No. 1 Huskers Overwhelm Missouri

No. 1 Nebraska volleyball breezed past Missouri 25-10, 25-17, 25-14 on Wednesday night in front of 10,497 fans at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Nebraska finished non-conference play 11-0, hitting .380 and finishing with eight blocks and holding Missouri (7-5) to a season-low .020 hitting percentage.

The Huskers hit .448 in the first set and .400 in the third set to post their 12th and 13th sets hitting above .400 in 11 matches this season.

Andi Jackson and Harper Murray finished with 10 kills to lead the Big Red offense. Jackson hit .667 with zero errors on 15 swings, while Murray recorded double-digit kills for the third straight match. Virginia Adriano chipped in a season-high nine kills, and Manaia Ogbechie added seven kills.

Defensively, The Huskers finished with eight blocks, led by Jackson’s six. Laney Choboy led Nebraska with 11 digs, and Olivia Mauch added 10 digs - her eighth consecutive match in double figures. Bergen Reilly operated the NU offense with 29 assists while adding eight digs. 

Set 1: Nebraska took control early and rolled to a 25-10 win in the first set against Missouri. After the teams traded points to a 3-3 tie, the Huskers went on an 8-0 run with Murray on the service line to push the lead to 11-3. The Tigers got within 14-7 after consecutive kills, but the Big Red answered with a 5-0 run to enlarge the lead to 19-7. Murray’s back-to-back kills gave the Huskers set point at 24-10 before Jackson capped off the set with a solo block to clinch NU’s 25-10 victory.

Set 2: The Huskers took the second set 25-17, but Missouri made it more competitive early. A Missouri error before Reilly’s kill and an ace from Jackson had the Huskers leading 8-4, but the Tigers trimmed the deficit to 12-10 on a Kimani Johnson kill. With the score 16-13, a 5-0 run for the Big Red put the Huskers up by a commanding 21-13 margin. Nebraska closed out the set on kills from Jackson and Reilly to take a 2-0 lead in the match.  

Set 3: Missouri took an early 5-3 lead on a service ace, but Nebraska tied the score at 8-8 on a kill from Skyler Pierce and scored 10 of the next 12 points to take a commanding 18-10 lead and force a Tiger timeout. Missouri scored three straight to trim its deficit to 19-14, but the Huskers ended the match on a 6-0 run, its fifth run of five points or greater of the match, to close out the dominant sweep.

No. 1 Nebraska continues its homestand on Friday, Sept. 25, as the Huskers open Big Ten  play against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. First serve inside John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center is set for 7 p.m. on Nebraska Public Media/B1G+.