Seventeen days after No. 1 Nebraska volleyball and Missouri first faced off across the net at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, the Huskers and Tigers finally completed their Big Ten/SEC Challenge matchup Wednesday night.
After unsafe conditions put a halt to their first attempt, they relocated to the Devaney Center where the Huskers swept the Tigers (25-10, 25-17, 25-14). With the administration on both sides working to reschedule, the teams managed to squeeze in the match just before the start of conference play to complete their nonconference slates as originally scheduled.
“I think it’s the right thing to happen is to play this match,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “Both of us were planning on this match and probably scheduled around it a little bit for RPI, for wins-losses, for postseason implications, so to not have that would have been a pretty big bummer. I thought it was great that we could find a night that worked. I think that’s pretty challenging when you get deep into a season, so I think it was good. It was good for us, hopefully good for them.”
While the teams didn’t get the chance to complete their match in a baseball stadium, Nebraska did bring a touch of Wrigley Field to Lincoln as the Huskers wore the special jerseys created for the original match and the Devaney Center staff used baseball sound effects, music (including “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the intermission) and graphics throughout the match.
“It’s super cool,” Andi Jackson said. “We love them. They’re cool jerseys; they’re baseball themed. It’s cool that we got another chance to rep them, and it had the baseball sound effects.”
“I like the baseball scoreboard too,” Bergen Reilly added. “It was fun that they tried to make it as Wrigley as possible.”
Manaia Ogbechie (14) celebrates a point with Skyler Pierce (21) against the Missouri Tigers. Photo by John S. Peterson.
While the thematic elements may have been fun, seeing one of their teammates go down with an injury was anything but for the Huskers, who lost Teraya Sigler to a lower leg injury midway through the second set. Busboom Kelly said after the match that the sophomore outside hitter seemed fine, but she didn’t really know what happened. Sigler left the match in a walking boot.
“Not overly worried, but I’ve seen some weird injuries before on weird plays,” the head coach said.
Despite Sigler’s injury, Nebraska rolled through the match, out-hitting the Tigers .380 to .020, the third-lowest hitting percentage Nebraska has allowed this season and the seventh time the Huskers have held their opponent below .100 in 11 nonconference matches.
“I thought we played great,” Busboom Kelly said. “We’ve been talking about just playing really steady for the entirety of a match. They were talking about how they were maybe a little loose and goofy tonight, but still really focused. I think we scored after every single timeout and maybe every challenge, almost all of them, so I think that’s a very good indication of us being very dialed in and paying attention to what’s going on and in a competitive mindset, even if we’re a little goofy and loose.”
The middles led the way for Nebraska as Jackson and Manaia Ogbechie combined for 17 kills on 24 errorless attacks and nine blocks. Jackson finished with a match-high 10 kills on .667 hitting plus six stuffs and a match-high two aces while Ogbechie added seven kills on nine swings and three blocks.
“We’re going to need them to score, and we’re a very good passing and ball handling team,” Busboom Kelly said of the middles’ efficiency. “We control the ball when it’s on our side of the net; that’s big reason why. Our team also understands that we need to be able to give the ball to the middle as much as possible.”
Reilly certainly did that, finishing with 29 assists, eight digs and two blocks while tallying five kills on five attacks. Harper Murray matched Jackson with 10 kills while Virginia Adriano contributed three kills in each set for a total of nine on .316 hitting. Laney Choboy led Nebraska with 11 digs while Olivia Mauch added 10 digs, four assists and an ace.
The win secured an unbeaten nonconference slate for the second straight season to start Busboom Kelly’s tenure, and she’s proud of the strides her team has made throughout the first four weeks of the season.
“I think we improved a lot,” she said. “I think this team knows we have a lot left in the tank, which is exciting. I don’t remember feeling that way after last nonconference, but I think they know it, and that’s the most important thing. Nobody’s satisfied right now, and we know that we can be even better than we are now, and I also think we’re really diving into our strengths, which is awesome, like serving, transition offense, those things that can really separate you from even the best teams in the country.”
First Set
The wet court at Wrigley took some things off the table offensively for Nebraska in the brief stretch the teams played in Chicago, but there were no such limitations Friday night as the Huskers dominated the first set.
Murray served an 8-0 run to break a 3-all tie, then Sigler served a 5-0 run to push the lead to 19-7. Nebraska then closed out the set with a 3-0 run that included a solo block from Jackson on set point.
Nebraska hit .448 and held Missouri to minus-.086. Murray matched the Tigers by herself with six kills — and on only nine swings, continuing where she left off in the fourth set against FGCU.
