Huskers Trounce No. 16 Nittany Lions at Rec Hall

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team went on the road and dominated No. 16 Penn State, 25-6, 25-15, 25-13, at Rec Hall on Friday night.

Nebraska (13-0, 3-0 B1G) hit a season-high .437 and held Penn State (7-6, 1-2 B1G) to -.114. It was the second best defensive effort by Nebraska in the rally scoring era (since 2001). 

Penn State's 34 total points scored in the match was its fewest points in a match since 2001. PSU's six points in the first set marked its fewest points in a non-5th set also since 2001.

The Nittany Lions were swept at home for the first time since Sept. 24, 2022 against Michigan. The Huskers earned their first sweep at Rec Hall since Sept. 22, 2017. 

Rebekah Allick had nine kills on .615 hitting with four blocks. Virginia Adriano had eight kills and hit .545. Andi Jackson and Harper Murray each recorded six kills. Taylor Landfair posted five, and Teraya Sigler added three. 

Bergen Reilly had 26 assists and eight digs, and Olivia Mauch led all players with 10 digs. 

Penn State only had three players with kills, led by Kennedy Martin's 11, which came on .182 hitting. 

Nebraska had a decisive 39-16 edge in kills, 34-20 advantage in digs and 9.5-5 margin in blocks. 

Set 1: After falling behind 2-0, Nebraska took charge with a 10-1 run. Adriano started it with two kills, and Sigler and Murray each had two kills, while Jackson and Reilly also contributed kills to put NU up 11-3. After a Penn State kill put that Adriano service run to an end, the Huskers resumed their strong play with a kill by Jackson, a block by Reilly and a block by Jackson and Landfair. Landfair and Murray added kills before Penn State's second timeout at 17-5. Jackson served an ace after the timeout, and an Allick kill made it 20-5. The Huskers scored the final five points of the set to win 25-6.  NU hit .583 and held PSU to -.143. Penn State's six points marked its fewest in a set against the Huskers since the rally scoring era began in 2001. 

Set 2: NU never trailed, going up 3-0 with a block and kill by Murray. Jackson added two kills and Allick tacked on two, and the senior middle blocker combined with Murray for a block in between Adriano kills as the Huskers went up 13-5. An ace and kill by Murray increased the lead to double digits, 19-9, and Allick, Adriano and Landfair had kills down the stretch along with a Reilly ace for a 25-15 win. 

Set 3: Nebraska led 8-5 when Reilly served an 8-0 run that made it 16-5. Allick had two kills and a solo block in that stretch, and Landfair added a kill. Murray and Adriano pounded kills before back-to-back-to back PSU hitting errors made it 22-9. NU closed out the sweep, 25-13.

Up Next: Nebraska is back in action on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) at Rutgers. The match will be streamed on B1G+ and can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network.