Huskers, Murray Perfect in Sweep at Michigan State

Nebraska remained perfect in the Big Ten Conference while Harper Murray put up another perfect hitting performance. 

The junior outside hitter didn’t commit a hitting error for the second straight match as she finished with 13 kills on 26 swings. Murray hasn’t committed a hitting error since early in the third set against Washington last Friday and is hitting .568 in the past two matches with 29 kills. 

Meanwhile, the top-ranked Huskers haven’t dropped a set in more than a month after earning a 25-15, 25-18, 25-20 victory over Michigan State Friday night at Breslin Center. 

Murray, who was named the Big Ten co-player of the year on Monday, is hitting .334 for the season. NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said on her post-match radio interview that she didn’t think Murray had her best match of the season, until she looked at the stat sheet. 

“She’s playing great. She’s so confident,” she said. “I feel like we say this after every game, but it’s impressive how she’s using the whole court. She knows when she’s got to blast it. She knows when to be smart. It’s just impressive.”

With the straight-set victory, the Huskers have won eight matches in a row via sweep. Nebraska also helped set a new school attendance record of 11,578 fans, which is an increase of more than 4,000 over the old record from the last time NU visited East Lansing. 

Nebraska (17-0, 7-0) took control early by scoring the first three points of the match and eventually led 10-3. MSU got as close as 14-10, but after a service error, Andi Jackson added a kill and block to spark another run as the Huskers won nine of the subsequent 12 rallies.

NU appeared to take control of the second set as it won the first seven rallies, which included a pair of aces from freshman Teraya Sigler. However, the Spartans (14-3, 4-3) rallied and momentarily tied it up at 7-all, but a replay review flipped the last point and kept the Huskers up 8-6. The Huskers added runs of five and four unanswered points to go up 19-10 and cruise the rest of the way.  

The Huskers also got it done from the service line with a season-high nine aces, including three each from Jackson and Sigler. It’s the third time this season they’ve had more aces than errors. 

Busboom Kelly said the time they’ve put in on practice is starting to pay off. 

“We’ve got more confident as the season goes on, they’re going for it more, and that’s what we should be doing,” she said. “It’s a good sign when it’s getting better and not worse throughout the year.”

Murray recorded NU’s first three points in the third set and then put down another kill that started a 5-0 run that put the Huskers up 9-4 in the third set. The Spartans chipped away and trailed 16-15 after five straight points, but Murray hammered another kill and then an ace that gave NU a bigger cushion. 

After running away with the first set, Nebraska made adjustments throughout the match as Michigan State tried to find a way to get back into the match. MSU outside hitter Taylah Holdem saw her most extensive action in a month as she recorded four kills on six swings in the third set. Karolina Staniszewska led the Spartans with nine kills. 

For the match, senior outside hitter Taylor Landfair finished with eight kills on 12 swings while freshman opposite Virginia Adriano added seven kills. 

Nebraska’s middle blockers also had an efficient night as Rebekah Allick recorded six kills on a .400 hitting percentage with five blocks, while Jackson tallied five kills at a .571 clip and four blocks. 

Much like Murray, Busboom Kelly said she didn’t think setter Bergen Reilly played one of her better matches, but the stat sheet indicated that she had a solid performance. Reilly finished with 32 assists as the Huskers hit .383 for the match. 

Busboom Kelly said she liked how the Huskers kept the pressure on MSU and finished strong. 

“I really enjoy watching these guys compete in the development that we keep getting better and better, and that was the challenge tonight,” Busboom Kelly said. “I know in game three, they scored more points. But when we beat a team in game one pretty easily, can we get better and better as the match went on? There’s a lot of phases of the game where we did tonight.”

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