Nebraska volleyball shows critical trait vs. Creighton

Nearly 9,000 people filled the home of Nebraska volleyball to the brim. And yet, the only noise came from the few specks of blue dotted around the arena.

Creighton has never beaten Nebraska in volleyball. Not once. Not in 22 tries. They’ve been close a few times over the years, like that five-setter in 2022 at the CHI Health Center in Omaha or the five-setter in 2018 in Omaha.

But on Tuesday, the No. 9 Bluejays appeared on the cusp of history. Nebraska set the tone in the first two sets to win 25-19 and 25-16. But after an exhausting marathon set that went in Creighton’s favor at 33-31, Nebraska looked lost in the fourth frame.

“Set four, things got ugly for them,” Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said.

She’s right. It was ugly.

The 25-16 set four score was the largest margin of victory in any set in series history for Creighton against Nebraska. Hitting minus-.024 is not a recipe for success. Only seven kills with eight attack errors on a whopping 41 swings. Not a winning formula. Not exactly a performance that inspires fans to cheer.

“Definitely the fourth set (we), not fell apart but separated a little bit,” Nebraska middle blocker Andi Jackson said. “We came into the huddle and we knew what we had to change. We knew what we had to do. We knew that we were going to come together and play Nebraska volleyball again.

“I think that the fifth set was arguably some of the best volleyball that we’ve played all season so far. We really came together and we really leaned on each other.”

She’s right. It was the best volleyball they’ve played all season to date.

And not just in one metric. But almost all of them.

Thirteen kills with one error on 27 swings? That’s a hitting percentage of .444. Their sideout percentage was at a whopping 90%. No service errors. No receiving errors. No block errors. Fifteen digs.

Not only were they good in all metrics, they were balanced.

Two kills from setter Bergen Reilly. Two kills from middle Rebekah Allick. Two kills from opposite Merritt Beason. Two kills from middle Jackson. Three kills from outside Lindsay Krause. Two kills from outside Harper Murray.

Six digs from Murray. Four from Reilly. Two from libero Lexi Rodriguez. Two from Krause. One from Beason.

“Especially after that fourth set, it could have been really easy for us to put our heads down and just see what happens,” Rodriguez said. “But there was just so much intention behind everyone’s attention to detail. I had no doubt we were gonna win that fifth set. I felt so much belief from everyone on the court. It was a pretty cool feeling.”

She added later: “I just feel like having that resiliency in the fifth set to finish it out and finish it out how we did says a lot. I feel like we all knew as a team that we had it within us. I’m just really glad and so proud of the entire team for finally unleashing it tonight.”

Finally unleashing it. Yes. That’s the feeling.

Despite being ranked No. 5. Despite being 5-1 heading into this match. Despite beating then-No. 9 Kentucky to open the season. Despite all of that, Nebraska didn’t look as dominant as we’ve become accustomed to seeing to start the season — even in the wins. Then, of course, there’s the infamous SMU disaster.

Is this a Top-5 team or not? Is this a Final Four-caliber team or not? Will even they make it through the difficult-as-heck nonconference?

The win over Creighton said plenty.

Yes, Nebraska’s a Top 5 team.

Yes, Nebraska’s a Final Four-caliber team.

Yes, Nebraska has what it takes to make it through the rest of the insanely tough nonconference.

If Nebraska had packed it up and packed it in for the fifth set, I’m not so sure. But after that resiliency? They can hang with the best of them.

And the best of them are on deck.

It begins Friday with No. 14 Arizona State. Then it’s Wichita State on Saturday. 

Next Saturday? No. 2 Stanford. Days after that, No. 4 Louisville.

That’s one gauntlet before the gauntlet of the Big Ten.

But the Huskers proved Tuesday night that, after a slow start to the season, they have what it takes.

They might not win them all — it is a tough slate after all.

But they sure as heck are going to make it interesting.