Nebraska Volleyball’s Run to the roses will continue, as the Huskers swept Wisconsin for the third time this season (26-24, 25-17, 25-21) to move on to the Final Four.
With the win, the Huskers join Pittsburgh and Louisville in the national semifinals. The fourth team will be decided tonight between Creighton and Penn State.
“We had to play our best match of the year to win this match today,” Head Coach John Cook said in the postgame press conference. “Even though a few times it wasn’t going really well, they just stayed with it and found ways to win.”
The Huskers had three players with double digit kills, as Taylor Landfair led the team with 13 kills. Andi Jackson and Harper Murray both had 10 kills apiece to join Landfair, as the Huskers hit .210 on the match.
The first set was very back and forth, and neither team couldtake advantage early. Nebraska would take a 5-0 run to give some breathing room at the 21-17 mark, but the Badgers, led by Sarah Franklin’s 12 kills, would take 8 of the next 11 points to tie the game at 24-24, but the Huskers would take the last two points of the set on a Wisconsin service ace and a Landfair kill to win in extra points, 26-24. Nebraska outhit the Badgers in the first set, .300 to .263, while Landfair led the team in the set with 6 kills.
Nebraska’s second set was start to finish domination. Willed by a crowd of 8,763, Nebraska forced Wisconsin timeouts with the Huskers leading 6-2 and 13-4, but the Badgers would claw back with 5 of 6 points to force a Husker timeout with Nebraska leading 15-9. Wisconsin could not get things sorted out against Andi Jackson in the second set, who had 5 kills in the second set. The Badgers hit .114 in the set to Nebraska’s .250.
Wisconsin would be able to jump in front of Nebraska in the third set, leading the Huskers by as many as 4 points at the media timeout (15-11). Nebraska would then find a spark, going 4-0 to tie the game at 15-15 and forcing a Wisconsin timeout, and would then take the lead for good to take the Huskers to their 18th trip to the final four.
Nebraska will play at either 6:30 or 8:30 against the winner of Creighton/Penn State. The game will be broadcast on KGFW and Hits 106.
Lincoln All-Regional Team
MVP: Harper Murray, Nebraska
NEBRASKA: Bergen Reilly, Lexi Rodriguez
Wisconsin: Sarah Franklin
Texas A&M: Logan Lednicky
Dayton: Lexie Almodovar
