No. 2 Nebraska bounced from a disappointing end in set three to dispatch UCLA in Friday night’s Big Ten opener.
The win was the 700th of Coach John Cook’s Nebraska career. The program recognized his 25th year in Lincoln by handing out Cook bobbleheads to the 8,846 fans at the Devaney Center and playing messages on the video board from former players during breaks.
“I blocked it all out,” Cook said. “I didn’t even know this was the 700th win, so I didn’t know that. Of course, we did all the bobble things a couple days ago … This is how I look at it: our marketing department is doing a great job of making everything fun for our fans, for our team, for the University of Nebraska athletic department. They’re doing some really fun things … They’re doing a great job of connecting people with our program, and so hats off to them.”
On the court, Nebraska (11-1) handed new conference foe UCLA (6-4) its first Big Ten league loss 25-22, 25-10, 23-25, 25-22. The Huskers looked well on their way to an easy sweep before the Bruins rallied to make Nebraska earn the win in game four.
“I thought it was a typical Big Ten match,” Cook said. “You can take nothing for granted. It’s never over until it’s over and that’s the way it’s going to be for the next 10 weeks. I thought UCLA played great in game three and took all the momentum away from us. You can lose it that fast, just like you can get it that fast. But we responded well in game four and I thought we played good volleyball and then really turned it up there at the end.”
Taylor Landfair came off the bench to post a Nebraska career-high 13 kills on .414 hitting and four blocks.
“One of my favorite things about having her on the court is just her demeanor,” Rebekah Allick said of Landfair. “So whether it’s after an error or after a kill, it could be a bounce or tip, it’s just the same girl every time. And so she just kind of provides that stability, especially when teams go on those kinds of runs. But getting those kinds of numbers and kills is always awesome. It’s always exciting to have that; it just shows the talent on our team.”
Andi Jackson tied Landfair for the team lead with 13 kills on .409 hitting and six blocks. Allick matched Jackson with six blocks of her own (two solo) and added seven kills on .538 hitting. Nebraska hit .246 overall.
The Bruins entered the night 22nd in the country in hitting percentage but Nebraska held them to a season-low .153. Lexi Rodriguez led the way with a season-high 20 digs while Olivia Mauch added eight.
“Lexi Rodriguez, dude, she’s a machine,” Allick said. “I’m replaying this one dig in particular. I can’t remember who hit it, but just her composure — she is a veteran through and through. We’re known for our defense. We’ve been known for our defense for, honestly, probably a couple decades at this point, but we just realized that having those valuable touches, converting those touches into plays and kills and stuff like that, is huge.”
Neither side was able to create much separation throughout the first set. Both teams sided out at an incredibly high rate early on before they traded 4-0 runs midway through. After two early attack errors from Lindsay Krause, Cook turned to Landfair on the left side.
The back-and-forth play continued, but Nebraska used three straight kills to take the lead for good late in the set then held off the Bruins from there. Jackson gave Nebraska set point with a slide kill then a successful challenge from Cook gave Nebraska its last point.
The set included seven ties and five lead changes. Nebraska hit .317 and held UCLA to .216. Jackson and Murray led the way with four kills apiece while Landfair added three on five swings.
“I’m just taking every single point as it is, just because nothing’s guaranteed at Nebraska and it shouldn’t be,” Landfair said. “So just making sure that, when I am in, just taking advantage of it, and Coach always says, ‘Be the game-changer.’ So that’s my mindset, just because I am playing for all these guys, and I just care about them so much, and I just want us to be able to be as successful as we can be. Just making sure that I’m always locked in, always focused and just giving as much as I can at any given point.”
Landfair started the second set and delivered a kill on the first rally. The Huskers used a 4-0 run to open up a 7-2 lead and never looked back, rolling to an easy victory. Rodriguez served a 7-0 run midway through to open up a 21-8 lead.
Nebraska hit a blistering .611 in the set whole holding UCLA to minus-.033 in a dominant showing.
“We were playing great, and that’s how we played all last week,” Cook said. “One hundred percent [sideout], you can’t really get any better. But that’s the sport of volleyball. Last game doesn’t matter. Last point really doesn’t matter. It’s all about the next point, and that was a good example of it tonight.”
The Nebraska offense continued to fire on all cylinders in the third set with a 6-2 start that stretched out to a 10-5 advantage. UCLA briefly battled back to within three with a pair of kills, but the Huskers responded with a 7-2 run to reassert control.
The Bruin block and defense came alive late, however, as Nebraska fell into a rut and couldn’t climb out of it. UCLA ripped off 10 straight points with Kat Lutz serving to take the lead. Nebraska burned through two timeouts during the run but couldn’t find an answer. It only came to an end when Lutz missed her 10th serve, and the Bruins earned the sideout immediately to extend the match to a fourth set.
“It was a total loss of focus,” Cook said. “We stopped passing the ball, stopped setting middle, couldn’t kill the ball. Bergen was putting up some tough sets to try to kill. So we just lost all of our rhythm and momentum. That’s thinking the game’s over and we’re just going to roll. Hopefully we learn a really good lesson tonight.”
Nebraska was hitting north of .400 two-thirds of the way through the set yet finished at .102. UCLA hit .170.
Nebraska had to regroup quickly, because the fourth set turned into a fight that saw four lead changes and five ties, the last of which came at 18-18. UCLA missed its serve after knotting it up, then Landfair delivered a kill to put the Huskers in front by two, The teams traded sideouts the rest of the way until Nebraska earned match point at 24-22. The Huskers then slammed the door shut with a block from Landfair and Jackson.
UCLA out-hit Nebraska .209 to .176 with five more kills, but the Huskers benefitted from six Bruin service errors.
Nebraska will get a practice day Saturday before returning to the Devaney Center to host No. 20 USC on Sunday night. The Trojans outlasted Ohio State in five in their Big Ten Opener Friday night in Los Angeles. Former Husker Ally Batenhorst led USC with 15 kills
First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
