Huskers Strike Down No. 2 Stanford

LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team swept No. 2 Stanford (25-17, 25-22, 25-14) in front of a crowd of 8,952 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night. 

It marked the first win by Nebraska (9-1) over Stanford (7-1) in four tries in the Devaney Center since the Huskers moved into the building in 2013. 

NU hit .263 on the match and held Stanford to .100, its lowest hitting percentage of the year. Stanford entered the match with the fourth-best hitting percentage in the nation.

The Big Red had a 9-4 advantage in blocks and a 5-2 edge in service aces. Nebraska also only had four service errors to the Cardinal’s 10. 

Andi Jackson notched nine kills on a .600 hitting percentage. She also added five blocks. Lindsay Krause registered nine kills, while Merritt Beason had eight and Harper Murray had six. Rebekah Allick totaled four blocks.

Bergen Reilly contributed 27 assists, along with a season-high four kills and a .667 hitting percentage. She also posted eight digs. Lexi Rodriguez posted nine digs and two service aces.

Elia Rubin led Stanford with 10 kills. 

Set 1: Behind kills from Beason, Murray and Jackson and an ace from Rodriguez, NU hopped out to a 5-1 lead. Reilly and Jackson combined for a block and Murray put down an overpass to help extend the lead to 9-2. Stanford brought the score within five at 16-11, before three straight Cardinal errors put the Big Red up 19-11. Jackson’s third and fourth kills of the set stretched the advantage to 21-13, and a Krause kill put the Huskers at set point. A Beason kill closed out the 25-17 set victory. Nebraska hit .406 in the set and held Stanford to .114. The Huskers sided out at 77.8 percent. 

Set 2: A Jackson/Murray block, two Beason kills and a Rodriguez ace gave NU an 8-2 lead. But Stanford went on a 8-0 run on the serve of Rubin to take a 10-8 lead. Two Reilly kills helped tie the score at 13-13. The Cardinal grabbed a 17-14 lead, but the Huskers fought back, and two straight Jackson kills and a Stanford hitting error put the Big Red up 20-18. Murray’s fourth kill of the match and a solo block by Allick gave the Huskers a 23-20 lead. Krause put the ball down to give Nebraska set point at 24-21, and a Beason kill won the set, 25-22.

Set 3: Jackson contributed two kills and an assisted block with Beason to put the Huskers ahead 6-3, and a kill apiece by Murray and Krause extended the advantage to 8-4. Allick posted a kill and two straight assisted blocks – one with Krause and one with Beason – to make the score 12-6. The Big Red went on a 6-2 run to take an 18-8 lead. Two straight Murray aces stretched the lead to 23-10. Reilly’s fourth kill put NU at match point, and a Krause kill finished off the 3-0 victory. Nebraska hit .400 in the third set and sided out at 80 percent.

Up Next: The Huskers will head to Louisville, Ky., to take on the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, Sept. 22. The match is set to start at 11:30 a.m. (CT) and will be televised on ABC, with audio coverage on the Huskers Radio Network.