For the first time in series history, the Nebraska and Creighton volleyball teams entered their annual meet ranked in the top 10.
For the 23rd time in a row, the Nebraska Huskers win against the Creighton Bluejays.
No. 5 Nebraska (6-1) and No. 9 Creighton (5-1) went the distance and the Huskers won in a five-set thriller by scores of 25-19, 25-16, 31-33, 16-25 and 15-10.
Sophomore Harper Murray at outside hitter led Nebraska with 16 kills, 14 digs and four blocks. Star setter Bergen Reilly led a balanced attack by dishing out 57 assists, allowing the Huskers to post a .234 batting average on the night, while also collecting 13 digs.
Lindsay Krause and Andi Jackson both had 15 kills. Jackson also led the game that night with eight blocks.
Merritt Beason added 14 kills and six digs, while Rebekah Allick finished with nine kills and three blocks.
The defensive specialists were on the ball against the Bluejays and made a total of 33 defensive actions, 21 of which were by libero Lexi Rodriguez and 12 by Laney Choboy.
Nebraska won the first two sets quite dominantly with 25-19 and 25-16.
In the first period, Nebraska was either up by one point or tied 4-4. Then the Huskers woke up. A 4-0 run followed by a 3-0 run put things in the balance and Nebraska never looked back.
The second set followed much of the same pattern, except that Creighton took the lead for the first time and extended it to 5-3 early on a kill from Norah Sis. The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Huskers came back on an attack error from Sis to take an 8-7 lead and never looked back en route to winning the second set.
After that, however, things started to get a lot more interesting.
The third set featured 17 ties, eight lead changes, and Creighton prevailed 33-31. The Huskers fell behind 3-0 early and only took the lead when Murray put them 11-10 up on a kill. It was a back-and-forth affair before Nebraska took a 21-17 lead.
Then Creighton put the car in gear.
The Bluejays fought back to tie the game at 24-24. The teams then traded points, and the Bob Devaney Sports Center was on tenterhooks with every dig, set and swing. Late in the third set, Nebraska ran out of substitutes, leaving John Cook with 5-foot-3 defense specialist Laney Choboy in the front row.
Creighton won the third round thanks to 11 kills from Sis on 21 flawless swings.
After the marathon third set, the fourth set was like something out of a horror movie for Nebraska. The Huskers hit (eyes closed, volleyball fans) -.024 with just seven kills on 41 shots. Of those 41 shots, eight were errors and only three were blocked. Only four Huskers recorded a kill, with Beason, Jackson and Murray finishing the set with two kills each.
Ava Martin led the Bluejays to a 25-16 victory with five kills in the fourth round.
The decisive fifth set was over as quickly as it had begun: Nebraska quickly gained a 3-0 lead and never let Creighton get closer than two points.
Six Huskers were involved in the action, and 13 of Nebraska’s 15 points came from kills, led by Krause with three.
Next up for the Huskers is the Nebraska Classic. NU will face Arizona State on Friday and Wichita State on Saturday.
Result
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