No. 1 Nebraska volleyball opened its weekend in Chicago with a sweep over DePaul at Wintrust Arena, home of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, Friday evening.
Coach Dani Busboom Kelly went 14 deep again and gave her veterans some rest as the Huskers (4-0) swept the Blue Demons 25-19, 25-13, 25-15 in front of a crowd of 8,786, a new record for a volleyball match in the state of Illinois.
Kenna Cogill (8) made her first career start for Nebraska against DePaul. Photo by Kayla Wolf.
“It’s pretty unreal, and a lot of these places, it’s a little bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment,” Busboom Kelly said. “I say it a lot: the biggest surprise about coming back to Nebraska after and being gone is the road games, and fans are so grateful to be here. The signs are awesome. They are so excited to even get to see our players, and then breaking records, and then hopefully some of the people that were here tonight will come back and watch more games.
“Hats off to DePaul. They did everything they could to make this first class with the TeraFlex and Wintrust Arena. It was a really awesome venue and the attendance record, I think, reflected the work that they did.”
After rolling her ankle against South Dakota State on Wednesday, Andi Jackson sat out Friday’s match as a precaution, clearing the way for Kenna Cogill to make her first start.
“It just felt like it’s not worth it this game,” Busboom Kelly said of the decision. “During this stretch of matches, we have like seven games in 12 days or something crazy. We want to kind of get everybody some rest when we can, and so it’s like, why would we push Andi when we’re looking for a game to rest her, anyways? Ankles can be a little finicky, but she seemed to be fine. She was jumping today in practice. We’ll see on Sunday, but it’s just not worth it this early in the season to push her more than she needs to be.”
With Jackson in street clothes, Cogill made the most of her opportunity. Busboom Kelly said in the preseason that the 6-foot-4 sophomore from Arizona had graded out as the team’s best blocker, and she showcased that on Friday with seven stuffs to go with her four kills on .300 hitting.
“There were definitely some jitters in the beginning,” Cogill said of her first start. “But whenever that kind of died down, it was more just fun, just getting to show off what our team has been working on like the past couple months.”
Campbell Flynn sets the Nebraska offense during her season debut. Photo by Kayla Wolf.
Harper Murray led the Nebraska attack with 11 kills on .292 hitting, six digs and two aces. The Huskers hit better than .300 in all three sets, finishing at .434 as nine different players notched kills and two different setters ran the offense, including sophomore Campbell Flynn who made her season debut.
The setter from Michigan checked in late in the first set and ran the offense the rest of the way, finishing with 16 assists, eight digs, two kills and two aces.
“Campbell was great today,” Busboom Kelly said. “I thought she was definitely the player of the match … Just so confident, ran the offense, and I talked to her before the game that we were going to give her opportunities to actually run the offense, not come in and play five points, let her get in the flow, and she showed that today. This summer, she worked really hard. She had a great showing with USA, and she’s been playing great in practice. Kind of the weaknesses of her game last year with defense and blocking aren’t nearly as weak anymore. She’s cleaned all that up, and her setting is better than ever.
“It’s just awesome to see her get out there and get opportunity and show our team what a great leader is, and somebody who knows that they’re not going to start, maybe not at all this year, but to go in and make the most of her opportunity and be super confident.”
Sophomore opposite hunter Ryan Hunter had a strong showing off the bench as well with five kills on seven swings (.571 hitting) and three blocks as Nebraska out-blocked DePaul 10 to three. Libero Olivia Mauch led the defense with 11 digs as the Blue Demons hit .060.
First Set
DePaul got the better of the Huskers from the service line early, taking a 2-0 lead to start before hanging with Nebraska for a long stretch. After the third tie of the set at 13-13, Teraya Sigler took over, sparking a 5-1 run with four kills to create separation.
Teraya Sigler (11) celebrates after a point against DePaul. Photo by Kayla Wolf.
Nebraska continued to extend the lead with a 4-1 run to pull ahead 22-16 before cruising to the finish. Sigler closed out the set with her eighth kill on her 10th swing, finishing without an error to continue her hot start to the season.
