No. 2 Nebraska shook off another slow start to sweep Michigan Saturday night behind a dominant showing from both outside hitters.
The Cornhuskers (15-0, 6-0 Big Ten) rallied in set one then controlled sets two and three throughout in a 29-27, 25-17, 25-14 victory at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
Harper Murray showed out in her homecoming, finishing with 13 kills on .423 hitting, 11 digs, three blocks and two aces while facing off against her older sister, Kendall, in front of friends and family.
However, it was Nebraska’s other starting outside hitter, Lindsay Krause, that stole the show with a season-high 15 kills on .519 hitting, five digs and two aces.
“She’s doing a nice job,” Coach John Cook said during his post-match radio interview. “She’s gotten into a great rhythm, she took some big swings tonight and I like her serving. We ran a lot of points with her serving.”
Nebraska hit .343 overall as Bergen Reilly dished out 40 assists (13.3 per set). Merritt Beason added 10 kills on .240 hitting. Lexi Rodriguez led the defense with 16 digs as Nebraska held Michigan to .173 hitting. The Huskers out-aced Michigan six to four, but the Huskers also recorded 12 service errors including five from Reilly.
“We did some good things, we just weren’t very consistent,” Cook said. “Michigan came out and played really well in game one; they were really serving tough. When you’re in these gyms, it just takes a while because we don’t come in here and we can’t play a game and practice. I think once we settled down we did some really nice things and we hit for a really good number. I would have liked to see us block more balls and serve more balls in the court.”
Cook said during his pre-match radio interview that he was hoping to see a quick start so the team could play more freely than it did early against Michigan State on Friday, but he didn’t get it as Nebraska fell behind 9-4 early. The Wolverines extended their lead to six a couple of times, but just like on Friday night, the Huskers pulled off a furious rally.
Nebraska scored four straight to cut the deficit to two, then whittled it down to one soon after at 21-20. The Wolverines scored two straight to put the pressure back on Nebraska, but Krause ripped off back-to-back kills to cut it back to one. Michigan sided out to earn set point, but Beason terminated then served an ace to tie it up at 24-all.
Six straight sideouts followed before Beason tooled the block to snap the streak and earn Nebraska its first set point, which the Huskers capitalized on thanks to a tough serve from Reilly and a net violation on Bekka Allick’s overpass attack.
“I think we knew that that first set wasn’t our best set, and so we kind of just had to play ugly and win ugly,” Reilly said on the Big Ten Network broadcast. “We always say gritty over pretty and so I think we really embodied that that last set, and we just made some great plays at the end there.”
Michigan out-hit Nebraska .286 to .250, but the Huskers recorded seven more kills as Krause terminated on seven of her 12 swings.
Nebraska got off to a much better start in set two, winning eight of the first 10 rallies and terminating on five of its first six swings. Nebraska’s passing deteriorated and Michigan made a run, cutting it down to two at one point, but the Huskers stretched the lead back out to six with a 4-0 run. Nebraska then put an exclamation point on the set with a 5-0 run to end it.
Nebraska hit .324 with a much more balanced attack featuring four kills for Krause, three apiece for the other two pins, two each for the two middles and one for the setter herself, who dished out 29 assists in the first two sets. Michigan hit .026.
“I think it’s just trusting my teammates,” Reilly said about the offense improving as the night went on. “I just know that they all have my back and they know that I have their back, and so that’s a big part of this team. And then our passing got settled in and everything just kind of started to groove a little more.”
The teams went back and forth early in set three, but Nebraska created some separation with a 5-0 run and continued to extend the lead the rest of the way. Krause capped her best performance of the season with a kill on match point.
Nebraska out-hit Michigan .565 to .240 as the Huskers only misfired one time. Murray finished strong with six kills on 10 errorless swings in the final frame.
“I can’t say enough good things about Harper,” Reilly said. “She’s really just a great all-around player and there’s not a lot like her. She can just work with the junk, she can work with the ugly and all of that. And so I think that tonight was going to be hard for her just being in her hometown with all the emotions surrounding this game, but she really pulled through and she had a great game.”
After four straight matches on the road, the Huskers will return home for week four of Big Ten play to host Michigan State and No. 14 Penn State.
