
Nebraska will return to the Devaney Center on Saturday night to face Iowa and honor the program’s four seniors.
While none of Reilly, Murray, Jackson and Laney Choboy have announced their decision regarding returning for a fifth season, Busboom Kelly said the program wants to honor them together.
“I think they’ll be pretty amped, but also pretty emotional, that this era could be ending for a lot of people, and just the impact that they’ve had,” Busboom Kelly said. “I do think, no matter what happens next year, this is a celebration of what those four have done for Nebraska and for the sport of volleyball, and I think it’s going to be a great evening.”
First serve against the Hawkeyes (13-16, 2-13 Big Ten) is set for 6 p.m. CT, and fans can stream it on Big Ten Plus or listen to John Baylor and Lauren (Cook) West on the Huskers Radio Network.
