No. 11 Huskers Rally to Top Indiana, 3-1

The No. 11 Nebraska volleyball team rallied to put away Indiana Sunday afternoon, topping the Hoosiers 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-16) at Wilkinson Hall. The Huskers are now 19-6 (13-3 Big Ten) on the season, while IU drops to 9-19 (3-13).
 
Four Huskers had double-figure kill performances, and five had at least nine kills on the day.
 
Lexi Sun moved into the top 20 all-time at Nebraska for career kills as a Husker, finishing with 11 on a .310 afternoon, adding a block and two service aces.
 
Ally Batenhorst totaled 11 kills on .333 hitting with five digs and a block. Lindsay Krause joined them with another 11 kills with six digs and three stops at the net. Lauren Stivrins chipped in 10 kills at a .391 efficiency and had three blocks.
 
Madi Kubik had nine more kills with nine digs, just missing a double-double.
 
Nicklin Hames notched her team-leading 17th double-double of the year with 47 assists and 10 digs.
 
Lexi Rodriguez was one of four NU players with double-figure digs, leading all players with 22 scoops for the second straight match. She added a season-high three aces and six assists.
 
Kenzie Knuckles also had 12 digs, and Keonilei Akana added 10 more.
 
As a team, Nebraska hit .210 to Indiana’s .163. The Huskers had the advantage in kills (62-38), digs (79-66) and aces (6-2). IU outblocked NU 11-5.
 
Indiana was led by 11 kills from Kaley Rammelsburg and nine kills from Savannah Kjolhede.
 
Set 1
The Huskers had four errors early, and the game sat tied at 7-7 before Indiana built its lead. The Hoosiers led by as many as seven after a 6-2 run put them ahead 18-11. NU managed to get within four on a Krause kill and a Hoosier setting error. The Huskers later cut it to 23-20 on back-to-back Kubik kills out of a timeout.
 
Facing set point at 24-20, Knuckles delivered two straight kills to force an IU timeout at 24-22. Kubik then terminated to extend the run to 5-1 and pull NU within one, but Kari Zumach and Rammelsburg blocked Knuckles on her final swing to stop the Husker run and take the set, 25-23.
 
IU hit .289 with just two attack errors in the set, while NU finished at .200. Kubik was credited with five kills.
 
Set 2
Nebraska built to a 5-1 start with the boost of three Krause kills and a Rodriguez ace. The Hoosiers trimmed it to 5-4 before Krause, Stivrins and Sun each chipped in a kill and Akana tallied another ace to make it 9-5. With IU within three, Sun and Batenhorst terminated consecutively, and a Sun solo stop got it to 13-7.
 
The Huskers pushed back out to a six-point advantage at 22-16 on a Callie Schwarzenbach kill. A Batenhorst kill got it to set point, and Krause’s sixth kill of the set put it away, 25-18.
 
NU hit .289 to IU’s .167. Krause had six kills on .400 hitting, and Batenhorst provided a lift with four kills on five errorless swings.
 
Set 3
Indiana led 12-8 by Nebraska’s first timeout of set three, as the Huskers committed six attack errors and two serving miscues early on. The deficit increased to 18-12, but NU turned up the heat, and three consecutive kills from Sun during a 5-0 run brought the Huskers within one at 18-17. Sun later served back-to-back aces during a 3-0 spurt to give NU the lead, 21-20.
 
After a Hoosier block pulled IU within one at 23-22, a Kubik kill got it to set point. A final IU attacking error finished it at 25-22.
 
Down by as many as six in the third set, the Husker rally saw them outscore Indiana 13-4 to close it out.
 
Set 4
Nebraska scored nine straight with the help of two Rodriguez aces and six Hoosier errors, with a Krause/Stivrins block punctuating the run at 10-2. The Huskers later got back-to-back kills from Stivrins, and she teamed up with Batenhorst for a block to make it 14-4 and force an IU timeout.
 
NU extended it to 19-8 with back-to-back tallies from Sun and Batenhorst, and another 3-0 surge made it 22-9. A Stivrins kill spurred the Huskers to match point, and after the Hoosiers fended it off five times, NU took a timeout leading 24-15. Sun had the final swing, sealing it at 25-16.
 
Sun and Stivrins had four kills apiece in the set, and Stivrins put up a pair of blocks.
 
Noting Today’s Match
-Breaking into the top 20 in school history, Lexi Sun is now 19th at Nebraska with 1,131 kills as a Husker.
-The Huskers lead the all-time series with Indiana 21-1, including 20-0 in the John Cook era.
-Nebraska has triumphed in 21 straight in the series dating back to 1988.
-The Huskers have an 11-0 advantage over Indiana on the road.
 
Up Next
Nebraska welcomes Penn State to the Devaney Center on Friday, Nov. 19, with first serve set for 8 p.m. The match will be televised on BTN and streamed via its digital extension on the FOX Sports app. John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will have the radio call on Huskers Radio Network.