Nebraska Volleyball Takes Care of Arizona with a Sweep

LINCOLN—Nebraska saved its most balanced offensive night for the final nonconference match.

Every front-row attacker finished with at least seven kills as the Huskers posted a .392 hitting percentage, their second-highest of the season. 

As a result of high-flying offense, No. 1 NU finished the first portion of its season with a 10-0 record as the Huskers earned a 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 sweep over Arizona Saturday night in front of 8,625 at John Cook Arena.

Junior outside hitter Harper Murray led NU with 14 kills, while Andi Jackson and Virginia Adriano added nine. Taylor Landfair finished with eight kills and an ace, while Rebekah Allick chipped in seven kills and two blocks.

Junior setter Bergen Reilly tallied 40 assists and recorded five kills on seven attacks. 

Jackson said when all of NU’s parts are working well, it opens up their offense. 

“I have first-hand experience when you’re playing a team and all of their hitters are clicking, it’s really, really tough because you have to honor every single one of them,” she said. “When we can do that on our side of the net, it just makes everyone’s job super easy.”

While Nebraska’s middle blockers (Allick and Jackson) have led the charge most of the season, the key to the success this past week has been Adriano on the right pin. She terminated at a .438 clip, a season high. 

After she recorded 13 kills against Creighton, the 6-foot-5 opposite is starting to find a rhythm with Reilly. Adriano terminated five of her seven swings in the first set. NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said Reilly and Adriano are connecting well and understand what kind of sets she needs to generate good swings.  

“The confidence has grown and she’s starting to feel a little bit more like herself,” Busboom Kelly said. “That’s awesome to see her put two great attacking matches back to back.”

Sophomore Olivia Mauch started at libero for the third straight match and finished with 11 digs. Choboy added seven digs, and the Nebraska serve receive did its job against Arizona, giving up just one ace on a ball they let go, thinking it was long, while passing a 2.7 on a four-point scale. 

Murray said she’s comfortable playing in the back row next to Mauch, and they’ve adjusted well to whomever is the libero. 

“She’s holding her own really well, and service is her strength,” Murray said about Muach. “It’s great to have her next to me, but I feel like it’s going to go back and forth between her and Laney, and that’s something that we’re going to have to adjust to as a team. They both have their own strengths, and Olivia definitely performed tonight.”

The Huskers weren’t threatened in the first set after scoring the first four points of the match. However, NU needed five tries to close out the set. 

It was a theme all evening as Nebraska needed 11 set points over the three sets. During those 11 rallies, the Huskers committed five hitting errors and missed one serve. 

While Busboom Kelly said she wasn’t too concerned with the struggles too close, Jackson attributed the inability to close to a lack of focus. She said the match not starting until 8 p.m. might have had a small impact. 

“It can be a very, very long day just sitting around, waiting for serve and pass (practice) and then waiting for the game,” she said. When we go to the West Coast, those are going to be really late games. So not using it as an excuse, but learning from it this one time.”

The one area of concern for Busboom Kelly was the Huskers’ defense. Arizona finished with a .250 hitting percentage, which was the highest by an NU opponent by 72 points. She said balls hit the floor too often without anyone touching it and their block was lacking at times — the Huskers finished with three blocks, one fewer than the Wildcats. 

Jordan Wilson finished with a match-high 17 kills for Arizona. 

“I thought our defense tonight was pretty lackluster, so that’s going to be a big focus of this week,” she said. “When a team’s gotten hot against us, we’ve been able to make adjustments and shut players down, or at least affect them, and we just didn’t do that tonight.”

The only time Arizona threatened the Huskers was in the second set. After NU led 9-4, the Wildcats rallied and tied the set at 17-all before sophomore Avery Scoggins put the U of A in front with an ace. The Huskers responded with a 5-0 run that featured two kills and a block from Adriano. 

Scoggins, the niece of former Husker All-American and current NU team physician Janet Kruse Sellon, finished with 30 assists and three kills. 

With the win on Saturday, the Huskers wrapped up their nonconference schedule undefeated; however, they know that the hard part is just about to begin. Murray said they still have plenty to work on, but they are up for the challenge. 

“Starting Big Ten play is always super fun and exciting, but it’s also a little bit of pressure, because it’s starting to get real,” she said. “We want to win three Big Ten championships in a row, so we have to take that seriously.”

Nebraska Volleyball 2025 Schedule

Home matches are bolded. All times central.

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