LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Three points away. That’s how close Nebraska volleyball was to a return to the national championship. Leading 22-16, three more plays were all the Huskers needed, but they couldn’t find a way to make them.
Instead, it was the Nittany Lions who shined in the pivotal moments on the biggest stage —in front of a semifinal record 21,726 fans, the majority of whom were in red — and Nebraska’s season is over as a result.
“We had that lead in game four, and we hit a couple balls to the libero, and they transitioned,” Coach John Cook said. “They got a couple aces, and we just didn’t make a couple plays. Just a couple plays from finishing that thing off. It was a great match by both teams. It’s a bummer somebody had to lose it.”
After 103 consecutive postseason wins when leading 2-0, Penn State pulled off a reverse sweep at the KFC Yum! Center Thursday night to advance to the championship.
Penn State sent Nebraska home with a 23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-13 win.
Harper Murray carried a heavy load with 20 kills, 15 digs, six blocks and three aces. Andi Jackson set a new career high with 19 kills on .630 hitting and five blocks.
The best player on the floor was wearing Penn State blue, however. Nebraska held All-America outside hitter Jess Mruzik to .000 hitting in the regular season meeting, then they contained her in the first two sets on Thursday as well with six kills and four errors. It’s hard to keep a great player down forever, however, and Mruzik came alive in the final three sets to will her team to victory.
She finished with a match-high 26 kills on .300 hitting, with 20 of those kills (and just one error) coming in the final three sets.
“Tremendous performance by Jess,” Cook said. “She hit some shots we had no answer for … It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by an outside hitter. Finding ways to make kills, hitting off our block, hitting really sharp cross-court. She willed that team and made some great plays.”
Nebraska out-hit Penn State .262 to .242 overall. The Huskers out-blocked the Nittany Lions 15 to 10 and out-dug them 72 to 66. Penn State, however, went 3-1 in deuce games and controlled the action in the clutch. The Nittany Lions took big swings in end-game situations, and Nebraska couldn’t find a way to do the same.
Rebekah Allick had eight kills on .353 hitting and 10 blocks (two solo). Bergen Reilly finished with 55 assists and 15 digs. Lexi Rodriguez matched her with 15 digs, breaking Justine Wong-Orantes’ career digs record in the third set. She finished her career with 1,897 digs.
However, Taylor Landfair and Merritt Beason combined for 18 kills on .190 hitting while former Husker Caroline Jurevicius set a new career high with 20 kills on .286 hitting, besting the 18 kills she had against Nebraska during the regular season.
Penn State got off to a sloppy start with three early errors as the Huskers jumped out to a 4-1 lead, which they extended to 12-7 midway through. Penn State settled in from there and the Huskers began to break down in serve receive and setting as the Nittany Lions put together a 9-2 run, with Nebraska’s only points coming on service errors.
The set went back and forth from there before Penn State jumped ahead 23-21. Then Jackson took over at the net while Beason applied pressure from the service line. Nebraska closed on a 4-0 run including three Jackson kills and a Beason ace.
Jackson terminated on six of her eight swings as Nebraska hit .273 and held Penn State to .222. The first set saw 10 ties and six lead changes as Camryn Hannah and Jurevicius notched five kills apiece.
The second set wasn’t nearly as competitive as the Nebraska middles dominated throughout. The Huskers used an 8-1 run including four blocks to build a 16-8 lead midway through. The Nittany Lions fired back with four straight to cut their deficit in half, but Nebraska maintained the gap the rest of the way.
The Huskers hit .400 and held the Nittany Lions to .098 thanks largely to seven blocks. Jackson terminated on all five of her swings to lead the Huskers again while Allick notched five blocks, including another solo stuff. Jurevicius totaled another five kills, but Nebraska held Hannah in the negative.
Penn State cleaned up its attack in the third set enough to extend the match. The Nittany Lions used a 5-0 run to take a 13-10 lead before Murray terminated, then extended the advantage to four at 15-11.
Nebraska rallied to within one twice, but Penn State won two of the last three points including an errant Murray attack on set point to close it out.
Penn State hit .277 with just two errors, both on blocks. Nebraska hit .245 with six errors, including four unforced. Jurevicius added six more kill to her tally while Mruzik came alive with five. Murray led Nebraska with seven while Jackson added five, giving her a new career high with 16 through three sets.
“It felt like she had a hundred kills, I’ll tell you that … Andi Jackson is an exceptional player,” Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said. “I’m just glad we snuck out of that one.”
The fourth set was a game of wild swings. Penn State jumped out to a 6-2 lead, Nebraska tied it at 11-11, Penn State pulled ahead 15-12 then the Huskers ripped off a 10-1 run featuring three aces and a kill from Murray.
The Huskers gave it all back, however. A 6-1 run trimmed the lead to one before Allick gave Nebraska match point with a kill. The Huskers couldn’t capitalize, however. Penn State responded with a 3-0 run including a Gillian Grimes ace to turn the tables. Nebraska saved two match points, but the Nittany Lions finally broke through on their third attempt with a Hannah kill.
Penn State hit .267 behind nine kills from Mruzik and held Nebraska to .135. The Huskers only got Jackson four swings as Penn State upped its service pressure and forced nearly half Nebraska’s sets to Murray, three of which resulted in blocks as the Nittany Lions keyed on her.
“I think credit where credit is due, they’re a great defensive team, and they showed that tonight,” Jackson said. “They adjusted really well on their block, and they picked up a lot of our swings, and I think that that was a huge factor for them.”
Tied at 2-2 in the fifth set, Nebraska committed three straight errors — one service, one serve receive and one attack — to give Penn State the lead, and the Huskers had to play chase the rest of the way. The Penn State lead peaked at 12-8 before Nebraska rallied to cut it to one at 14-13 on a Kennedi Orr ace, but the Nittany Lions passed the next serve and Hannah terminated to complete the reverse sweep.
Mruzik put a cap on a masterful performance with six kills on eight swings in the fifth. Penn State hit .471 with one error while Nebraska committed three errors and hit .350.
The Huskers’ season ends at 33-3, with two of those losses coming to the Nittany Lions. Penn State will face Louisville on Sunday for the national title.
“That was a great match,” Cook said. “I’ve got to give Penn State a lot of credit. I thought we put them away in Game 4, and they found a way to win that game, carried a lot of momentum into Game 5 … Again, hat’s off. Penn State beat us twice this year, so they deserve it.”
