OMAHA—A record, sold-out crowd was treated to another chapter of the in-state rivalry as top-ranked Nebraska escaped with a 25-17, 21-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-9 victory Tuesday night at the CHI Health Center.
Creighton and Nebraska set a new attendance record with 17,675 fans at the CHI Health Center, the largest indoor crowd for a regular-season game. The previous record of 17,037 was set in 2023 when Marquette hosted Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Several times during the fourth and fifth sets, the fans filled the arena with duelling “Let’s go Jays” and “Go Big Red” chants.
The previous largest crowd to watch a home Creighton match (and Nebraska indoors) was on Sept. 7, 2022, when 15,797 spectators saw the Huskers win in five sets, with Whitney Lauenstein putting up 25 kills. The Huskers hold the all-time attendance record of 92,003 for their match outdoors at Memorial Stadium.
Harper Murray led Nebraska (9-0) with 17 kills and 10 digs. Virginia Adriano and Andi Jackson chipped in 13 kills, while Taylor Landfair added 12 kills. Junior Bergen Reilly tallied 43 assists and 19 digs, in addition to four kills.
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After an ace serve from Anna Maeder to start the match, the teams traded 13 sideouts until Andi Jackson smashed home an overpass on an Olivia Mauch serve. NU took control of the first set by winning seven of nine rallies to break a 10-all tie into a 17-12 advantage. Jackson led the charge with five kills on eight swings and recorded an ace to end the set.
Creighton (5-5) started the second set by winning the first three points on a net violation and two blocks. The Bluejays extended their lead to as many as 19-13 before NU started to chip away. A Murray block closed it to 22-21, but the Huskers missed their serve, gave up an ace to Destiny Ndam-Simpson, and then committed a hitting error.
With the Husker leading 10-8 in the third set, NU cranked up the pressure from the serving line to take control. Mauch served as part of a 4-0 run and forced an overpass kill. Then Adriano notched an ace and overpass kill as part of a 5-0 streak that put NU up 19-9. Creighton fought back, but Adriano closed it out with her seventh kill of the set on her seventh swing.
After the Bluejays went up 10-9 in the fourth set, NU won six of the next seven rallies, including another Adriano ace, which gave them a 15-11 advantage. Creighton responded by winning the following three points and tied it up at 16-all. The Jays took a lead at 18-17 before the teams traded side outs. With Adriano serving, NU scored back-to-back points to go up 22-20. However, Creighton responded again with three straight points and eventually closed out the set on its second chance.
Nora Wurtz served a pair of aces to start the fifth set, but Nebraska eventually took the lead on a 4-0 run with Murray serving. The Huskers kept Creighton at arm’s length and allowed Creighton just one point on serve. Rebekah Allick, who had seven kills, finished the match with another tip kill.
Ava Martin led the Bluejays with 16 kills while Kiara Reinhardt added 11 kills and six blocks.
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