No. 1 Nebraska volleyball opened Big Ten play Friday night by sweeping what the Husker seniors called the best Rutgers team they’ve played against.
The Scarlet Knights (9-4) a reached the red zone twice, but Nebraska held on for a 25-21, 25-22, 25-15 win inside John Cook Arena to improve to 12-0.
Harper Murray and Andi Jackson led the way, combining for 29 kills — five less than Rutgers’ entire team. Murray had 15 kills on .323 hitting while Jackson added 14 kills on .632 hitting, both season-high totals.
Since hitting negative for the first time in her career against Creighton, Murray has scored double-digit kills in four straight matches, hitting .346 during that stretch. She credited the works she’s put in with setter Bergen Reilly to strengthen their connection.
“We’ve definitely been working on it a lot, and I think tonight it was really good, so I’m proud of that,” Murray said. “I think getting 14 kills as a middle is kind of crazy, but it’s Andi, so I’m not really surprised, honestly.”
Jackson has tallied double-digit kills and hit over .600 in each of Nebraska’s first two matches this week. Overall, the Huskers hit .444 as Reilly dished out 39 assists.
Laney Choboy prepares to bump-set a ball against Rutgers. She tallied a match-high 15 digs for Nebraska. Photo by Braden Cochran.
Defensively, Nebraska held Rutgers to .137 hitting as Laney Choboy tallied a season- and match-high 15 digs. The Cornhuskers also put together a run of at least five points with Choboy at the service line in all three sets, including twice in the third set.
“It’s really ridiculous, because her serve sets it up great, and then we’ve got three of our seniors, most experienced players in the front row,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said of Choboy’s serving rotation. “We’ve got to always be able to count on that. So far, that’s been something that’s delivered for us every game. But Laney is playing amazing; really impressive what she’s done over the course of this nonconference and tonight and just building on that.”
Teraya Sigler missed the match after suffering an injury against Missouri on Wednesday, but Busboom Kelly said it wasn’t serious. Her status is up in the air for Saturday, though a return against Penn State next week seems more likely. In Sigler’s place, Lincoln native Keri Leimbach made her first career start, with Skyler Pierce subbing in to play in the front row.
“We just wanted somebody really comfortable playing back row, and I think Skyler could have done a good job, but Keri’s been playing great and provided a spark when she’s gone in,” Busboom Kelly said. “So just the rotation we started in started with Keri, and she definitely did her job. The first rally of the game, she had an awesome dig we converted for a kill, so she’s becoming a really nice DS player for us.”
On the other side of the net, Rutgers announced Papillion-La Vista South grads Kenzie and Kami Dyrstad as co-starters, with each of them wearing a libero jersey. They received a loud ovation from the crowd during lineup introductions and Kenzie, a senior, led Rutgers with nine digs.
First Set
Rutgers struck first, but Nebraska responded with a 6-0 run featuring three kills from Murray and an ace from Choboy to jump in front 7-2.
The Huskers continued to terminate at a high clip to extend the lead to seven. Nebraska’s first attack error didn’t come until its 15th swing, and the Huskers looked on track to run away with it. To the Scarlet Knights’ credit, however, they kept swinging away, trimming an eight-point deficit down to three and saving three set points.
However, the fourth time proved to be the charm as Jackson hit off the block for her sixth kill (on her seventh swing).
Nebraska cooled off a bit down the stretch but still hit .412 with 17 kills. Murray tallied four kills on 10 errorless attacks. Rutgers hit .312 to make it a game. Nebraska did not have a block and only recorded 10 digs in the set.
Second Set
Rutgers led early in set two as well, but Nebraska used runs of 4-0 and 3-0 to build an 11-6 lead as Murray took over, terminating four times to match her first-set output before the media timeout.
Rutgers showed its resiliency again, responding with a 4-0 run to pull within one, but Nebraska put together a 9-1 stretch (5-0 with Choboy serving; 4-0 with Murray at the line, including an ace) to build a 23-13 lead.
Once again, the Huskers had trouble finishing. Rutgers won four straight before Jackson gave Nebraska set point with a kill, then the Scarlet Knights saved five set points, with Kenzie Dyrstad serving, before an errant attack ended the comeback bid.
The back half of the set tanked Nebraska’s hitting percentage to .154, though the Huskers held Rutgers to .083 thanks in part to 14 digs and four blocks. Murray tallied six kills and Jackson added four as Reilly assisted all 15 of Nebraska’s kills.
“We got better as the game went on, particularly defensively,” Busboom Kelly said. “I thought Rutgers played really well tonight and did some really good things. They do some things that are a little unconventional, and it just took us a little bit to adjust to that. But I thought they battled really well.”
Third Set
Harper Murray celebrates a touch call against Rutgers. Photo by Braden Cochran.
Rutgers continued its trend of strong starts by jumping out to a 4-2 lead, but the Huskers used a 5-0 run with Choboy at the service line to take control. The Huskers scored three straight to push the lead to five at 12-7 and maintained at least a three-point cushion the rest of the night.
The Huskers pulled away late with another 5-0 Choboy serving run then cruised to the finish. This time it only took two attempts for Nebraska to close out the set as Pierce earned a touch call for match point.
Nebraska out-hit Rutgers .444 to .000 to complete the sweep. Murray (five kills) and Jackson (four) topped the Scarlet Knights (eight kills) by themselves.
“They played really well,” Murray said. “We wanted to come out in that third set and make it quicker, obviously, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that they played really well. It’s always better when you finish it faster, but I still think that the first two sets we played well. We didn’t play our best, but that third set was probably our best out of the three.”
Up Next
Nebraska will close out its home stand on Saturday night against Ohio State.
First serve is set for 8 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network with Larry Punteney and Allie Sczech on the call.
