No. 5 Nebraska shut down No. 2 Stanford’s high-powered attack to sweep the Cardinal in dominant fashion Wednesday night.
The Huskers beat the Cardinal 25-17, 25-22, 25-14 to hand Stanford its first loss of the season — and first loss at the Devaney Center as the Cardinal won the previous three meetings in Lincoln.
“I thought the Huskers came out and played great tonight,” Coach John Cook said. “The crowd was really electric tonight, and I think when we made a couple of those defensive plays in the crowd, Harper [Murray] ran into the scorer’s table, I think it just went through the roof. We just felt the energy and I just thought our team came out attacking and attacked all three games and really wore them down in game three.”
Nebraska (9-1) hit .263 and held the Cardinal (7-1) — fourth in the country in hitting percentage at .313 heading into Wednesday — to a season-low .100. They forced star outside hitter Elia Rubin into eight attack errors as she joined three other Cardinal attackers with a sub-.070 hitting efficiency.
“Jaylen [Reyes] gave us a great game plan, and it was pretty spot on, and so we were very, very prepared,” Merritt Beason said. “I think we all did a really good job of sticking to that, and we knew what we needed to do to win. I think as a whole, every single person did their job, and so we did control that match, and it was because how good our game plan was and how detailed and attention-detailed we were throughout that entire match.”
A big part of Nebraska’s defensive success was the Huskers’ block as the Cardinal had a tough time finding seams all night. Nebraska finished with nine stuff blocks, but that figure doesn’t reveal the extent of the Huskers’ defensive impact at the net.
“I think that overall as a team, we blocked really, really well,” said Andi Jackson, who led Nebraska with five block assists. “And not even stuff blocks, in a sense, but more just touches. I think one of our things was just go out early and touch a lot of balls and get on their attackers early. Because as an attacker, it’s very defeating having someone touch a lot of your attacks, and so we knew that if we went out early and we could slow them down early, then it would really slow down their offense. So I think overall, as a group, just an amazing job and an amazing effort, block-wise.”
Jordan Harvey was third in the country in aces per set heading into the match, but the Nebraska blanked her in serve receive and allowed just two aces all night while forcing 10 errors. The Huskers had five aces themselves and only four errors.
“We came out serving tough,” Cook said. “Everybody talks about how tough Stanford serves, so I think for our team, we wanted to say, ‘Hey, we’re a good serving team too, and we, we did a really nice job with it, got them on their heels a little bit.”
Jackson led Nebraska with nine kills on .600 hitting while Lindsay Krause matched her with nine kills on .263 hitting. Beason chipped in eight kills, six digs and three blocks. Bergen Reilly finished with 27 assists, eight digs, four kills and two blocks in a battle between All-America setters while Lexi Rodriguez led the Huskers with nine digs and two aces.
Nebraska raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first set behind strong serving runs from Rodriguez and Beason. The Huskers continued to stifle the Stanford attack throughout the set, extending the lead to eight then trading sideouts the rest of the way to secure victory.
Nebraska hit .406 and held Stanford to .114, though the Cardinal spent much of the set at .000. Jackson and Krause had four kills apiece to pace the Husker attack.
Nebraska won eight of the first 10 rallies in set two aided by a pair of aces and a pair of Stanford service errors, but the Cardinal ripped off eight straight including two aces of their own to jump back in front, turning the game into a battle. The Huskers finally ended the run with a kill from Jackson, righting the ship and limiting damage the rest of the way.
“We knew they’re a good team, and we knew that they were going to make plays and they were going to go on runs,” Beason said. “We obviously didn’t really prepare for an 8-0 run, but we knew they were going to go on runs. And so coming into this match, I talked about FRS last week, how we were going to move on, and when they make really good plays how are we going to respond? Are we going to let them keep all the momentum or are we going to bounce back the next play?
“And it might have taken us eight to get there, but I think after we sided out in that rotation and we broke their run there, it didn’t feel like we had just lost am 8-0 run. And I think that was huge for us coming back and winning that second set.”
Nebraska used a 4-0 run late including back-to-back Jackson kills to take the lead for good before siding out every Stanford serve the rest of the way to take a 2-0 lead at the break. Beason delivered the set-point kill for the second straight game, her fourth of the frame.
“It’s huge, nothing beats it, and the crowd goes wild, no matter who it is, and so it’s awesome,” Beason said of terminating on set point in the Devaney Center. “But I think what’s making this team so special is every single attacker, and I’d throw Bergen in there as well, can do that on set point … I think that’s what’s making this team so special, is we’re so balanced, and Bergen’s doing a really good job spreading it out. I also have to give a lot of credit to the passers, because if we don’t pass, it’s a lot of an outside game. So I think as a unit, we’re passing well, Bergen’s distributing the offense, and attackers are doing what they’re supposed to do, so it is making us very hard to defend.”
Nebraska won despite hitting .093 with eight attack errors. The Cardinal hit .116 and had five service errors to Nebraska’s one.
The Huskers found their offense again in set three, jumping ahead early with a 5-1 run and steadily extending the lead from there. Nebraska led by as much as 13 following a 4-0 run featuring a pair of Murray aces before Krause stepped up to deliver the final kill, her fourth of the game.
Nebraska hit .400 and held Stanford to .062.
The Cornhuskers will have a few days to digest the top-five win and train before hitting the road to close out the nonconference slate at No. 4 Louisville on Sunday.
“You’re always looking for matches to help you believe and to see how they can play,” Cook said. “Of course, I tell them that all the time, what level we can play at, and they proved it tonight. Now, the challenge is going to be Sunday. How are we going to handle that? It’s going to be a morning match on the road, and they’re going to have a big crowd there, so we’re going to flip it. So this will be another great test for us.
“But these guys like playing against great teams, and they showed it tonight.”
