No. 2 Nebraska made short work of Northwestern on Wednesday night as both teams had to play without key pieces.
For Nebraska, Lindsay Krause missed the match with an ankle injury suffered in practice on Tuesday. The Wildcats were without one of the Big Ten’s kills leaders in outside hitter Julia Sangiacomo because of a knee injury.
The injuries dramatically changed the game plans for both sides, but the Huskers still prevailed 25-15, 25-16, 25-21 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“It was a bummer to have Lindsay out and then their big outside hitter out too,” Coach John Cook said during his post-match radio interview. “They changed their lineup and we prepared really hard to stop Julia. They came out, they ran a super fast offense … and it took us a while. I’m not sure we really adjusted to it. But I thought this was a really good effort on our part here. Teams struggle here. It’s a hard place to play and I thought it was a really good effort. Except for a couple of missed serves early on that we had back to back in row there I think, I think we did a really nice job tonight.”
With Ally Batenhorst stepping in for the injured Krause, Nebraska (18-0, 9-0 Big Ten) hit .395 behind big performances from both pins and the middles. Bergen Reilly dished out 38 assists and served two of Nebraska’s nine aces.
Merritt Beason led everyone with 13 kills on .323 hitting, seven digs and three aces. Harper Murray took over late to finish with 10 kills on .412 hitting, four aces and four digs. Bekka Allick and Andi Jackson combined for 16 kills on .737 hitting after the two had faced some offensive difficulties in recent matches
“We’ve been working hard on getting better at [setting the middles],” Cook said. “It starts with great set; Bergen’s got to put them in a good spot. Those guys have to run good routes and get in good position. So we’ve been working really hard on it and it paid off tonight.”
.Lexi Rodriguez led the defensive effort with nine kills and a pair of aces as the Huskers held the Wildcats (9-10, 3-6) to .141 hitting.
Northwestern blocked Allick on the first rally of the match, but she bounced back quickly to notch two kills and two blocks during a 6-0 Husker run. Nebraska extended its lead out to eight at 14-10 before a 4-0 Wildcat run, but another Allick kill sparked a 3-0 Husker run and Nebraska cruised through the rest of the set.
Nebraska hit .483 behind seven kills on 12 errorless swings from Beason and five kills on six swings from Allick. The Huskers served three aces and held thee Wildcats to .136 hitting.
Nebraska continued to give Northwestern fits from the service line in set two, jumping out to a 4-0 lead early. The Huskers played clean offensive volleyball throughout as they didn’t record their only error until their 23rd swing of the set. The Huskers led by as much as seven midway through the set then closed the game on a 5-1 run capped by a set-point ace from Reilly.
Nebraska hit .542 behind four kills apiece from Merritt and Jackson. The Huskers served three more aces and held Northwestern to .161 hitting.
After a couple of ties early, Nebraska created some separation with a 4-1 run featuring a pair of kills from Murray, who was quiet in the first two sets. The Wildcats pulled within one three different times before tying it up once again at 15-15. After three straight sideouts, Nebraska pulled away again with a 3-0 run featuring back-to-back kills off the block from Murray.
Northwestern pulled within one last time at 22-21, but Nebraska closed the match out with three straight points including kills from Jackson and Batenhorst.
Nebraska cooled off a bit, hitting .212 with seven attack errors (after four in the first two sets combined), but the Huskers held the Wildcats to .125. Murray went off for eight kills on 11 swings in game three.
“We prepared really well,” Cook said. “We had a really good practice today. They just seemed really dialed in and focused. So that was, like I said, a nice effort and we did some really nice things.”
No. 1 Wisconsin also swept Ohio State on Wednesday, which sets up a clash of the unbeatens on Saturday when the Badgers visit Lincoln.
