Huskers Top Utes, 3-1

LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team bounced back from an opening set loss to win 3-1 over No. 22 Utah in front of 8,632 at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday night. 

The Huskers dropped the first set, 21-25, but recovered strong with 25-8, 25-18, 25-13 victories to improve to 7-0 on the season. Utah fell to 5-2. 

Rebekah Allick tied her career high with 13 kills on .667 hitting, along with seven blocks. Andi Jackson posted nine kills and hit .375 with five blocks. Harper Murray also recorded nine kills. Taylor Landfair notched eight kills on .467 hitting and had two aces among her team-high 27 serve attempts. Allie Sczech came off the bench to provide six kills. 

Nebraska hit .302 and held Utah to .063. Bergen Reilly recorded 32 assists and 18 digs, and Laney Choboy had 12 digs. 

The Huskers had 12.5 blocks to 5.0 for Utah. NU had more kills (48-34) and digs (57-44). Both teams had three aces, but Nebraska made six fewer service errors. 

Set 1: Utah separated from an 8-8 tie with a 5-1 run to go up 13-9. The Utes extended their lead to six, 18-12, after their third ace of the set. But a 4-0 run got the Huskers within 21-17. Landfair served the run and had an ace, while Murray and Allick combined for a block. Sczech added a kill as NU cut it to three, 22-19, but the Utes gained set point at 24-19. Jackson tallied a kill to make it 24-21, but the Utes won 25-21. 

Set 2: Landfair and Sczech opened the set with three straight kills. Allick, Sczech and Murray posted three more kills, and a block by Jackson and Murray contributed to the Huskers taking a 9-3 lead. Landfair, Reilly and Allick recorded kills as the Huskers increased the lead to 17-5. Allick and Murray posted another block; Allick had back-to-back kills, and Allick and Sczech combined for a block before a Murray kill ended the set, 25-8. NU had 15 kills on 20 swings (.750) in the set.

Set 3: Allick had two kills and a solo block to help NU to an early lead. Landfair posted two kills and an ace to make it 14-8 Big Red, and Sczech put the Huskers up 15-9 at the media timeout. After the break, Jackson hammered two kills and Murray tacked on another before a block by Reilly and Jackson made it 19-10. However, Utah scored six in a row to get within 19-16. After the Utes' run ended with a pair of errors, Murray scored from the back row and Landfair connected for a 23-16 lead. The Huskers won 25-18. 

Set 4: The Huskers went ahead 10-6 after a block by Sczech and Jackson and a kill by Jackson. The junior middle blocker was in on another block - with Reilly - and posted a kill for a 13-8 lead. A 5-0 run put the Huskers up 22-11, including a block by Allick and Sczech, a solo block by Allick, and a kill by Murray. The Huskers went on to win 25-13.      

Up Next: The Huskers are back in action on Saturday against Grand Canyon at 6 p.m. That match will air on Nebraska Public Media, B1G+ and the Huskers Radio Network.