Nebraska Hands No. 14 Arizona State First Loss

LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team earned its second top-15 win of the week and third of the season with a 25-20, 26-24, 25-19 victory over Arizona State on Friday night in front of 8,772 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. 

Merritt Beason sparked the Huskers (7-1) with 15 kills on .429 hitting. Harper Murray added 10 kills and nine digs. 

Nebraska's middles were sharp once again. Andi Jackson had 10 kills and hit .389, while Rebekah Allick posted seven kills and hit .462 with a team-high five blocks. 

Nebraska hit .319, and Arizona State (7-1) hit .213. The Huskers had a 7-3 advantage in blocks and 2-0 in aces. 

Bergen Reilly recorded 41 assists and 15 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Lexi Rodriguez tallied 10 digs, and Olivia Mauch had a career-high nine. 

Geli Cyr led Arizona State with 14 kills on .357 hitting. 

Set 1: The Huskers used a 4-0 run to go up 6-4 with Jackson and Murray recording kills. A block by Lindsay Krause and Allick pushed the lead to four, 12-8. The teams then traded sideouts for 16 rallies to a 20-16 Husker lead. Rodriguez served an ace to make it 21-16, and kills by Beason and Jackson increased the lead to 23-18. Jackson added a sixth kill for set point, and the Huskers won 25-20. 

Set 2: Arizona State held a 15-12 lead at the media timeout after three straight kills. The Big Red answered with a 7-3 run to take a 19-18 lead, keyed by kills by Jackson, Krause, Allick and Beason, and a block by Allick and Reilly. Two more kills by Beason put Nebraska in front, 21-20, but the Sun Devils benefitted from two Husker hitting errors to go up 22-21. A service error by ASU after a timeout tied the score at 22-22, and Krause and Jackson combined for a block and a 23-22 NU lead. A kill by Cyr tied the score before a service error gave Nebraska set point at 24-23. The Huskers crossed under the net trying to keep a ball alive, but Arizona State sent the ensuing serve long for another chance at set point for NU. A kill by Beason gave the Huskers a 26-24 victory.  

Set 3: The Huskers jumped out to a 5-1 lead with kills by Allick, Murray and Beason and two blocks by Beason and Allick. However, the Sun Devils rallied to take an 11-10 lead after a 5-1 run. Allick, Beason and Krause responded with kills as the Huskers went ahead 13-11. After an Arizona State sideout, Beason pounded back-to-back kills to make it 15-12. Murray was awarded a kill after video review, and an Arizona State error gave NU an 18-15 lead. Kills by Jackson and Krause put NU up 22-17. A Sun Devil attack error bought the Huskers set point, and Krause put the ball down to close out the 25-19 set victory and the 3-0 match win.

Up Next: The Huskers host Wichita State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the final match of the Nebraska Classic. The match will be streamed on B1G+.