Huskers Post Another Road Sweep at No. 12 Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team began a stretch of three straight road matches with a 25-23, 25-16, 25-15 win at No. 12 Purdue on Sunday in front of 2,415 at Holloway Gymnasium. 

The Huskers (16-0, 6-0 Big Ten) won by sweep for the seventh match in a row, thanks to big performances from Harper Murray and Andi Jackson. Murray had 16 kills without an error for a career-high .640 hitting percentage with two service aces, two solo blocks, five digs and four set assists. Jackson posted 12 kills on .450 hitting and added three blocks. 

NU hit .349 in the match, while Purdue (13-3, 4-2 Big Ten) hit .186. The Big Red got better as the match went on, hitting .311 in the opening set, .333 in set two and .412 in set three. 

Rebekah Allick and Taylor Landfair each added six kills. Allie Sczech tallied five kills on .625 hitting, while Virginia Adriano and Teraya Sigler each had three kills. 

Bergen Reilly had 44 assists, 10 digs, two blocks and two kills. Olivia Mauch and Laney Choboy had 12 and seven digs, respectively. 

Nebraska had a 53-31 advantage in kills, 7-5 in blocks, 43-34 in digs and 5-2 in aces.  

Kenna Wollard led the Boilermakers with 10 kills. 

Set 1: Purdue went ahead 10-7 after a 5-1 run. NU answered with a 4-0 run to retake the lead, keyed by a Murray kill, a Jackson and Adriano block and a Jackson kill. Purdue went back in front 16-14, but Murray produced another kill before a Purdue error tied the set. But Wollard kept Purdue in front with three more kills for a 21-20 lead. Jackson answered again for the Big Red and then served an ace for a 22-21 lead, NU's first since 6-5. With the score tied 22-22, Murray tallied her seventh kill, and Reilly served an ace for set point, 24-22. The Boilermakers got a kill, but Murray finished off the set from the back row. Murray and Jackson combined for 15 kills on 20 swings (.750) in the opening set. 

Set 2: Purdue led 4-3 before a 4-0 Husker run served by Murray. She had an ace, and Reilly and Jackson had kills and teamed up for a block. Purdue scored the next four to go up 8-7, but kills by Murray and Landfair made it 10-9 Huskers. Allick pounded a kill and a solo block, and three more kills from Murray and Jackson put NU ahead 15-12 at the media timeout. Jackson and Reilly notched a block after the timeout, and a kill by Reilly and ace by Murray gave the Huskers an 18-13 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Landfair and Murray put NU up 21-16. Allick and Sczech notched kills, and then Allick added a solo block before Landfair ended the set at 25-16 with a kill. The Huskers closed out the set on a 6-0 run served by Reilly. 

Set 3: The Huskers started strong, taking a 7-1 lead. Murray had two kills and back-to-back solo blocks, and Mauch had an ace. Landfair and Allick each posted two kills to give Nebraska a 14-5 lead. Sczech recorded three kills for a 16-9 advantage, and two more kills by Murray and one each by Jackson and Allick made it 21-13 Big Red. Sigler pounded a pair of kills, and one more each by Murray and Sczech ended the match, 25-15. 

Up Next: The Huskers are on the road again next weekend in Michigan. Nebraska will take on Michigan State on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) and Michigan next Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT).