No. 1 Nebraska volleyball made quick work of California on Sunday, sweeping the Golden Bears in a 77-minute match to go 2-0 at the Ameritas Players Challenge and improve to 6-0 on the season.
Dani Busboom Kelly went 13 players deep as the Huskers beat the Golden Bears (2-2) 25-15, 25-18, 25-12 in front of 8,521 fans at the Devaney Center on Sunday afternoon.
“I think that just shows our versatility and how it’s 17 strong, and how everyone is going to contribute this season, and how everyone is good enough to contribute this season,” said freshman Campbell Flynn, one of those 13. “I think that if we stay together and we all contribute our ways, it’ll be a really good season.”
Harper Murray racked up 14 kills on .370 hitting, seven digs and three aces in two and a half sets. The junior has hit above .300 in five straight matches.
After a slow start (one kill, two errors in the first set), Andi Jackson went off in games two and three to finish with a season-high 12 kills on .450 hitting and four blocks. Jackson had hit under .220 in her previous three matches and was at .256 heading into the match after hitting .439 last year, a top-five clip in program history.
“I know I haven’t been attacking the best, but I think that also comes with trying new things,” Jackson said. “I’m working with Brennan [Hagar] right now, and all the middles actually, we’re just trying new routes, trying new arm swing mechanics. It’s going to come with failure, and I have to remind myself of that, and it’s very early in the season, so I’m not too worried about it. I think in the position that I’m in, I still have an opportunity to get back to the old Andi, but I think also we’re playing a really high level of volleyball, and I have to remind myself I’m probably not going to hit .600 every single game.
“So I’m just staying patient, trusting the process, and then trusting my team too, because I know that they have my back regardless of what I’m hitting.”
The Huskers hit a season-high .419 despite significant subbing in the last two sets. The two setters split time, with Bergen Reilly totaling 20 assists while Flynn finished with 18 plus five digs. The match was the first extended regular season run for the freshman at the Devaney Center.
“Campbell just has a very calm but fiery demeanor on the court, if that makes sense,” Jackson said. “She’s just a great presence to have, especially as a setter, and she gets people the ball, which as a middle it’s awesome. You can always guarantee that Campbell is going to set you whether she’s on or off, so I think that makes her super special as a setter. And then also, just the way that she lifts up her teammates. You can tell that you have that ultimate trust with her.”
Rebekah Allick returned to the starting lineup after sitting out Friday’s win against Wright State and finished with six kills on nine errorless swings, four blocks and her first ace of the season. Laney Choboy led the defense with a match-high 11 digs as Nebraska held Cal to .088 hitting.
Serving has been an area of emphasis for the Huskers and Nebraska served a season-high six aces while only recording five errors.
“I think as a team overall, we’re really trying to serve the ball harder and have that better ace-to-error ratio,” Jackson said. “I think with that comes those errors, but I think we have good intentions trying to serve the ball harder and serve teams off the court … We’re definitely being more intentional with serving more aggressively in the seams and at players and targets.”
The teams traded runs to open the match, with Nebraska scoring the first five points and the Golden Bears responding with the next four. However, soon after Murray served a 7-0 run that included three straight aces to give the Huskers a 15-6 lead, and they cruised from there.
The Cornhuskers weren’t terribly sharp offensively, hitting .257, but their defense (13 digs, two blocks) and serving (four aces) held Cal to .062.
Nebraska got off to a much cleaner start offensively in set two, terminating on 12 of the team’s first 14 swings to double up the Bears at 16-8, forcing Cal to burn through both its timeouts. Murray got off to a 6-for-6 start in set two before the Bears finally dug her as the Huskers continued to roll.
“I thought we were pretty aggressive,” Busboom Kelly said of the offensive uptick. “Our setters made great choices. I think we were trying to bounce balls in that first game and got blocked a couple times, and then after that, it was pretty seamless.”
Campbell Flynn sets the ball for Andi Jackson in the the second set against California. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Busboom Kelly took advantage of the big lead to mix things up, giving Allick a chance to serve (and go on a 5-0 run) as well as Flynn and Allie Sczech an opportunity to close out the set (Virginia Adriano started at opposite hitter again). Cal made a late 4-0 run to trim the margin, but Allick closed it out with a kill to give Nebraska a 2-0 lead at the intermission.
The Huskers hit .556 with 17 kills in set two. Murray had seven of those kills on 11 swings. Cal hit .167 as Nebraska recorded five blocks, with Jackson in on four of them (three assisted, one solo). Jackson also terminated on all four of her swings, then tacked on seven more kills in the third.
“Start of the second set, I looked at Bergen, and we both agreed, we’re just going to see ball, hit ball,” Jackson said. “It sounds cheesy, but it really works, especially for me. I have to remind myself of that when I start overthinking it a little bit too much, and that’s what I was doing in the first set, for sure. We looked at each other, we said we’re not worried about it. We’re just going to see ball, hit ball, and it really started going from there.
“And then when Campbell came in, she was just firing the ball and did an awesome job getting it to the middle, so also kudos to her, because it was really easy to get hot from there.”
Flynn and Sczech remained in to start set three. Nebraska won eight of the first nine rallies as the Golden Bears didn’t record a kill until their 11th swing. Busboom Kelly continued to tweak with the lineup, letting Sigler play all six rotations and getting Skyler Pierce into the match. The changes didn’t disrupt the rhythm in the slightest, though, as Nebraska cruised through the set. The Flynn-set offense out-hit Cal .457 to .034 in game three.
“I thought she was awesome,” Busboom Kelly said of her freshman setter. “To come in cold, didn’t play on a Friday night, she ran a great offense, and it felt like we were humming. She was super confident out there.”
Sigler made the most of her six-rotation opportunity, notching four kills in the set (including one on match point) to finish with five kills on .400 hitting and 10 digs, all season-highs for the freshman.
“She was good,” Busboom Kelly said. “She probably got more attempts than she has. She played a little bit in the front row against Kentucky, and I thought, just like Campbell, she was really confident out there, and it’s fun too. When we told her she was staying and she was like, ‘Oh, yay;’ she gets excited, so it’s fun to see them have that excitement and then play great.”
The Huskers will continue their home stand next week with the Husker Invitational, welcoming No. 21 Utah and Grand Canyon to Lincoln.
