The Devaney Center gave former Husker Ally Batenhorst a warm welcome, but the Huskers weren’t nearly as nice to her USC team as No. 2 Nebraska swept the No. 20 Trojans on Sunday to close out week one of Big Ten play.
Nebraska picked up its sixth top-25 win of the season with a 25-18, 25-22, 25-16 sweep of the Trojans, hitting .245 and holding USC to .137.
“This was kind of just a weird match to play with Tyler [Hildebrand] over there and Ally, and you see the how close Ally still is to all these guys,” Coach john Cook said. “And it just was weird. USC came out, had a great game plan … but I thought we did a great job of adjusting. We held them to zero the last game, so really proud of our team for that …
“Any win you get 3-0 in the Big Ten is a relief, and it’s a great effort, because these teams are so good and they’re so talented. So nice job by our team tonight, and our crowd was great tonight. There was a lot of buzz in the air tonight; you could feel it down there.”
Batenhorst transferred to USC after graduating from Nebraska in three years. She received a loud and extended ovation during starting lineup announcements, and some fans showed their appreciation throughout the match when she made a big play. She finished with a match-high 13 kills on .242 hitting and nine digs in her return to Lincoln.
“Even though she was from Texas, she’s a Nebraska girl,” Cook said. “Her mom and dad are from Nebraska. Her dad’s family farm’s up in northeast Nebraska. She’s a Husker, and I think people loved watching her play. She did a great job on social media, and then you can see how tight she still is with our players. So there’s just an emotional connection there, and she trained with us all spring.
“She’s part of our family, and so I think our fans know that, and they rewarded her for that. I felt bad for her because trying to go through all that and then play, but she played great. So good for her; you can’t prepare for that. There’s no taking classes to prepare for that kind of moment.”
Batenhorst fought back tears during the ovation from the fans, then showed the emotion again when Lexi Rodriguez, Harper Murray and Kennedi Orr delivered a mini volleyball featuring notes from everybody on the team to her.
“It was great,” Murray said. “Ally is one of my best friends and I still talk to her every weekend. We kind of have a time set up every Sunday to talk. So it was really nice to see her, and we got to see her last night too. It was great that she got to come here and play against us, because obviously Husker nation gave her a really warm welcome. I know she was excited, and it was kind of emotional for her, but I think it was really fun.”
The emotions bubbled up again for Batenhorst after the match when she was discussing the ovation and gift from her former teammates.
“I think everyone saw me cry; that was cool,” Batenhorst said. “I was just completely overwhelmed with just joy and so much support. I’m going to cry again talking about it. It was just really great to see everyone. It was just amazing, and Husker nation is so sweet, and it means so much to me … [The volleyball] was so cute, and they wrote little notes on it. It just means the world to me. I love them.”
Murray led the Huskers with 12 kills on .259 hitting and two aces. Merritt Beason added 11 kills on .250 hitting, nine digs and an ace. Rodriguez posted a match-high 13 digs while Bergen Reilly finished with 33 assists, eight digs, three kills (on three attacks) and an ace.
As a team, Nebraska served four aces with eight errors while allowing just one ace. The Trojans misfired 13 times from the service line.
USC entered the weekend third in the country in blocking at 3.17 per set, yet the Huskers limited the Trojans to 2.5 blocks for the entire match.
“It’s hard to block you if you’re hitting high and hard, but I think going into this match, we knew that our balanced offense was going to put a test to that,” Beason said. “So it was just being us and being Harper and being Merritt, and we knew Bergen was going to get us in good situations and good scenarios, and then just doing what we do every single day. That’s what makes our team so special right now is how balanced we are. It makes it very hard to defend.”
Nebraska jumped out to a 6-3 lead early aided by three Trojan service errors plus a Beason ace, but USC tied it up with three straight including back-to-back Batenhorst kills. Nebraska responded with a 7-2 run to draw USC’s first timeout at 13-8.
The Huskers ripped off another run late — eight straight with Murray serving — to earn set point. The Trojans didn’t go down easily, scoring six straight to extend the set, but Lindsay Krause finally finished it off with a swing through the block and down.
Nebraska hit .364, despite a few late errors, and held USC to .192, though Batenhorst posted a match-high six kills on .364 hitting.
The second set saw more back-and-forth play than the first with eight ties and four lead changes in the first 17 rallies before the Trojans managed to create a bit of separation at 10-8, then 13-10. Nebraska settled in, however, firing off a 5-0 run with Olivia Mauch at the service line to take a 21-18 lead.
Nebraska traded sideouts the rest of the way to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission as USC’s seventh service error of the night ended the set. After taking just one swing (an error out of the back row) in the first set, Murray went off for nine kills on 15 swings in the second as Nebraska out-hit .262 to .205.
“We were talking about it, my energy was a little off, and I don’t know if that was because I had one set or whatever it was,” Murray said. “Bergen and I were able to establish the connection better in the second set. I just don’t think there were many opportunities to get me the ball and we were kind of rolling in the first set. So I don’t really think it matters, but I think it definitely helped in the second set for me to get on a roll.”
The third set looked much like the second early on with six ties through the first 13 rallies, but the Huskers turned it into a rout by outscoring USC 12-3 over the next 15 points. USC’s service woes continued down the stretch with three more errors (including one on match point) as Nebraska cruised to the sweep.
Nebraska limited USC to five kills and .000 hitting in the third set.
The Huskers were one of six Big Ten teams to go 2-0 during the first weekend of conference play. They’ll look to build on that start next week with their first Big Ten road match at Illinois Thursday.
