For the third time in the last six meetings, Creighton and Nebraska went all the way in an intrastate showdown, but as in all previous meetings, the Huskers found a way to emerge victorious.

In the first top-10 meeting between the two teams, No. 5 Nebraska (6-1) defeated No. 9 Creighton (5-1) 25-19, 25-16, 31-33, 16-25 and 15-10 in front of nearly 9,000 fans at the Devaney Center on Tuesday night.

“It was a great game,” coach John Cook said. “That’s exactly what I expected tonight, a five-game game, and Creighton is a great team. They have two special players in Kendra (Wait) and North Sis; those guys are really, really good and lead the team excellently. They play really hard. It’s hard to take the ball away from them. I thought our team handled the fifth game really, really well for our first fifth game. I thought they played really well in the fifth game, especially when we needed it.

“As we discussed, we have to do our best when it comes to the important points and that’s what they did in game five.”

Nebraska outscored Creighton in hitting, .234 to .209. Bergen Reilly provided a balanced attack with 57 assists and a career-high 13 digs.

Harper Murray led Nebraska with 16 kills, 14 digs, four blocks and an ace, while Lindsay Krause added 15 kills, five blocks and an ace, though both hit pins under .200. Opposite, Merritt Beason turned in her best performance of the season with 14 kills on .306 hitting and six digs.

Perhaps the biggest difference for the Huskers was the play of the middle blockers, particularly Andi Jackson. The sophomore managed 15 kills on 29 hits (both career highs), posted a .379 batting average and posted eight blocks. Rebekah Allick added nine kills on a .333 batting average and three blocks.

“Our midfielders have to have a big impact and that will help everyone else,” Cook said. “Bergen isn’t afraid to pass balls to them, so I wanted her to pass every ball she could to Andi tonight because I thought Andi did some really nice things.”

Lexi Rodriguez led the defensive effort with 21 interceptions, while Laney Choboy added 12.

Creighton star Norah Sis, a Papillion-La Vista product who missed last season’s game at the Devaney Center due to injury, led Creighton with 24 kills on a .292 hitting average, 11 digs and four blocks. Creighton’s other outside hitter, Ava Martin, added 17 kills and 17 digs.

“I thought they played great,” Rodriguez said. “You have to give them credit where it’s due and they’re a good team. I know they’re going to have an incredible season and when we play each other it’s always a battle. But this team is definitely special this year so I’m excited to see what they do this year too.”

After trading points early in the first set, Creighton went on a 9-2 run that gave them a 13-6 lead thanks to strong serving and ground defense. Creighton applied some pressure to the Huskers as the set progressed, but the lead never dropped below four points.

Nebraska recorded 21 digs and four blocks in the first set, holding the Bluejays to .100 hitting. Jackson led Nebraska with four kills on seven clean swings, while the Huskers hit .250 overall.

Creighton used a 4-0 run to start the second set to take its first lead of the night, but the Huskers responded with an 8-3 run to regain control at 12-8 and then broke the game with a 5-0 run for an 18-11 lead. The Huskers also won six of the final seven rallies and carried the momentum into the break.

“That was definitely our best game,” Cook said. “And I thought Creighton played great, but we made three or four more plays than them in the first two games to give us a little bit of a lead. I thought our serving was pretty good, and I thought we touched a lot of balls when we were blocking… Blocking and defending takes a lot of energy, and I thought that was the difference in the first two games.”

Nebraska held Creighton to .032 in the set, while midfielders Jackson and Allick each had four kills.

“We kept talking to her, and Bergen is a very vocal passer, which I really appreciate, and I know Rebekah appreciates it too,” Jackson said of the midfielders’ success in Game 2. “We had girls on the bench telling us what was open, of course our coaches always let us know. And then even Rebekah and I talked and said, ‘Hey, if you go up there, that shot could be open.'”

The third set was close early with eight ties and three lead changes, but the Huskers went on a 5-0 run with four kills and a block to take a late lead, 20-16. Nebraska seemed well on its way to a sweep, but Sis had other plans and led the charge to tie the score at 23-23.

From that point on, each team had four failed opportunities to close out the set. On the fifth attempt, the Bluejays finally broke through and extended the match when Sis and Martin scored two consecutive kills to win the longest rally in series history.

Sis dominated the set with 11 kills on 21 clean swings, while Martin added extra firepower in the closing stages. The third set featured 22 digs for both teams, including 10 from Rodriguez himself. Towards the end of the set, Creighton ran out of substitutes, so 5-foot-3 Laney Choboy played in the front row.

“I think the biggest thing was seeing how we were able to fight even when we were faced with a little bit of adversity,” Rodriguez said. “The lineup wasn’t quite what we expected, and I thought it was pretty cool to see our team come together and find a way to keep scoring points. I know we didn’t win the set, but we fought the hell out of it.”

Creighton carried its momentum into the fourth set, scoring five straight points to beat the Huskers 16-8. Sis finished her first three shots to set the tone, and when Nebraska shut her out for the rest of the set, Martin took over.

Creighton stormed the rest of the game, outscoring Nebraska .306 to minus .024 as the Huskers managed just seven kills in that stretch.

However, Nebraska managed to catch up by the fifth set, breaking eight times in the first 13 rallies to build a 9-4 lead.

“After the fourth set, we could have easily hung our heads and waited to see what happened, but everyone showed so much attention to detail,” said Rodriguez. “I had no doubts that we would win the fifth set. I felt so much confidence from everyone on the court, it was a pretty cool feeling.”

Creighton cut the lead to three, but Nebraska won three of the final four rallies with kills from three different players to secure the victory. The Huskers posted an incredibly even batting average of .444 as six different players recorded multiple kills.

Creighton was the first of four top-15 teams on Nebraska’s schedule over the final two weeks of non-conference play, and Cook said his team stepped up its game to rise to the occasion.

“They’ve been waiting for a game like this, and there’s a lot more to come,” Cook said.