A red-hot No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team is back home to close out the regular season.
The Huskers (25-0, 14-0) have three matches remaining before the inaugural Big Ten Tournament, starting with another to-25 matchup Thursday night against Illinois.
Nebraska has been leading the country in hitting percentage for a few weeks, and the most impressive part is the team just keeps getting better. The Huskers have hit .400 or better in four of their past five matches and are hitting .404 across their last six. They’ve pushed their season percentage up to .346, just five points shy of last year’s program record of .351.
The one orchestrating that offensive success is giving the credit to the work of her back row and the team’s overall ball control, however, and still sees room for growth.
“We’ve talked a lot about get digs high, get passes high, whatever it is, and I think our back row has done a great job of that so that everyone can get off the net in transition,” back-to-back Big Ten Setter of the Week Bergen Reilly said. “I think it’s been a really good and clean couple of games, but I think Dani put it on her story, and we all know it too, that there’s still room to get better. We’ve kind of let off a little bit in a couple sets, so I think we all know that we have some things to work on this week and going into the tournament.
“It’s definitely cool to see the progression, and we know we are getting better, which is exciting, but just still understanding that there is room to get even better.”
This recent hot stretch peaked with a .477 hitting percentage in a sweep at No. 18 Washington on Sunday. The Huskies ranked second in the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.180, behind only Nebraska) going into the week. They’re now fifth at .190.
“We just keep getting better, and I truly believe our team feels like we can get better yet, that there’s still more left in the tank, and they’re excited to continue to try to achieve that,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “I don’t think they looked statistically like that was one of our best games. I do think we all felt like the weekend as a whole might have been one of the best weekends in a long time, just having two great opponents back-to-back, overcoming the travel.
“I don’t know if they really thought about it, but again, I think they’re more just excited that we keep getting better, and to play that well on the road in November is a pretty big accomplishment.”
The Huskers only committed eight attack errors against the Huskies, and they did so while operating out of system a decent amount as Reilly only accounted for 37 of the team’s 48 assists.
“I just think it goes back to our training,” Teraya Sigler said. “We practice so hard on offense and transition, and just learning that volleyball is so up in the air sometimes about your sets, the pass, the circumstances of where you’re at, so just learning to just be aggressive and be smart in that way. Washington had such great defense and kudos to them for being so scrappy, but just learning to be patient and learning that it may take one to two to three swings to get a kill, but how can I stress my opponents out as hard as I possibly can? Same with Oregon, I thought they were super scrappy and they had great blockers.
“So just to be able to be patient and communicate, even with Bergen and with Liv [Mauch] and Laney [Choboy] out of system of just knowing where the blockers are, communication. I just think it’s a kudos to how we train because we do the same thing every day of just having to hit against really good blockers and good defenders, and so learning to just be patient in those situations because, it can be hard.”
With the Washington win, the Huskers clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title for the fifth straight season, and one more win means they’ll own it outright. Though the tournament has dramatically changed the structure of the Big Ten season, the Huskers still take pride in what they’ve accomplished.
“I don’t think it changes the significance of the championship,” Busboom Kelly said of the tournament. “It’s incredibly hard to play consistent from the start to the finish. It’s like a true regular season champion; everybody played everybody one time. I feel like the Big Ten Tournament might feel a little tougher, though, just back-to-back-to-back, you don’t know who you’re going to play, so the prep is a lot different, so I think it’s a pretty unique scenario where both are a big deal … It’s still pretty awesome to win the Big Ten.”
Nebraska will look to claim the title outright on Thursday night against the No. 25 Illini (17-5, 9-5 Big Ten), who head to Lincoln fresh off a sweep at then-No. 21 Indiana on Sunday. They rank fifth in the conference in hitting percentage (.273), second in aces allowed (0.91 per set) and third in digs (14.3 per set), presenting a formidable challenge.
The match will feature former co-workers as Busboom Kelly worked under John Cook alongside Chris and Jen Tamas before she departed for Louisville and Chris took the head job in Champaign.
“They’re a great serving team,” Busboom Kelly said. “They get after it. They’re pretty complete. I would just say their pins are playing well. They’ve got some really fun middles. They’re just a really good team that is pretty battle tested and they fight really hard. Obviously, I know Chris and Jen really well — working with them — and the type of teams that they typically have.
“I think that’s going to be a huge challenge, and their serving in particular — just very, very, very tough serving team, and their pins hit really hard. So it’ll be another challenge for the serve and pass game and keeping up with the speed.”
Junior Paityn Chapman, a 6-foot-3 opposite, leads their attack at 3.48 kills per set on .238 hitting. Freshman outside hitter Madi Miles has come on strong of late after missing a month. She’s only played in 12 matches this season but is averaging 3.22 kills per set on .261 hitting. Freshman Maya Harris is second in the Big Ten in aces at 0.46 per set while sophomore libero Talita Goncalves is third in digs at 3.91 per set.
First serve on Thursday is set for 6 p.m. on Nebraska Public Media for those in market and on Big Ten Plus for others. Larry Punteney and John Cook have the call. John Baylor and Lauren (Cook) West will call the game on the Huskers Radio Network.
