Huskers Sharp Once Again in Sweep of Spartans

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team won its eighth sweep in a row, 25-15, 25-18, 25-20 at Michigan State on Friday night in front of an MSU school-record crowd of 11,578 at the Breslin Center. 

Harper Murray led the way with 13 kills and no errors for a .500 hitting percentage, as Nebraska (17-0, 7-0 B1G) hit .383 as a team. Murray is hitting .569 over her last two matches with no hitting errors (29-0-51). 

Taylor Landfair put up eight kills and hit .500, while Virginia Adriano added seven kills and three blocks. Rebekah Allick contributed six kills and five blocks while hitting .400. Andi Jackson tallied five kills and four blocks and hit .571. 

Nebraska served a season-high nine aces and committed just four errors. Teraya Sigler and Jackson each served three aces. 

NU had nine blocks to just four for MSU. The Huskers had a 30-23 edge in digs. Sigler and Murray led the way with seven digs each. Libero Laney Choboy had six. Bergen Reilly had 32 assists to pace the Husker attack.  

Michigan State (14-3, 4-3 B1G) hit .209 for the match. 

The Huskers, who have won 25 sets in a row, improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten Discover Challenge with two matches remaining: Northwestern (Oct. 24) and at Wisconsin (Oct. 31). Purdue (3-0) is the only other unbeaten team remaining in the challenge, which counts five matches for each team played on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in October.   

Set 1: Adriano and Murray had kills around a solo block by Jackson for a 3-0 lead. Jackson, Murray and Landfair added kills to make it 6-2. Jackson then served a 4-0 run for a 10-3 lead. She had a kill and an ace, while Landfair had a kill and Allick and Reilly combined for a block. The Spartans ran off a 5-2 run to pull within 12-8. The Huskers staved off the comeback attempt with a kill by Adriano, a block by Reilly and Jackson and a kill by Jackson that made it 17-10. Murray tacked on two more kills and Jackson served an ace as the Huskers went up 21-12. Landfair recorded back-to-back kills, and Adriano and Murray connected again as the Huskers won 25-15. NU hit .636 in the opening frame with 16 kills and two errors on 16 swings. 

Set 2: NU started strong again with a 7-0 run out of the gates served by Sigler. Adriano had two kills, Sigler served two aces, and Allick had a kill and a block with Adriano. But the Spartans answered with a 6-0 run to trim the deficit to 7-6. Allick ended the run with a kill, and a block by Adriano and Jackson preceded back-to-back kills by Murray. An ace by Mauch and kill by Sigler made it 13-7 Huskers after a 5-0 run served by Mauch. Jackson posted a solo block for a 15-8 lead. Kills by Allick and Landfair increased the lead to 19-10. MSU pulled within 20-15, but Landfair and Adriano answered with kills, and Sigler served her third ace of the set for a 23-15 lead. The Big Red won the set, 25-18.          

Set 3: Murray had four kills and Jackson and Allick each had one before Jackson served an ace as the Huskers went up 9-4. Reilly notched a kill before an Allick and Landfair block, and Murray added another kill to help NU to a 14-8 lead. Michigan State cut it to 16-15 after a 5-0 run. Murray kept the Huskers on top with her 13th kill and an ace for an 18-15 lead, but the Spartans pulled back within one, 18-17. Campbell Flynn set Jackson for a kill, and Allick and Sigler teamed up for a block and a 20-17 advantage. Another block by Allick, this one with Adriano, put NU up 22-18, and Reilly served NU's ninth ace for a 23-18 lead. Nebraska finished off the sweep, 25-20, on an Adriano kill. 

Up Next: Nebraska plays at Michigan on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT) at a sold-out Crisler Center.