Even without Andi Jackson, a strong middle attack powered No. 2 Nebraska to a sweep over Iowa on Sunday afternoon.
The Cornhuskers improved to 39-0 all time against Iowa and 4-0 to start Big Ten play with a 25-17, 25-11, 25-13 victory at the Devaney Center. The middle blockers combined for 16 kills on .640 hitting.
“It’s always a good day when I talk to our middles and setters about ‘We’re going to run middle tonight,’ and they go out and do it,” Coach John Cook said. “So I thought we did a super job on that. Iowa came out playing really well, and we made some adjustments and really took care of business from then on. So really good effort by our team on a Sunday and another great effort by our fans, they were really good today.”
The Huskers (14-1) started transfers Taylor Landfair and Leyla Blackwell again as Jackson, the standout sophomore, missed her second straight match with an injury, but the team didn’t miss a beat. Nebraska swept Illinois on the road with the same lineup on Thursday.
“I keep telling them, just as a coach, I’m really proud,” Cook said. “Because, first of all, you’re just trying to get a team to play great as a team, and now, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. Everybody’s pretty much playing, and we call it ‘With each other, for each other,’ and it’s very, very obvious that’s what’s happening. That’s really hard to get a team to do that, and I’m just really proud of how they’re doing that. You can see it, our fans can see it, and it’s great job by our team. I gave our captains afterward in there that, they had the team ready to play today. It starts with leadership, and that’s Merritt [Beason] and Lexi [Rodriguez].”
Beason led the Huskers with 10 kills on .400 hitting, but it was the middles who stole the show. Allick finished with nine kills on .583 hitting and three blocks while Blackwell stepped up with nine kills on .692 hitting and two blocks. The San Diego transfer also put up seven kills on .429 hitting and three blocks against the Illini on Thursday.
“She could have just kind of gone through the motions, just trying to not make too much noise, not cause too many errors, but instead, she makes statements,” Allick said of Blackwell. “I think that says a lot about our program, that we’re all just hungry to get on the court, and we’re always grateful to be on the court as well.”
Bergen Reilly dished out 35 assists and had four different attackers hit .350 or better. Rodriguez led the defensive effort with 12 digs, three aces and three assists. Harper Murray chipped in seven kills on .353 hitting and two aces as the Huskers served up seven aces with just one error as a team.
“They were amazing,” Blackwell said of the Husker servers. “I think we were talking in the locker room, they were seven aces, one error, which is phenomenal. And when they’re serving the ball like they are, it makes our job a whole lot easier. They’ve just been working really hard, so it was amazing.”
Conversely, Nebraska did not give up an ace while the Hawkeyes served six errors. Nebraska hit .404 on offense and finished with an 81.4% sideout rate while holding Iowa to .155 hitting. The Huskers took care of business in just 79 minutes.
“I think it was the same as it always was,” Allick said of the team’s focus. “I can understand about the timing, the team, the ranking and all of that, but it just goes back to who we are as a program, that despite who’s across the net, we’re always holding ourselves to a really high standard. And so as long as we’re playing Nebraska volleyball, that’s all that really matters.”
Reilly set her middles early and often in set one as the Huskers pulled away midway through the set. Following a 10-10 tie, Nebraska put together a 13-4 run to take firm control. The Hawkeyes earned a few points back down the stretch, but Allick closed out the set on an overpass smash.
Allick put down five kills on six attempts while Blackwell added four kills on five swings. Beason terminated five times herself as Nebraska hit .333 overall and held Iowa to .212.
“I think it’s just really exciting, just to be able to see how hard our passers are working, and then obviously we have Bergen Reilly setting the ball, and she just gives the all the hitters so many opportunities,” Blackwell said. “So just when we’re in that flow, it’s really fun for everyone to just take advantage of that and all the great opportunities they’re giving us.”
The Huskers didn’t waste any time in set two, using two separate 5-0 runs (the second of which featured five straight Hawkeye errors) to open an 11-3 advantage. Nebraska then used a 4-0 run including Landfair’s first two kills of the match to extend the lead to 10 before cruising into the intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The middles added six more kills on a combined nine swings as Nebraska hit .542 in set two. Rodriguez added two more aces as Nebraska held Iowa to .167.
Lindsay Krause started the third set in place of Landfair. Nebraska used runs of 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0 to build a double-digit lead and turn the third set into another rout. In a fitting conclusion, Allick recorded the final point with a solo stuff.
“That was pretty good, that felt pretty good,” Allick said. “I was reading her, like, ‘Man, I’m feeling like she’s going to go cross-body, but yeah, I snagged her right up the middle. So that felt pretty good.”
Nebraska hit .385 and held Iowa to .088 in the third. Krause terminated on five of her six attacks to lead the Huskers.
The Huskers swept Illinois 25-18, 25-22, 25-17 in Champaign on Thursday. Landfair started alongside Blackwell in that one as well and put together two productive sets before slowing down in the third, finishing with seven kills on .179 hitting as Krause, who has started most of the season, replaced her to finish the match.
Krause is hitting .232 on the season while Landfair is at .297 on roughly half the attempts, though she’s hit under .200 in three of her four starts.
“Just trying to get somebody to be comfortable in that position,” Cook said. “She did some nice things in Illinois and you just can’t yank people in and out all the time. So just trying to get one of those guys to really get going. Lindsay came in, did a really nice job tonight. So I don’t know if there’s pressure when you start or what, but will just keep working it.”
Beason also led the Huskers against the Illinois with 10 kills on .350 hitting and seven blocks while Murray wasn’t far behind with nine kills on .348 hitting and 11 digs. Nebraska recorded 12 blocks, all in the last two sets, and Allick was in on nine of them.
Cook addressed Jackson’s undisclosed injury and status moving forward after the Iowa match.
“She’s day-to-day, so hopefully she’s back this week …” Cook said. “I don’t know, I haven’t really talked to her, but I know she’s rehabbing really hard, so when you’re doing that, that means you’re close.”
Nebraska will take Monday off before preparing for another home weekend as Purdue and Rutgers visit the Devaney Center for week three of Big Ten Play.
