No. 5 Nebraska volleyball made short work of Wichita State on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the Nebraska Classic.
The Huskers swept the Shockers 25-13, 25-12, 25-12 in a 75-minute match at the Devaney Center to improve to 8-1.
Nebraska hit a season-high .477 with all three pins plus Andi Jackson hitting over .400. The Huskers held the Shockers (3-6) to .096 hitting and recorded 23 more kills.
“Hitting .477, that’ll do us good,” Bergen Reilly said. “But I think just we played a great overall game today. Our serving was great, our defense was great, we were up in [transition]. I think we did everything right, and that was a big thing for us coming into today was paying attention to detail and not dropping off after a big top-15 win last night. So I think we did a really good job of staying focused and staying disciplined.”
With the Huskers playing their third match in five days, Coach John Cook mixed up his lineup, giving Taylor Landfair her first start at the Devaney Center (and second of the season) and Leyla Blackwell her first start as a Husker. Lindsay Krause and Rebekah Allick did not play.
“I thought we played really clean today,” Cook said. “I was really proud of them for being able to insert two new starters and we didn’t miss a beat. I thought we were really focused for the whole match, and it was really clean volleyball. This could have been a let-down match for us; we didn’t practice this morning, we didn’t prepare, but I thought we did a really good job, and fun match to watch.”
Reilly dished out 35 assists with 10 digs and three kills while Lexi Rodriguez added eight digs and five assists.
Harper Murray recorded her second double-double of the season with 14 kills on .542 hitting, 11 digs and one ace to lead the way. Merritt Beason continued her strong play with 10 kills on .471 hitting and two aces. Jackson matched her with 10 kills on .600 hitting.
“It feels great,” Reilly said of the team’s offensive balance. “It feels like I can do anything and it’ll be a good outcome. That’s something that Nebraska volleyball prides ourselves on, is just having that depth where everybody can come in and get us a kill, and I think that we proved that today.”
Landfair finished with nine kills on .412 hitting with three blocks while Blackwell chipped in four kills on .375 hitting and three blocks.
“We’ve got a team with a lot of players that can play, and I want to continue to give them opportunities,” Cook said. “We’re going to face this in the Big Ten a couple times where we’ve got to play back-to-back, on the road, traveling and just there’s going to be nights where we’ve got those guys and we’re going to need them. They’re good players, they can help us win. I think with Taylor, she’s trying to figure out Husker volleyball and our team and everything, and Leyla same thing. Those guys work really hard, and they’re great in practice, and they deserve opportunity.”
Nebraska raced out to a 6-1 lead behind a hot start from Landfair and continued to roll throughout the set. Murray joined the party as the Huskers dominated from the left pin, building up a double-digit lead before Murray closed out the set with an ace.
Landfair led the way with five kills on .500 hitting and Murray added four on .375 as Nebraska hit .393 as a team and held the Shockers to .026.
“It was so fun, just being able to be out there, especially with such an amazing crowd and so much support with all my teammates and also the crowd,” Landfair said. “So it was just fun … I’m just playing for my teammates, just going out there and doing everything I can to get the next point for all these guys, because I am playing for them. I just love being able to be out there, no matter whether I’m playing or on the sideline. It doesn’t really matter, I’m still going to be a great teammate, great cheerleader for all of them, just because I care about them so much and I’m just here for all of them.”
Nebraska won six of the first seven rallies again in game two to set the tone and continued to operate at a high level throughout. Wichita State burned through two timeouts in the first 24 rallies as Nebraska built a 10-point lead before cruising to the finish.
The Huskers committed just one attack error in the set and hit .533 as all three pins produced at an efficient rate.
Wichita State kept the third set close early, but the Husker firepower proved to be too much as Rodriguez served an 8-0 run to blow the game open. After missing Tuesday’s match against Creighton with an illness, Maisie Boesiger checked in and served the final two points of the match, both resulting in kills from Jackson.
Nebraska hit .500 in the set with Jackson going 6-for-6 while Murray and Beason notched five kills apiece. Wichita State hit .086 with seven kills as a team.
The final week of the nonconference slate will feature a pair of top-five teams as No. 2 Stanford visits the Devaney Center on Wednesday before the Huskers return to Louisville to face the No. 4 Cardinals on Sunday.
