Minneapolis, Minn. – The Nebraska volleyball team completed the spring season with its most impressive effort to date, sweeping Minnesota (25-23, 25-23, 25-23, 23-17, 15-11) in an exhibition match Saturday afternoon.
“To be able to win all five games, two things stood out,” Nebraska Coach John Cook said. “We were able to play everyone, and they did a great job of working together on the court. To come in here and play well against a quality team showed our ability to handle different situations. More importantly, we played our best volleyball at the end of games, and that was something we had not done all spring. When we got to 22 points, we reached a higher level and that is something we can build on as we move forward.”
The Huskers relied on a balanced attack in their 6-2 offense, as Hannah Werth’s 14 kills led four players in double figures. Right side hitters Morgan Broekhuis and Lindsey Licht combined for 23 kills, including 12 by Broekhuis, while Gina Mancuo added 12 kills to round out the quartet in double figures. Mancuso also had 15 digs, which trailed only libero Kayla Banwarth’s team-high 27 digs.
“As the match went on, we got better and better and started to smooth some things out,” Cook said after the sweep of a Gopher team that reached the NCAA Semifinals last year and had already beaten Texas and Iowa State in the spring season. “We were able to get a lot of balance in our attack and score points, which are the reasons we wanted to run the 6-2. We got a lot of big swings from our two lefties and were effective after running it for a couple of days. We had some little breakdowns we can still work on, but it was our best effort of the spring.”
Both setters totaled double doubles in the win, as All-American Sydney Anderson had 38 assists and 10 digs, while Lauren Cook totaled 23 assists and 13 digs in the win.
The Huskers complete the spring season with a 2-0-1 record and will now turn their attention to final exams and next month’s trip to China.