Murray Leads NU Past Dayton, Into Regional Final

LINCOLN, Neb. - The third-ranked Nebraska volleyball team defeated 23rd-ranked Dayton, 3-1, in front of a crowd of 8,725 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday night. 

Harper Murray had a career-high 22 kills and hit .318 while also recording a season-high 16 digs and four blocks. Murray also tied her career high with four service aces Rebekah Allick provided 10 kills and hit .368, while Taylor Landfair and Andi Jackson each had eight kills. 

The Huskers had 11 blocks with Jackson leading the way with seven. Allick, Murray and Bergen Reilly each had four. Lexi Rodriguez tied her season high with 22 digs for the Big Red. Nebraska's defense held Dayton to an .087 attack percentage, the first time in more than 100 matches that the Flyers have been held below a .100 attack percentage. 

Lexie Almodovar led Dayton with 20 kills on 68 swings. The Flyers ended their season with a 31-3 record.

Set 1:  Dayton got off to a hot start taking a 4-1 lead. Murray provided a pair of kills to help the Huskers crawl back, and two kills by Landfair brought the Huskers within 8-7. Allick recorded three kills, and Jackson and Merritt Beason had a block that tied the score at 12-12. Murray's third kill gave Nebraska its first lead at 14-13, and a kill by Jackson put the Huskers up 15-14 at the media timeout. Jackson and Reilly teamed up for a block after the break, and Murray served an ace before another Jackson kill made it 18-14. But Dayton posted a block and and an ace to cut it to 18-16. After a timeout, the Huskers closed the set on a 7-1 run to win 25-17. Landfair, Allick and Murray all had kills down the stretch, and Reilly served a 6-0 run to end the set. 

Set 2: The Huskers used a 4-0 run that included an ace by Rodriguez to go ahead 7-3. Dayton fought back to within 13-12, but Allick terminated a long rally and the Flyers committed an error for a 15-12 Husker advantage. Dayton made a service error, and Murray then served three straight aces before a block by Reilly and Jackson made it 21-14. Nebraska used a timeout after Dayton scored three in a row, and Landfair terminated for a sideout kill, and the Huskers went on to win 25-18. 

Set 3: Dayton got out to an 8-4 start after four straight kills by Almodovar and an ace by Gaby Arroyo. Murray had two kills and a block with Jackson to help NU pull within 9-7, but Dayton answered to go back up 12-8. Murray continued to keep the Huskers in it with two more kills to cut it to 13-11. After a Dayton kill, Murray had a kill and a block with Jackson, and the Flyers hit out before Jackson smashed a kill for a 15-14 Husker lead. Another Murray kill made it 16-15, but the Flyers went on a 4-1 run to gain a 19-17 lead. Dayton led 20-18 before committing a service error, and Landfair returned an overpass down to the floor to tie the score at 20-20. Landfair tied the score again at 21-21, and Murray put her 16th down for a 22-21 lead. But an Almodovar kill and a Husker net violation made it 23-22 Flyers. Dayton served out to tie the score at 23-23, but the Flyers earned set point with a kill. Murray answered for the Big Red with back-to-back kills to earn match point, 25-24, but Almodovar kept the Flyers alive with her 18th and 19th kills to regain set point for Dayton, and the Flyers won 27-25 with a block. 

Set 4: Murray continued her strong play early on, recording four kills as the Huskers went up 7-4. Jackson was then in on two straight blocks, one with Reilly and one with Landfair, as the Huskers built the lead to 10-4. Reilly, Landfair and Allick tallied kills, and Reilly served an ace to increase the lead to 16-7. Allick's 10th kill and an ace served by Mauch put the Huskers up 20-8 and in control. NU went on to finish off the match, 25-13. 

Up Next: The Huskers will face No. 7 Wisconsin in an NCAA Regional Final on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. 

Nebraska Post-Match Notes

• With the win, Nebraska advanced to an NCAA Regional Final for the 33rd time in program history. The Huskers’ 33 regional final appearances are the most in NCAA history. Nebraska has made an NCAA Regional Final in 12 of the past 13 seasons.
• With the win, Nebraska improved to 133-37 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers rank second in NCAA history in postseason wins and winning percentage (.782).
• Nebraska improved to 33-7 all-time in NCAA Regional Semifinal matches, including a 16-1 record in matches played in Lincoln.
• NU improved to 86-7 all-time in home NCAA Tournament matches, including 31-2 at the Devaney Center.
• The win was Nebraska’s 25th consecutive home victory in the NCAA Tournament, a school record.
• Overall, Nebraska has won 44 consecutive home matches dating back to Dec. 1, 2022. The Huskers’ own the nation’s longest home winning streak, and the streak is the longest since Nebraska moved into the Devaney Center in 2013.
• John Cook improved to 100-25 in his NCAA Tournament career. Cook joined retired Penn State coach Russ Rose as the only two coaches in NCAA history with 100 NCAA Tournament victories.
• Cook improved to 92-20 in the NCAA Tournament as Nebraska’s head coach. He ranks second all-time in career NCAA Tournament victories and NCAA Tournament wins at one school.
• Cook coached his 125th career NCAA Tournament match tonight. He joined Russ Rose as the only two coaches in NCAA history to coach in 125 NCAA Tournament matches.
• With the win, Nebraska improved to 12-1 against ranked opponents this season.
• Nebraska won the first two sets before losing set three. That marked the Huskers’ first set loss of the NCAA Tournament and the first set where an opponent had reached 20 points. Nebraska was the last team to lose a set in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
• Nebraska improved to 103-1 in the NCAA Tournament when taking a 2-0 lead. The Huskers have won 102 consecutive postseason matches when winning the first two sets.
• The Huskers held Dayton to a season-low .087 attack percentage. It marked the first time in 101 matches – dating back to August 26, 2022 – that the Flyers were held below a .100 attack percentage.
• Nebraska also held Dayton to 39 kills in the four-set match, an average of 9.8 kills per set. The Flyers entered the match ranked 13th nationally with an average of 14.1 kills per set
• Harper Murray had a career-high 22 kills in the match. Her 22 kills tied for the most ever by a Husker in either a three- or four-set NCAA Tournament match during the rally-scoring era. Murray tied Sarah Pavan, who had 22 kills in back-to-back four-set victories over UCLA and Stanford in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
• Murray also tied her career high with four aces in the match, including three in a row in the second set. It marked the third time in Murray’s career that she had four aces in a match.
• Murray also had a season-high 16 digs in the match, one shy of her career high.
• In the match, Murray set career highs in kills and aces and season highs in digs and blocks (4).
• Bergen Reilly had 47 assists against Dayton. Reilly recorded her 2,500th career assist in tonight’s match.
• Andi Jackson had eight kills against Dayton. Her first kill was the 500th kill of her career.
• Lexi Rodriguez had 22 digs in the match to tie her season high. Rodriguez now has 248 career digs in the NCAA Tournament. She moved into second place on Nebraska’s all-time postseason digs chart, trailing only Kayla Banwarth (253 digs from 2007 to 2010).