No. 1 Nebraska swept Rutgers on Sunday afternoon to improve to 23-0, matching a national championship-winning squad’s start to the season in 2006.
The Cornhuskers (14-0 Big Ten) took down the Scarlet Knights 25-15, 25-20, 25-18 behind another monster performance from Merritt Beason. The Huskers hit .288 and held Rutgers to .127 as they finished plus-24 in kills, plus-10 in digs and plus-six in blocks.
“I thought we came out played a really good first game; so did Rutgers,” Coach John Cook said on the Huskers Radio Network. “I thought Rutgers, this is probably the best they’ve played all year. They had a big crowd, they were super fired up tonight. But then we kind of slugfested our way through the second and third games and made some good adjustments … It’s a good win for us. Again, I thought Rutgers played really, really well. They weren’t letting anything hit the floor, they were flying all over the gym and they should feel really good about their effort.”
Beason went off for 21 kills (Rutgers had 28 as a team) on .475 hitting plus nine digs and five blocks, putting the finishing touches on another weekend of work worthy of National Player of the Week consideration.
“Here’s the deal with Meritt,” Cook said. “It’s just like every time she gets set, you expect her to kill the ball. When she doesn’t, it’s like ‘C’mon, Merritt.’”
Ally Batenhorst bounced back from a tough showing on Friday night to add 11 kills on .229 hitting and seven digs. Andi Jackson had seven kills on .467 hitting while Baka Allick added seven kills of her own and matched Beason with five blocks.
Bergen Reilly recorded another double-double with 43 assists (14.3 per set) and 12 digs while Lexi Rodriguez posted a match-high 16 digs.
“She did a nice job,” Cook said of Rodriguez.“All of our serving runs were off of her. She basically turned games around with her serving runs and set some great balls. We hit a huge number off her setting this weekend.”
Rutgers won the opening rally, but Nebraska responded with a 4-0 run and controlled the action the rest of the way in set one. The Huskers ripped off a 9-2 run at one point to blow the game open.
Beason set the tone with seven kills on 12 errorless swings as Nebraska hit .326 and held the Scarlet Knights to .075, recording 23 digs in the process.
After a clean first set, the Huskers dug themselves a hole with a few early errors in set two. Nebraska played from behind most of the set, briefly tying it up at 12-12 before Rutgers stretched the lead back to three at 18-15.
Beason hit long on the next rally, but Cook successfully challenged for a touch call to reverse the point, which sparked a 10-2 finish to the set to give the Huskers a 2-0 match lead.
Nebraska hit .318 behind nine more kills from Beason. Batenhorst bounced back from three early errors to total seven kills in the set. Rutgers hit .242 as the Scarlet Knights only committed the errors.
The Huskers opened the third set with three kills and two blocks (Beason and Allick accounted for all five points) for a 5-0 start and never looked back. The Huskers cruised through the set to complete the sweep with Batenhorst recording the final kill through the Rutgers block.
Nebraska only hit .222 but held Rutgers to .081 and just nine kills. Beason tacked on five more kills to top 20 for the fourth time this season including the third time in the last five matches.
The win capped a 2-0 weekend after the Huskers survived in Happy Valley, pulling off a reverse sweep at No. 16 Penn State Friday night (15-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-13).
The Nittany Lions blitzed the Huskers out of the gate with a blowout first set then held on for a deuce-game win to take a 2-0 lead. Penn State hit .552 in the first and .394 in the second as the Huskers had no defensive answers.
The match flipped during the intermission, however, as the Nittany Lions cooled off and Nebraska took control. The Cornhuskers limed the Nittany Lions to 21 total kills and .156 hitting in the third and fourth sets to set up a game five.
“They just played great,” Cook said during his pre-match radio interview on Sunday. “They played great the first two games, and if you look at it, as the match went on, their hitting percentage started coming down and we started doing a better job. They were playing great and there wasn’t much we could do; just weather the storm.”
The fifth set saw four ties, the last coming at 13-all after Penn State stuffed Beason. However, Nebraska got the sideout with a Harper Murray kill then the Huskers went back to Beason to close it out.
Beason out-dueled Penn State star Jess Mruzik with a career-high 27 kills on .426 hitting, five digs, three blocks and an ace as Nebraska hit .288 for the match. Murray added 15 kills on .379 hitting and 14 digs while the two middles, Allick and Jackson, combined for 20 kills on .385 hitting and eight blocks. Reilly (52 assists, 13 digs) and Rodriguez (13 digs, 11 assists) both recorded double-doubles.
“Anytime you get two big Ten wins on the road, it’s a great weekend,” Cook said. “We spent a lot of energy Friday night. That was a late night, we spent a lot of energy. I couldn’t sleep that night, I know the players we were talking to, nobody could go to sleep that night. And then we traveled the next day to Rutgers and tried to get back in a rhythm, but it’s hard.”
Penn State saw its largest home crowd in 20 years on Friday night (6,645) then Rutgers raised the bar on Sunday with a record crowd of 6,757, shattering its previous volleyball record of 1,907.
“I heard rumors there was going to be a big crowd here,” Cook said before the Rutgers match. “I don’t know if it’s Nebraska or Rutgers, but it’s great for volleyball. We broke a record Friday night at Penn State and you’re seeing this all across the country.”
Nebraska will face a quick turnaround after returning home as the Huskers will host Northwestern on Wednesday night.
