No. 1 Nebraska volleyball fed the middles all night long in a sweep over Long Island to open NCAA Tournament play Friday night at the Devaney Center.
The three Husker middle blockers combined for 23 kills, one less than Long Island’s whole team, as the Huskers swept the Sharks 25-11, 25-15, 25-17.
“I thought it was a really fun opening match of the NCAA Tournament,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “LIU brought it. They had some really hard hitters and they didn’t back down. I thought it was a really great team to play and it was awesome to see us stay consistent that whole game and have to work pretty hard to get some kills, especially there at the end.”
Andi Jackson broke Nebraska’s postseason record for hitting percentage with 10 kills on 12 errorless swings (.833) while adding five blocks. Rebekah Allick matched her with 10 kills on 12 swings, misfiring once for a career-high-tying .750 percentage and notching four stuffs. Freshman Manaia Ogbechie played half the third set and chipped in three kills on five swings.
“I love it, absolutely love it,” Allick said of the middle-centric attack. “I think I speak for all middles: we love it when we get the ball, and I think that’s something we understood from a young age, especially in this position, is with the opportunities you’re given, you have to deliver. But I would honestly argue I feel like the dynamic with our team is we definitely get fed. She’ll force it to us, and so I just feel like we have a lot of freedom. It’s good getting kills, so it feels good.”
Rebekah Allick slams down a kill over a Long Island blocker. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Bergen Reilly recorded a double-double with 39 assists, 11 digs, two kills, two aces and two blocks while setting Nebraska to a program rally-scoring era postseason record .476 hitting percentage. Harper Murray finished with seven kills on .400 hitting, six digs and two aces. Taylor Landfair matched her with seven kills on .250 hitting, leading Nebraska in attacks with 16 as Reilly moved the ball around all night. Virginia Adriano added six kills on .300 hitting and five blocks.
Olivia Mauch drew the start at libero and tied Reilly for match-high honors with 11 digs as Nebraska (31-0) limited the Sharks (20-9) to .094 hitting, the 14th time this season Nebraska has held an opponent under .100. The Huskers recorded 14 more digs than Long Island and out-blocked the Sharks 10-2.
“I think just the flow that we have on the court right now — there’s so much confidence within our team, and I think we’ve earned the right to have that confidence, especially coming off of winning the Big Ten,” Jackson said. “We’ve worked really, really hard all season … and I think that it’s really translating into our play. Every single game, we just continue to get better.”
Some early jitters from the service line kept the Sharks in the first set with four Nebraska errors from the end line, but the Huskers began to separate midway through and blew the game wide open with a 7-0 run featuring Murray at the service line. Her second ace made it 21-9 Huskers, and Nebraska cruised from there.
Landfair hammered the final kill off the Long Island libero’s body. Nebraska didn’t miss on an attack until its 21st swing of the match, and the Huskers didn’t err again the rest of the set, hitting .615 with 17 kills. Reilly recorded an assist on 14 of them as Jackson terminated on five of her six swings. Long Island hit .034 with six kills.
Nebraska recorded a 91.7% sideout rate as the Sharks scored one point on serve the entire set.
Teraya Sigler opened the second set with an ace to spark a 4-0 opening run, putting the Huskers in the driver’s seat the rest of the way. Nebraska gradually pulled away, taking its largest lead of the set at 23-12 with a 4-0 run including back-to-back aces from Reilly. Allick scored the final point a few rallies later with her fourth kill of the set.
Nebraska’s offense cooled off a bit, hitting .321 with 13 kills, but the Huskers held Long Island to .129. The Sharks doubled their points scored on serve — to two in set two.
The Huskers raced out to a 7-1 lead in set three and kept their foot on the gas from there. They terminated on their first nine swings before the Sharks finally dug one, building a double-digit lead before Busboom Kelly turned to her bench with Skyler Pierce and Ogbechie checking in. Campbell Flynn, Allie Sczech and Maisie Boesiger also saw the court in the second set.
“I just wanted them to get some jitters out and their first kill or touches behind them,” Busboom Kelly said. “That way they can look forward and they’ve done it, and they kind of know what it feels like. Even the atmosphere tonight, you just feel there’s a little extra. I know they were feeling it on the court. So again, players that are going to have to help us if we continue to make a nice run, we wanted to get them in and give them a little bit of experience, even if it’s a couple points. I think that matters and shows we have a lot of confidence in them.”
The Sharks put together a 4-0 run late to trim the margin, but Nebraska eventually closed it out with a kill from Ogbechie.
Nebraska hit .500 in the set with 17 more kills, creating another 14 assists for Reilly. Each of Nebraska’s three middles recorded three kills in the set.
“This team is incredible,” Long Island coach Tony Trifonov said. “This year’s team is probably one of the best teams that I’ve seen put together in NCAA volleyball, and I’ve seen a lot of it. This is my 12th tournament and almost 28th or 29th year of coaching at this level. You guys are going to have a lot of fun in the next couple of weeks.”
With the win, Nebraska advances to the second round on Saturday night and will face Kansas State, who beat San Diego 3-2 in the first match inside John Cook Arena on Friday.
Lincoln Southwest alumna Shaylee Myers put down the match-point kill, her 26th of the day on a .328 hitting percentage. Setter Ava LeGrand, a Papillion-La Vista South product, racked up 49 assists, 14 digs, six blocks, four kills and two aces. Elmwood-Murdock grad Brenna Schmidt chipped in two kills and five blocks as a starting middle.
Kansas State (18-9) out-hit the eighth-seeded Toreros .276 to .220, outlasting them 21.25, 25-17, 26-28, 25-22, 15-12. They added 13 blocks and six aces to their 61 kills.
“It’s the opposite of tonight — they run a very fast tempo,” Busboom Kelly said of the Wildcats. “They’ve got a lot of Nebraska girls; I’m sure they’re going to be out to get us and pretty fired up. Their outsides are great players. So just a really solid team that’s had a great season. It’s not necessarily rivalry, but it almost feels like it because of the Nebraska connections. I’m sure a lot of things are going to be thrown out the window, and anything can happen in a match like that with the makeup of who’s on the court.”
First serve at the Devaney Center on Saturday is set for 7 p.m. CT with ESPN+ streaming the match.
