For the third time in the past six meetings, Creighton and Nebraska went the distance in the in-state showdown. Just like all the previous meetings, however, the Huskers found a way to come out on top.
In the first top-10 matchup between the two teams, No. 5 Nebraska (6-1) outlasted No. 9 Creighton (5-1) 25-19, 25-16, 31-33, 16-25, 15-10 in front of nearly 9,000 fans at the Devaney Center Tuesday night.
“It was a great match,” Coach John Cook said. “That’s totally what I was expecting tonight, a five-gamer, and Creighton’s a great team. They’ve got two special players in Kendra [Wait] and North Sis; those guys are really, really good and do a great job of leading that team. They play really hard. They’re hard to kill the ball on. I thought our team handled game five really, really well for our first fifth game. I thought they really played well in game five, especially when we needed it.
“As we talked about, when the big points come, we’re going to have to play our best, and they did in game five.”
Nebraska edged Creighton in hitting, .234 to .209. Bergen Reilly set a balanced attack with a career-high 57 assists and 13 digs.
Harper Murray led Nebraska with 16 kills, 14 digs, four blocks and an ace while Lindsay Krause added 15 kills, five blocks and an ace, though both pins hit below .200. Opposite Merritt Beason put forth her best effort of the season with 14 kills on .306 hitting and six digs.
Perhaps the biggest difference-maker for the Huskers was the play of the middle blockers, particularly Andi Jackson. The sophomore put up 15 kills on 29 swings (both career highs), hitting .379 and notching eight blocks. Rebekah Allick added nine kills on .333 hitting and three blocks.
“Our middles have got to have a major impact, and that’ll help everybody else,” Cook said. “Bergen is not afraid to set them, so I wanted her to set Andi every ball she could tonight because I thought Andi was doing some really nice things.”
Lexi Rodriguez led the defensive effort with 21 digs while Laney Choboy added 12.
Creighton star Norah Sis, the Papillion-La Vista product who missed last season’s match at the Devaney Center with an injury, led Creighton with a match-high 24 kills on .292 hitting, 11 digs and four blocks. Creighton’s other outside, Ava Martin, added 17 kills and 17 digs.
“I thought they played great,” Rodriguez said. “You have to give credit where it’s due and they’re a good team. I know they’re going to have an incredible season, and whenever we play each other, it’s always a battle. But that team’s definitely special this year, so I’m excited to see what they do this year as well.”
After trading points early in set one, Creighton ripped off a 9-2 run to build a 13-6 lead behind strong serving and floor defense. Creighton put a bit of pressure on the Huskers as the set went on, but the lead never dropped below four.
Nebraska recorded 21 digs and four blocks in the first set to hold the Bluejays to .100 hitting. Jackson led the way for Nebraska with four kills on seven errorless swings as the Huskers hit .250 overall.
Creighton used a 4-0 run early in set two to take its first lead of the night, but the Huskers responded with an 8-3 stretch to regain control at 12-8 then broke the game open with a 5-0 run for an 18-11 lead. The Huskers won six of the last seven rallies as well to carry momentum into the intermission.
“That was definitely as good as we’ve played,” Cook said. “And I just thought Creighton was playing great, but we just made about three or four more plays than they did in those first two games to get a little gap. I thought our serving was pretty good, and I thought our block was touching a lot of balls … Block and defense takes a lot of energy, and I thought that was the difference in the first two games.”
Nebraska held Creighton to .032 hitting in the set as the two middles, Jackson and Allick, notched four kills apiece.
“We kept talking to her, and Bergen is a very vocal setter, which I really appreciate and I know Rebekah appreciates it too,” Jackson said of the middles’ success in game two. “We had girls on the bench telling us what was open, obviously our coaches are always letting us know. And then even Rebekah and I were talking to each other like, ‘Hey, when you go up on this, this shot might be open.’”
The third set was tight early with eight ties and three lead changes, but the Huskers surged ahead late with a 5-0 run featuring four kills and a block for a 20-16 advantage. Nebraska looked well on its way to a sweep, but Sis had other plans, leading the charge to tie it up at 23-all.
From that point forward, each team had four opportunities to end the set to no avail. On their fifth try, the Bluejays finally broke through to extend the match as Sis and Martin notched back-to-back kills to win the longest rally in series history.
Sis dominated the set with 11 kills on 21 errorless swings while Martin provided additional firepower down the stretch. The third set featured 22 digs apiece for the two teams including 10 by Rodriguez herself. Late in the set, Creighton ran out of subs, resulting in the 5-foot-3 Laney Choboy playing in the front row.
“I think the biggest takeaway was just seeing how we could battle even when we were faced with a little bit of adversity,” Rodriguez said. “The lineup wasn’t exactly what we anticipated, and I thought it was pretty cool to see how our team came together and just found a way to keep getting points. I know we didn’t win the set, but we sure as heck battled through it.”
Creighton carried its momentum into the fourth set, ripping off five straight points to double up the Huskers at 16-8. Sis terminated on her first three swings to set the tone, and when Nebraska shut her down for the rest of the set, Martin took over.
Creighton rolled the rest of the way, outhitting Nebraska .306 to minus-.024 as the Huskers only mustered seven kills in the frame.
Nebraska found a way to lock back in heading into the fifth set, however, terminating eight times in the first 13 rallies to build a 9-4 lead.
“After that fourth set, it could have been really easy for us to just put our heads down and just see what happens, but there was just so much intention behind everyone’s attention to detail,” Rodriguez said. “I had no doubt that we were going to win that fifth set. I felt so much belief from everyone on the court, so it was a pretty cool feeling.”
Creighton trimmed the lead to three, but Nebraska won three of the last four rallies with kills from three different players to finish off the victory. The Huskers hit .444 with incredible balance as six different players recorded multiple kills.
Creighton was the first of four top-15 teams on Nebraska’s schedule over the final two weeks of nonconference play, and Cook said his team elevated its play to rise to the occasion.
“They’ve been waiting for a match like this, and we’ve got a whole lot more coming up,” Cook said.