Second Set
Missouri cleaned up its attack to start the second set, but the service line was another story. The Tigers got the better of Nebraska offensively throughout the first half of the set, but four service errors gave Nebraska a 15-11 lead at the media timeout.
Missouri earned the sideout when play resumed. Sigler passed the ensuing serve but slipped on the court as she transitioned to attack. Nebraska won the point on an errant Tiger attack, but Sigler grabbed the back of her right leg after slipping and was struggling to put weight on it at the end of the rally. She needed help to make it back to the training room. Skyler Pierce replaced her and played all the way around the rest of the set.
Despite losing a key piece, the Huskers took control soon after with a 5-0 run featuring Reilly at the service line, building a 21-13 lead. They cruised to the finish from there, with Reilly scoring the final point for her third kill of the set.
Nebraska hit .303 with Murray, Jackson and Adriano joining their setter with three kills apiece. Missouri cooled off over the second half of the set to hit .179 overall.
Third Set
Sigler did not return to the court with the team out of the intermission, later sitting down behind the bench in street clothes to watch the rest of the match and support her teammates. Keri Leimbach started the third set in the back row, with Pierce later checking in to play in the front.
“I think it takes a little weight off of our shoulders because we also didn’t really know what was going on,” Reilly said of Sigler’s return to the bench. “She’s always going to be such a team player, regardless of if she’s on the court, on the bench, or injured. It just really shows a lot about her character, and I think it was really good to see that too …
Andi Jackson (15) spikes the ball over Missouri Tiger outside hitter Paige Felder (15). Photo by John S. Peterson.
“She’s a big part of our team, but we’re always talking about everyone’s ready no matter what, so Sky came in and did great, and then Keri played her back row great. So obviously, we want T to get healthy and hope that it’s nothing too bad, but I think our bench just does a great job of always being ready and coming in and not missing a beat.”
Missouri’s Paige Felder opened the third set with a kill to give Missouri its first lead of the day, and the Tigers played from ahead for much of the set until Nebraska put together a 3-0 run including two Adriano kills to jump ahead 11-9.
Felder notched another kill to disrupt Nebraska’s momentum, but the Huskers responded with a 7-0 run featuring Choboy at the service line and dominance from Jackson. The senior middle blocker had four block assists and two kills during the extended 10-1 run to put Nebraska in the driver’s seat, and the Huskers cruised to the finish line from there.
Nebraska hit .400 in the third set with only one attack error. Jackson led the way with four kills to go with her four blocks as the Huskers recorded six blocks overall and held to Tigers to .000.
“She’s just been working really hard to get up in trans on offense, and then on defense, I remember I was blocking next to her once, and she blocked it, and I looked over, and her hands were like this,” Reilly said of Jackson. “I was like, ‘Whoa, that was pretty sick,’ so it’s cool to kind of get to see that angle sometimes. She puts in so much work every day, and she’s so intentional with what she’s doing and how she communicates, and it really pays off for her.”
Up Next
With the nonconference slate complete, the Huskers will dive straight into Big Ten play this weekend as Rutgers visits the Devaney Center for both team’s conference opener. While adding the Missouri match midweek took some valuable practice time off the table, Busboom Kelly said her team is ready for the quicker-than-expected turnaround.
“We’ve already started a little bit with those guys, just taking a peek at them, but it is a tough turnaround and trying to balance how much are you worried about your opponents and worried about us?” Busboom Kelly said. “Right now, we’ve got to continue to be worried about our side of the net and not so much focused on opponents.
“Luckily, we have a veteran group, so they’re used to scouting reports and tendencies and making plays. I’m not as concerned as if we had a really young group about getting a really good scout in and all this prep, because I think it’s still super important for us to be working on what we need to work on, not just getting ready for an opponent.”
The Scarlet Knights are 9-3 but have yet to beat a power conference team. They’re 18th nationally in aces per set — one spot ahead of Nebraska heading into the week — and run a 6-2 system with their middle blockers leading the way.
Freshman Malia Romes is averaging a team-best 2.60 kills per set on .274 hitting. Sophomore Imani Howell is putting up 2.13 kills per set on .359 hitting and 1.38 blocks per set.
Rutgers also features a pair of Nebraska natives in Papillion-La Vista South graduates Kenzie and Kami Dyrstad. Kenzie, a senior, is the team’s starting libero averaging 3.78 digs per set, while little sister Kami is a freshman defensive specialist who has played in 24 sets so far this season.
First serve Friday is set for 7 p.m. on Nebraska Public Media locally and Big Ten Plus for those outside the state.