“I guess [my mindset] was just how can I help my team in the best way I possibly can?” Sigler said. “I think that’s my mindset for most nights too, and I think especially when you’re in a big arena, we’re all just kind of settling into it, nerves are high. Even my couple first points passing, I was like, ‘Man, I feel really amped right now.’ To be able to back my team however they needed to, and Bergen did such a good job, Liv did, everyone did such a good job of just supporting each other in that and just settling into what our game is.”
Busboom Kelly opted to utilize a double sub with Flynn and Hunter taking the floor at 21-16, then the head coach stuck with them the rest of the set and beyond.
With multiple setters running the show, Nebraska hit a blistering .607 to far outpace a good first set from the Blue Demons at .308. Reilly notched 13 assists before subbing out as the Huskers totaled 18 kills in the frame.
Second Set
Busboom Kelly stuck with Flynn and Hunter to start the second set, and she also had Skyler Pierce start in place of Sigler, despite the sophomores outstanding first set.
“I told her she has to be perfect; we needed 10-for-10, not 8-for-10,” Busboom Kelly joked about the decision. “But that was our plan going in, and I just said we’re sticking with it. We had a plan on Wednesday, plan tonight, and didn’t want to deviate from that. Rest is good too, and I told her she was only going to play set one, and it was great to see her make the most of it.”
Pierce opened the second set with an ace and played through the back row, but Keri Leimbach subbed in for her during her second trip through the back.
After three ties early, Nebraska used an 8-2 run to pull away for a 12-6 lead. DePaul briefly cut it to four at 14-10, but the Huskers dominated the rest of the way to take a 2-0 match lead.
Murray led the way with four kills as Nebraska hit .368 and held the home team to minus-.125. The Huskers had as many blocks as DePaul did kills (four), and they out-dug the Blue Demons 12 to five.
Third Set
Ryan Hunter takes a swing over the top of a pair of DePaul blockers. Photo by Kayla Wolf
Busboom Kelly continued her tinkering, with Keoni Williams starting the third set in place of Manaia Ogbechie, who finished with four kills on six errorless swings and two blocks. Leimbach continued to play in the back row for Pierce.
The Blue Demons again put up a fight early in the set with five ties and a pair of lead changes. The Huskers led 13-12 midway through the set before Nebraska blew the game open with an 8-1 run. Flynn served a 5-0 run during that stretch, capping it with an ace to put Nebraska ahead 21-13.
DePaul earned the sideout on a Kendall Timme kill, but Nebraska closed the match with a 4-1 run including back-to-back kills from Hunter.
Hunter and Murray led the way with four kills apiece as Nebraska hit .310 and held DePaul to .000.
Up Next
Nebraska will remain in Chicago through the weekend as the Huskers prepare to face Missouri at Wrigley Field on Sunday night as part of the Big Ten/SEC Challenge.
The Tigers are 3-1 following a four-set loss to No. 25 Oregon on Tuesday, also a part of the challenge. They opened the season last week at home with 3-0 wins over Western Illinois, Towson and Idaho in the Mizzou Invitational.
The Tigers are hitting .347 through four matches behind junior middle blocker Lauren Larkin’s 3.43 kills per set on .564 hitting. Sophomore Paige Felder, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter, is averaging 3.00 kills per set on .298 hitting while leading the team with seven services aces. Senior libero Ainoah Cruz leads the defense with 4.67 digs per set. Eva Smith, a 6-foot-4 freshman middle, leads the team with 1.31 blocks per set and is also just behind Felder with six aces.
“We’re just excited,” Sigler said. “I think when we were walking over here, it was just super cool to take in the city and just where we are right now, and just how big this arena was, I think it’s just super exciting for our team. We get to celebrate that at Wrigley, and so I think we’re just super excited, especially because we treat this like this is a celebration, that we work so hard to get here and do these things.”
First serve is tentatively scheduled for 8 p.m. CT, with Penn State and No. 3 Kentucky set to start the festivities at 6 p.m. FOX will televise the double-header with Connor Onion and Emily Ehman on the call.
