No. 1 Nebraska volleyball completed an undefeated regular season with a 25-13, 25-16, 25-20 sweep of Ohio State Saturday night at John Cook Arena. The victory was the Cornhuskers’ 25th sweep of the season and completed Nebraska’s third undefeated regular season in program history, joining 1994 and 2000.
Six different Huskers (30-0, 20-0 Big Ten) piled up at least six kills on the match, led by Harper Murray, who had nine kills. Andi Jackson had eight kills while hitting .800 and adding three blocks. In her Senior Night match, Rebekah Allick tallied seven kills and a team-leading four blocks. Allie Sczech added six kills, while Virginia Adriano and Manaia Ogbechie added five each. Hannah Jones led the Buckeyes with 10 kills. Nebraska outhit Ohio State (6-22, 3-17 Big Ten), .435-.174, outblocked it, 8-2 and outserved it four aces to three.
Ohio State scored the first point of the match and led 2-1 through three points. But a six-point run with Maisie Bosinger serving gave Nebraska a 7-2 lead. The Huskers gradually pulled away from there, never again allowing the Buckeyes to get within four points as Nebraska cruised to the set one win.
The second set again began with an Ohio State point. But a six-point run, again with Bosinger serving, gave the Huskers control of the set. The teams split the next four points, but then Nebraska ran five more in a row to open a 13-3 lead in the second. The Buckeyes scored four in a row to cut the lead to 13-7, but three more consecutive points pushed the Huskers’ lead to 16-7. A three-point run by OSU later in the set sliced the lead to 18-12, but Nebraska won seven of the next eight points to finish off the set, with a Campbell Flynn ace capping the set.
Nebraska took a 3-1 lead early in set three, but the Buckeyes were still returning fire, tying the set at eight and nine. A three-point run put the Huskers up 12-9, but Ohio State tallied two in a row to cut the NU lead to 12-11. The Huskers rallied and won six of the next eight points to push the lead to 18-13. Not done, the Buckeyes scored six of the next eight points to cut NU’s lead to 20-19, forcing Dani Busboom Kelly to call timeout. Back-to-back kills by Manaia Obechie pushed the Nebraska lead to 22-19, and an Ohio State attack error pushed the lead to four. A Skyler Pierce ace pulled the Huskers to within one point of finishing the match. After the Buckeyes scored to stayed alive, a Reilly setter dump clinched the 25th sweep of the season for NU.
The Huskers are now awaiting their NCAA selection fate. Nebraska is expected to be tabbed as the No. 1 national seed and host the first two weekends of the NCAA tournament. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN, with the NCAA tournament beginning Dec. 4 at campus sites around the nation.