Huskers Extend Sweep Streak at No. 22 Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team went on the road at No. 22 Minnesota and picked up its 15th sweep in a row - 25-15, 25-21, 25-20 - on Saturday in front of a crowd of 5,312 at Maturi Pavilion. 

It was Nebraska's first-ever sweep at Minnesota since the best-of-five format began in 1982.  

Nebraska (24-0, 14-0 Big Ten) hit .434 as a team for its 15th straight match over .300, while Minnesota (17-8, 7-7 Big Ten) hit .268. 

Andi Jackson led the way with a season-high 15 kills while hitting .619. Jackson terminated her first five attacks of the match, which gave her 14 kills on 14 straight swings dating back to Thursday's match against Illinois. 

Taylor Landfair had 11 kills with no errors for a .550 hitting percentage against her former team. Rebekah Allick added 10 kills on .714 hitting. Virginia had eight kills, while Harper Murray had seven kills and 11 digs with three service aces, which made her the seventh Husker in the rally-scoring era to reach 100 career aces. 

Bergen Reilly had 45 assists, six digs and three kills with an ace and a block. Her 45 assists were a career high in a three-set match, and she moved past Sydney Anderson for third in school history in the rally-scoring era in career assists (3,363). 

Laney Choboy had a match-high 15 digs, and Olivia Mauch added eight digs. 

The Huskers had more kills (55-36) and digs (46-33). Aces were even at 4-4, and the Golden Gophers had a 5-3 edge in blocks.   

Set 1: Nebraska scored the first four points via two kills from Adriano and two from Jackson. Landfair finished off three kills, and a block by Allick and Adriano made it 14-6 Huskers. NU led 18-13 when Reilly served a 5-0 run that included five straight kills from Landfair, Adriano, Allick, Adriano and Landfair. Allick finished off a 25-15 win with NU's 21st kill of the set. The Big Red hit .588 with Reilly dishing out 19 assists on the 21 kills. Landfair, Adriano and Jackson combined for 16 kills without an error.  

Set 2: A 7-0 run served by Murray made it 11-3 Huskers. She had two aces, while Jackson and Landfair each had two kills. Reilly tacked on two kills to make it 13-5, and kills by Murray and Allick had the Huskers ahead 16-6. Minnesota forced a Husker timeout by going on a 7-1 run to pull within 18-14. Jackson got the Huskers back on track with a kill, and Landfair followed with another to make it 20-14. The Golden Gophers cut it to three, 22-19, but Landfair answered with a kill, and the Huskers won 25-21 with kills by Adriano and Jackson. 

Set 3: The Huskers continued to fire away with Jackson smashing three early kills and Allick two in a row to help NU go ahead 9-4. Allick added another before a Reilly ace and Landfair kill made it 13-5. Nebraska led 16-8 after kills by Reilly and Adriano, but Minnesota reeled off a 5-0 run to cut it to 16-13. After a timeout, two Minnesota errors and a block by Reilly and Jackson preceded a back-row kill by Teraya Sigler that put NU back up by seven, 20-13. Murray recorded two more kills and Allick finished off the match with NU's last two kills for a 25-20 win. 

Up Next: The Huskers make their West Coast road trip next week. Nebraska is at UCLA next Friday at 9 p.m. (CT) and at No. 17 USC next Sunday at 2 p.m. (CT).