No. 2 Nebraska wrapped up the Husker Invitational with a 3-0, nearly wire-to-wire win over Montana State on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskers (5-1) swept the Bobcats (1-4) 25-19, 25-15, 25-10 in a match that lasted just 85 minutes and included one tie and no lead changes. Nebraska hit .400 and held Montana State to .128 to secure the victory.
After struggling with service errors in the previous two matches, the Huskers served up seven aces to just five errors on Saturday.
“Anytime you do that, that’s great,” Coach John Cook said. “I thought, for the most part tonight, we were attacking really well with our serve and really mixing it up, changing paces and locations. They had a hard time passing, even the balls they took with their hands, which is pretty nice by them, but those things are all super low, so you can’t run middle on that because the middle just don’t have time to get there. So I thought we really stressed them with serving tonight.”
Harper Murray led the Nebraska attack with 11 kills on .400 hitting, six digs, a season-high three aces and two blocks. Merritt Beason added eight kills on .278 hitting, five digs and one ace. Andi Jackson continued her efficient play with seven kills on nine errorless swings and is now hitting .523 on the season. Bergen Reilly dished out 37 assists and tied Lexi Rodriguez for team-high honors with eight digs.
Lindsay Krause (five kills, .417 hitting) and Rebekah Allick (six kills, .500 hitting) made the most of their playing time in the first two sets before Cook turned to transfers Taylor Landfair and Leyla Blackwell in the third.
“It was fun to play against Montana State,” Cook said. “They do some very creative things, really try to take advantage of their size by running really fast. Those hitters do a really nice job, and [Madilyn Siebler], she knows what she can do, and she did a really good job tonight hitting high off our hands. I thought they played really hard, and our players after the first game, kind of adjusted to playing against them, and then we kind of got into a nice rhythm and passed really well tonight, and did a good job.”
Siebler, an Omaha Westside alumna, tied for the Montana State team lead with seven kills on .296 hitting. The other Nebraska native on the Bobcats’ roster, Diller-Odell product Karli Heidemann, chipped in four kills.
Nebraska jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set but struggled to string together points the rest of the way. The Huskers didn’t pull away until a 3-0 run to close out the set.
Nebraska recorded just eight digs and two blocks in the set as Montana State hit .259. Both teams recorded 12 kills, but a five-point edge in service points proved to be the difference as Nebraska had two more aces and three fewer errors.
“We had our game plan and what we were going to take and try to stop, and they kind of did a good job of seeing it and going away from it,” Cook said. “We just missed some digs we should have had and you saw a lot of balls get blocked between us on our side of the net today; that’s just not being alert and being ready to go for their speed. It just took us a while to adjust to that, but they do a nice job. The setter does a nice job with that offense.”
The Huskers raced out to a 5-1 lead again in set two, but this time the Bobcats couldn’t hang around. Nebraska got rolling, blowing the game open with a 7-0 run featuring Reilly at the service line that put the Huskers up 17-7.
The Bobcats put together a run to trim the margin, but they never truly threatened as the Huskers closed it out for a 2-0 lead. Jackson finished the set with a kill on the slide, her fourth on five attempts in the frame after a quiet game one. Nebraska hit .316 and held Montana State to .067.
“Montana State was getting some kills in positions that we would typically not let them get kills, just as far as our block and our defense,” Krause said. “So I think we just picked that up a little bit. Our offense pretty much stayed the same, but we just picked up our defense. They run a quick offense, so that was kind of throwing off our block a little bit. But come second set, we got a little bit more comfortable.”
The third set featured plenty of changes with Cook emptying his bench (apart from freshman Skyler Pierce, who Cook said is considering a redshirt). Nebraska won six of the first eight rallies, then birthday girl Maisie Boesiger served a 7-0 run in her second appearance of the season to put the Huskers up 13-3.
“It’s so special,” Beason said. “Maisie gives so much day in and day out, not just physically and volleyball-wise, but emotionally. She’s always got a smile on her face, and she’s always positive, no matter what’s going on in her life. We kind of joke, because if Coach comes into practice and is maybe not in the best mood, and we do gratitude circle, we always pick Maisie because we know that she’s going to say something positive. And so the amount that she gives to our team is unmatched. So for her in general, but on her birthday too is extra special.”
Nebraska kept the pedal down the rest of the way, rolling to victory. Jackson put the finishing touches on the third set as Nebraska hit .571 and held Montana State to .069. After a slow start in the second set, Landfair settled in to match Murray with five kills in the third.
With two weeks of nonconference play in the books, the level of competition rises significantly as Nebraska will face four top-20 teams in the next two weeks, starting with No. 11 Creighton on Tuesday. The Bluejays swept Kansas State on Saturday and will head into Tuesday’s match in Lincoln with a 5-0 record.
