Dani Busboom Kelly gave her No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team a B grade for its trip to Los Angeles as the Huskers improved to 26-0 on the season and 16-0 in Big Ten play.
The Huskers saw their winning streak end at 48 consecutive sets on Friday night against UCLA, but they rebounded to win the match in four, earning a B- grade from their head coach. On Sunday, Nebraska got back to its sweeping ways with a dominant win at No. 17 USC, earning an A+.
The Huskers beat the Trojans 25-13, 25-16, 25-20 at the Galen Center.
UCLA out-dug Nebraska by 11 and held the Huskers to .299 hitting, which also ended their streak of hitting over .300 at 15 straight matches. On Sunday, Nebraska fixed that in a big way with 54 digs in three sets (25 more than USC) and a .412 hitting percentage.
“Friday it felt like we got a little bit outworked, and there was no outworking us today,” Busboom Kelly said on the Huskers Radio Network. “Fired up for that win. USC’s a very good team; I think they’re going to do great in the tournament. We played great on both sides of the ball, which is great to see.”
Bergen Reilly had a double-double by the end of the second set and finished with 42 assists, 14 digs, three blocks and two kills on two attacks. Harper Murray led a balanced attack with 10 kills on .292 hitting, seven digs and the lone ace in the match. Taylor Landfair and Virginia Adriano both rebounded from tough outings against the Bruins to match Murray with 10 kills apiece. Adriano hit .389 and Landfair .280.
The middle blockers combined for 17 kills on 28 swings as Rebekah Allick added nine kills on 13 errorless attacks (.692 hitting) and Andi Jackson chipped in eight kills on .467 hitting and a match-high five blocks.
“They’re just playing so well,” Busboom Kelly said. “It’s pretty crazy how efficient they are and it just makes everybody so confident and gives Bergen a lot of confidence. They continue to put up great numbers.”
Nebraska held USC to .156 hitting. Olivia Mauch made her first start at libero since the win at Purdue on Oct. 12. She finished with 11 digs while Laney Choboy added seven as a defensive specialist.
“I thought she did great,” Busboom Kelly said of Mauch. “We want to continue with both of them being interchangeable depending on who we’re playing and matchups, and I thought they both had good games.”
Nebraska took control early in set one, using an 8-1 run to take an 11-5 lead with six different players accounting for the team’s first seven kills. The Huskers used an 8-2 run late to extend the lead to 12 then closed it out soon after with kills from Murray and Landfair.
After totaling five kills on .100 hitting against UCLA, Landfair put up six kills on .500 hitting in the first set against USC. Nebraska hit .500 overall with only one attack error while holding the Trojans to .125.
Nebraska opened set two with a 6-1 run then extended the lead to 11-3. The Trojans made a mid-set push, but Nebraska used a 4-0 run to extend the lead and double up the Trojans at 18-9 before trading points the rest of the way. Murray led the Huskers with four kills as they hit .387 and held the Trojans to .184.
Freshman middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie, a native of Santa Rosa Valley, California, delivered the set-point kill. Busboom Kelly subbed her in late in the first two sets to get her some run in her home state, and she chipped in two kills on three swings and a block.
“Our middles, Bekka and Andi are so good, but we when we put Manaia in, it’s like ‘Oh, now we’re going to make some plays,’” Busboom Kelly said. “We just make plays in the middle all game. She’s so talented, and we definitely wanted to get her in in front of all of her friends and family; she had a lot of them here. She got the most impressive block of the day, not a shocker.”
USC freshman Abigail Mullen terminated on the first rally of set three for the Trojans’ only lead of the match, but Nebraska fired back with a 7-0 run featuring Mauch at the service line. USC put together a 5-1 run to pull within two at 10-8, but that’s as close as the Trojans got. Nebraska maintained a multi-point lead the rest of the way until Jackson sealed it on the Huskers’ first match-point opportunity.
Nebraska hit .359 with 19 kills while holding the Trojans to .154. The middles scored four kills apiece while Adriano led the with five terminations on nine attacks after spending part of Friday’s win on the bench.
“Friday, we wanted to give Allie [Sczech] some meaningful playing time; I just know we’re going to need her throughout the end of the year,” Busboom Kelly said. “But Virginia played awesome today and she just looked very confident out there.”
On Friday, the Huskers rebounded from dropping a set for the first time in Big Ten play with a dominant fourth set to seal a 25-17, 25-23, 19-25, 25-15 victory.
Nebraska jumped out to a big lead in set one but had to rally from a 10-5 deficit in game two before holding on for the deuce win. The Huskers took a 6-1 lead in game three, but the Trojans turned the tables with a 13-5 run and maintained the advantage the rest of the way.
Busboom Kelly sent Campbell Flynn in to close out the set and spent the last handful of rallies talking with Reilly on the bench. Whatever message she delivered seemed to stick as Nebraska hit .406 with only one attack error in game four to beat the Trojans (.123 hitting, seven errors) by 10.
California transfer Maggie Li got loose for 20 kills on .333 hitting, fellow outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette added 17 kills on .268 and former Texas middle blocker Mariana Singletary finished with 12 kills on .409 hitting and seven blocks, but the Bruins hit .221 as a team.
Jackson led the Huskers with 15 kills on 24 errorless swings (.625 hitting). Murray added 14 kills on .262 hitting and Rebekah Allick chipped in 13 kills on .440 hitting and seven blocks. However, the other three pin hitters combined for nine kills on .081 hitting.
After the match, Jackson acknowledged to the Big Ten Network that the Huskers had felt pressure to keep the sweep streak alive, and dropping the third set allowed them to play more freely and have fun again.
Both matches in Los Angeles included new spectator records. Friday’s attendance of 10,498 at Pauley Pavilion is a new high for the Bruins. On Sunday, the Huskers and Trojans played in front of a crowd of 9,072, a USC school record at the Galen Center. Nebraska has played a part in setting attendance records at 12 of the 18 Big Ten facilities in the past three seasons.
“The road games have just been unbelievable this year and so much fun,” Busboom Kelly said. “It’s crazy. It’s literally crazy, but what a blessing.”
