No. 2 Nebraska volleyball secured its 20th straight victory on Thursday night by sweeping No. 12 Oregon in Eugene.
The Huskers beat the Ducks 25-12, 26-24, 25-18 in front of a program record crowd of 8,566 fans, many of whom were dressed in red.
“Last Sunday, Northwestern broke an attendance record,” Coach John Cook told Big Ten Network. “They just broke an attendance record here tonight. I have to give a shoutout to all the Nebraska fans; it’s pretty cool. I had no idea we had this many Nebraska fans in Oregon. Great environment, great gym to ply in and this was a fun match. Oregon’s a great team.”
Nebraska (23-1, 13-0 Big Ten) hit .278 and held Oregon to .133. The Ducks (17-5, 9-4) were without defensive specialist Daley McClellan — who is second on the team in digs per set and one of their best passers — and opted to switch from their normal 5-1 offense to a 6-2. Roberta Purashaj split the setting duties with Cristin Cline, but the change-up didn’t prove fruitful.
“I’m looking at our schedule when I got it in July, whenever we got it, and I’m like, ‘OK, this is going to be the really tough match,’ because going to Wisconsin, Northwestern on a Sunday, here on a Thursday, and I’m like, ‘This is a setup match right here,’” Cook said on the Huskers Radio Network. “Oregon’s been playing at home for the last three matches, I think. Of all the setup matches, this was the one, and I’m just really proud of our team, how hard they fought tonight, how gritty they were.”
The left sides carried the load for the Huskers offensively. Harper Murray notched a double-double with 14 kills on .414 hitting, 10 digs and one ace. Taylor Landfair nearly matched her with 13 kills on .407 hitting.
“Maybe they were so focused on Merritt [Beason] and the middles that those guys had a lot of split blocks,” Cook said. “They did a really good job of mixing it up and jamming and throwing and hitting. Harper tooled high-line several times, which was awesome, especially at the end of game two there. That was a big girl hit. As we say, high line, you’re a goddess so. But they were feeling it a little bit tonight.”
Bergen Reilly finished with 33 assists, nine digs, three kills and one ace while Lexi Rodriguez recorded 14 digs, taking sole possession of second place on Nebraska’s career list. The Huskers served four aces without an error.
Nebraska used runs of 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0 to build an 18-8 lead in set one. The Huskers terminated on 11 of their first 15 attacks as Landfair was responsible for five of them herself. The Huskers cruised from there, closing the set on a 3-0 run including a kill and a solo block from Andi Jackson for the final two points.
Nebraska hit .476 and held Oregon to minus-.031, scoring 19 of the last 25 points. Landfair and Murray combined for nine kills on 12 errorless swings.
The second set was much more difficult. The Oregon block came alive with five stuffs in game two after none in the first set, pushing Nebraska to extra points. The frame saw 11 ties and three lead changes.
Nebraska earned three set points, with Oregon saving two of them. On the third attempt, Oregon threw up a triple block against Murray, but the sophomore tooled the outside arm to pull out the set.
The Ducks narrowly out-hit the Huskers, .125 to .100 with one less attack error. However, two service errors from the Ducks offset that advantage and Murray accounted for five of Nebraska’s 14 kills.
The back-and-forth play continued into the third set with three ties and a lead change in the first 22 rallies, setting up an 11-11 knot. Then Beason took over, recording three kills and a block assist during a 6-0 run that an including Olivia Mauch’s second ace to give Nebraska control of the set at 17-11.
The Huskers used a 5-1 run to extend the lead to 23-15. Oregon scored a few kills late, but Landfair closed it out with a pair of big kills. Nebraska volleyball got back to its clean play in the third, hitting .405 with just two errors as the two left-side hitters notched five kills apiece.
“It’s nice coming to Oregon and Washington,” Murray told Big Ten Network. “We hadn’t played here before and it’s a tough environment to play in. We really tried to focus on playing with us and what was going on on the court, because this is a hard gym to play in for sure and we didn’t know what to expect coming into it. I thought we did a really good job of just focusing on each other and playing for each other.”
The Huskers will complete their Pacific Northwest road trip at Washington on Saturday. The Huskies (18-5, 8-5) upset No. 14 Minnesota 3-1 in Minneapolis on Thursday night. Washington’s leading attacker, Kierstyn Barton, did not play as an injury continues to sideline her, but junior Emoni Bush picked up the slack with 19 kills and 12 digs.
First serve is set for 9:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
