Huskers Sweep Season Series With Iowa

LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team swept Iowa for the second time this week with a 25-14, 25-20, 25-13 win on Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Nebraska (12-2) hit a season-best .397 and held Iowa to .013 hitting, the best offensive and defensive performances by the Huskers this season. It was also Iowa’s lowest hitting percentage of the season.

Jazz Sweet had a season-high 12 kills on .733 hitting to go with three blocks to lead the Huskers. Lexi Sun also added 12 kills on .526 hitting with six digs and three blocks. Lauren Stivrins racked up six kills and two blocks, while Callie Schwarzenbach had four kills on five swings (.800) to go with a match-high five blocks.

Nicklin Hames set 31 assists and had a pair of aces and seven digs. Kenzie Knuckles had a match-high eight digs.

Nebraska had decisive advantages in kills (40-22), assists (39-21), blocks (8-5) and digs (31-18). Head Coach John Cook won his 600th career match at Nebraska, giving him a 600-83 (.878) record in 21 years as Nebraska’s head coach.

Iowa (3-13) had no player with more than five kills for the match. Amiya Jones and Edina Schmidt both totaled five on the night.

Set 1: Iowa jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a pair of blocks, but the Huskers answered with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the score. Iowa reclaimed a 6-4 lead before the Big Red reeled off seven of the next eight points to go up 11-7. Sun had two kills and combined with Schwarzenbach for a block. Sun and Sweet then added back-to-back kills to help NU go up 14-8, and a kill by Kubik preceded a block by Stivrins and Sweet that put the Huskers up 17-9. The Huskers pulled away with four of the final five points to win 25-14. Schwarzenbach had a kill and block with Sweet, who also added another kill. Nebraska outhit Iowa .444 to -.077 in the set.

Set 2: Sun had a solo block and a kill, Hames served another ace, and Sweet had two kills and a block with Schwarzenbach as the Huskers built a 10-4 lead. Schwarzenbach had a block with Sweet and a kill to help Nebraska go up 13-5 and force an Iowa timeout. The Hawkeyes inched back into the set, however, pulling within 19-17. Sweet terminated again and Knuckles served an ace, but the Hawkeyes recorded the next two points to cut it to two again, 21-19. After a timeout, Sweet connected from the right side for her eighth kill, and Stivrins tooled a block before Madi Kubik and Sun closed out a 25-20 win with kills. It was another dominant defensive performance for the Huskers, as they held Iowa to .037 hitting for the set while attacking at a .231 clip themselves.

Set 3: Sweet, Sun and Schwarzenbach posted kills to spark the Huskers to a 5-1 early advantage. Leading 9-5, the Big Red went on a 5-0 run to make it 14-5. Sun had two kills and Stivrins served an ace before Hames notched a kill. Sun produced another pair of kills, and Sweet and Kubik joined in as the Huskers increased their lead to 12 at 21-9. The Huskers finished off the sweep, 25-13, via Sun’s 12th kill of the match. NU hit .533 in the final set and held Iowa to .087.

Up Next: The Huskers play at Michigan next Thursday at 7 p.m. (CT) and Friday at 6 p.m. (CT).