Sunscreen applied. Sun Devils defeated.
No. 5 Nebraska (7-1) played their second match in four days and swept No. 14 Arizona St (7-1): 25-20, 26-24, 25-19.
Nebraska put on an offensive clinic collecting 48 kills and only13 errors, finishing with a .319 hitting percentage as a team.
Arizona State hit .213 as a team, led by Geli Cyr who finished with 14 kills on .357 hitting percentage. Argentina Ung paced the Sun Devils offense with 35 assists while keeping the ball from hitting the court with 15 digs.
Merritt Beason pushed aside a slow start to finish with the most kills in the match, leading the way with 15 kills and only three errors, good for a .429 hitting percentage. The senior captain also chipped in three blocks.
Bergen Reilly again led a balanced Huskers attack as she earned another double-double finishing with 41 assists and 15 digs while chipping in two blocks.
Andi Jackson and Harper Murray both finished with 10 kills each, with Murray chipping in nine digs as well. Rebekah Allick only took 13 swings but turned them into seven kills while also being a problem at the net for the opponent with five blocks.
The first set of the match saw both teams putting on a show on the offensive end.
A back-and-forth affair from the first serve saw both teams siding out at a ridiculous pace, Nebraska at 90% with Arizona State at 72%. Nebraska took the lead at 5-4 off a Jackson kill. She started the match 6-for-6 before committing her first error late in the first set, and the Big Red never trailed for the rest of the set.
The second set was more hotly contested with Arizona State leading 15-12 at the media timeout. The teams then traded the lead multiple times before the Husker called a timeout while trailing 22-21.
Back-to-back attacking errors from Murray led to a conversation with the team from coach John Cook. The timeout caused a Sun Devils service error. The visitors would finish the match with 12.
A double-stuff block by Nebraska to retake the lead. The Huskers finished the second set, outscoring Arizona State 5-2 down the stretch to claim the victory.
The third set saw a another Husker step up to the challenge. Harper Murray crushed six of her 10 kills in the final set, leading the way for a set that saw only three lead changes.
Next up for the Huskers is the final match of the Nebraska Classic. Nebraska takes on Wichita State Saturday at 3 p.m. CDT.
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