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Lincoln - The Huskers opened the second half of the Big 12 schedule on Saturday night with a 3-0 sweep of the Missouri Tigers (25-13, 25-22, 25-16). Now 19-1 overall and 11-0 in the Big 12, the win marked the 71st all-time victory for the Huskers over the Tigers and their 15 straight win in the series.
After hitting a season-best .390 on Wednesday night against Texas Tech the Husker offense stayed hot by hitting .392 on the night, while holding Missouri to a .152 percentage. Hannah Werth hit over .400 for the third consecutive match with a match high 13 kills on 22 swings (.455) while Lindsey Licht joined her in double figures with 10 kills.
Jordan Wilberger tied her career best with eight stuffs, while Licht added five blocks and three other Huskers had at least two blocks. No Husker registered double-digit digs, but Nebraska out-dug Missouri 39-33 as five Huskers totaled at least five digs, including a team-high nine from Kayla Banwarth.
The Huskers were able to contain Missouri's Paola Ampudia, who entered the match averaging 5.37 kills over her past five matches. Ampudia led the Tigers with 10 kills, but also produced 10 errors on 33 swings, resulting in a .000 hitting percentage.
The Huskers started set one with defense as Wilberger shutdown back-to-back Tiger attacks before Werth followed with a kill to give Nebraska a 3-0 lead. After a kill from Julianna Klein got Missouri on the board, the Huskers reeled off another 3-0 run, including a solo stuff from Licht, to take a 6-1 lead and force a timeout from Missouri.
The Tigers took two straight out of the break to get within three, but they would get no closer as the Huskers cranked up the pressure with a 9-2 run to take a 15-5 lead, resulting in a second timeout from Missouri. During the run four different Huskers charted kills and Banwarth added an ace. The Tigers were unable to get anything going the rest of the set and the Huskers put it away in dominant fashion, 25-13.
Werth carried the hot hand in the set with six kills on seven swings (.857), while the Huskers hit .433 as a team. The Husker defense held the Tigers to .033 hitting, with Wilberger leading the way with four blocks.
Set two was much closer as the teams split the first eight rallies before the Tigers took three straight to post a 7-4 lead. Nebraska would battle back to take the lead, 10-9, following a block and kill from Morgan Broekhuis on consecutive rallies, but the Tigers answered with a 3-0 run to retake the lead, 12-10.
With Missouri still holding a two-point advantage, 15-13, Licht stepped up the defense with back-to-back blocks and a then put home a kill from Lauren Cook to swing the lead back in Nebraska's favor, 16-15, and force a Tiger timeout. The Tigers kept fighting and tied the set on three occasions before a Husker error gave the lead back to Missouri, 19-18, but it didn't last long as Nebraska answered with three straight to take a 21-19 lead following a second straight error from Ampudia.
The Tigers were able to get within one point on three occasions, but the Huskers had an answer every time and the Huskers were able to hold off the Tigers, 25-22.
The Huskers took control right out of the gate in set three with seven straight points behind the serve of Cook. Missouri responded with wins on four of the next six rallies before Nebraska ran off four straight to take a commanding 13-4 lead. During the run Licht put away three kills and added two blocks.
Missouri was able to get within six at 17-11, but would get no closer as a solo stuff from Brooke Delano won the set for the Huskers, 25-16, and completed the season sweep of Missouri.
After playing two matches at home the Huskers will now head back on the road for a Wednesday night match in Austin, Texas, against the Texas Longhorns at 8 p.m., with national TV coverage by ESPNU. It will be the Huskers' second appearance on ESPNU this season after they opened Big 12 play at Iowa State on the network. Fans can also listen to all of the action with John Baylor and Lindsay Peterson on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and Twister 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans outside the network will be able to listen to a live audio feed for free on Huskers.com.