Husker Offense Sharp in Sweep at Iowa

CORALVILLE, Iowa - The No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team extended its win streak to 24 matches with a 25-9, 25-16, 25-17 victory in front of 3,933 at Xtream Arena on Wednesday night. 

Nebraska (27-1, 17-0 B1G) had six players post at least six kills in cruising to victory with a .472 hitting percentage, its best hitting percentage in a Big Ten match since 2017. Defensively, the Huskers were just as impressive, holding Iowa (10-19, 4-13 B1G) to .082 hitting thanks in part to nine blocks. 

Harper Murray recorded 11 kills and seven digs for the Big Red, and Taylor Landfair had seven kills and three blocks. Merritt Beason chipped in seven kills and three blocks, and Rebekah Allick terminated six kills and had five blocks. Andi Jackson provided seven kills on eight swings (.875), and Lindsay Krause contributed six kills on eight swings (.750). 

NU had decisive advantages in kills (50-25), digs (46-28) and blocks (9-1). Iowa served five aces and committed four errors, while Nebraska served four aces and had four errors. 

Bergen Reilly finished a full stat line of 41 assists, eight digs, three kills, three blocks and two aces. Lexi Rodriguez led all players with 11 digs. 

Set 1: A 4-0 run served by Olivia Mauch had the Huskers up 6-2. Allick started the Huskers off strong with two kills and two blocks. Beason, Murray and Jackson had consecutive kills as the Huskers went ahead 12-5. Two kills by Landfair and one from Murray increased NU's advantage to 16-7. Reilly dumped a kill, and Allick and Landfair combined for back-to-back blocks before a Landfair kill made it 21-9. Reilly's 9-0 service run to end the set included two more kills by Allick and one each by Landfair, Beason and Murray. Nebraska hit a blistering .630 in the 25-9 win and held Iowa to .000. 

Set 2: The Huskers were aced twice early on as the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 7-3 lead. Iowa committed a service error and Murray terminated from the back row before Landfair tooled a block to get within 7-6. Jackson and Landfair posted kills before Iowa hit wide to give Nebraska its first lead of the set at 9-8. Murray added a kill and Kennedi Orr served an ace before Reilly dumped another kill for a 12-8 lead. Allick, Beason and Landfair tacked on kills to push NU's lead to 17-11. Jackson pounded two kills and a block with Reilly, and Reilly served an ace to end a 25-16 Husker win. 

Set 3: Krause and Leyla Blackwell started the third set and registered back-to-back kills before an ace by Reilly made it 3-0. Kills by Murray and Beason and a solo block by Jackson put NU on top 8-5, and Reilly posted a kill before Murray served an ace and Krause terminated back-to-back kills as the Huskers built a 12-6 lead. Krause and Blackwell again tallied consecutive kills as the Huskers went up 17-10. Krause's sixth kill of the set made it 18-11, and Murray added another before a block by Beason and Blackwell put the Huskers up nine, 20-11. Blackwell, Jackson and Murray added kills as the Huskers finished off the sweep, 25-17.

Up Next: Nebraska hosts No. 6 Wisconsin on Saturday at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network and the Huskers Radio Network.