The No. 9 Nebraska volleyball team’s win streak extended to 10 matches Saturday night, as the Huskers took down No. 7 Purdue, 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-21) at the Devaney Center. NU remains perfect in conference play at 16-3 (10-0 Big Ten), while the Boilermakers drop to 14-5 (6-4).
Nicklin Hames surpassed 4,000 career assists in the match, becoming the third Husker in program history — and the second in the rally-scoring era — to reach the milestone. The senior finished with 48 assists, a season-high-tying 17 digs, three service aces, three kills and two blocks for her team-leading 12th double-double of the season.
Four Huskers had double-figure kill performances on the night, led by Madi Kubik’s 15 kills with 10 digs for her third double-double. Kubik has led the Huskers in kills in 10 straight matches.
Nebraska’s middles provided a big boost offensively, as Kayla Caffey had a career-high 14 kills on .619 hitting with two blocks, and Lauren Stivrins had 14 more kills on .393 hitting with a team-leading five stops.
Lexi Rodriguez tied her season high with 24 digs and added six assists. Kenzie Knuckles had eight scoops with two aces.
NU hit .214 to Purdue’s .123 and had the advantage in kills (64-39), assists (59-38), aces (6-1) and digs (70-62). The Boilermakers outblocked NU 16-7.
Purdue was led by a match-best 16 kills from Caitlyn Newton. Raven Colvin had a match-high nine blocks, and Taylor Trammell had seven more.
Set 1
Purdue had nine kills on its first 13 swings with no attack errors to open the match. The Boilermakers led 15-8 by the first timeout. Back-to-back kills from Stivrins and Kubik propelled NU out of the break, but Purdue worked back out to an eight-point lead.
The Huskers regrouped and staged a seven-point run on two kills apiece from Caffey and Kubik, one from Krause and a pair of Knuckles aces, narrowing the gap to 23-20. A Newton kill stopped the surge, but Caffey came right back with one of her own to hold off set point. Kubik added another to cut it to 24-22, and a Stivrins/Krause block prompted a Boilermaker timeout with NU trailing by one. But another Newton kill stopped the 10-1 Husker run and gave Purdue the set, 25-23.
For the set, Purdue hit .429 with just one attack error and had a 6-2 advantage at the net. Kubik had eight kills on .438 hitting, while Caffey had five kills and hit at a .625 clip.
Set 2
The Huskers’ momentum continued as they took an 8-4 lead in set two with early kills from five different players, and two Boilermaker errors sandwiched a Krause/Caffey block for a 12-7 advantage. By the media timeout, NU led 15-9.
After a Knuckles kill, Kubik followed with another — her 10th of the night — to put the Huskers up 17-10 at the Purdue timeout. The Boilermakers later put together a 4-0 run on two kills and two blocks to narrow NU’s advantage to three, but the Huskers came right back with a 4-0 stretch of their own to go up 23-16. Two Krause kills finished it off for the Big Red, 25-18, evening the match at one set apiece.
Set 3
The Huskers used a 4-0 run with two Krause kills to go up 6-3 in the third set. Three straight kills between the senior duo of Stivrins and Lexi Sun extended it to 10-5 by Purdue’s first timeout.
An 8-1 run bolstered with five consecutive kills between Krause, Caffey and Kubik put NU firmly in control at 19-9. Purdue came no closer than seven the rest of the way, and NU outscored Purdue 4-1 to close it at 25-15.
NU hit .270 in the set while holding Purdue to -.061 while the Boilermakers registered just five kills as a team. Krause and Stivrins had five kills apiece to pace the Huskers.
Set 4
The Huskers broke through a 6-6 tie, and three aces between Hames and Evans powered a 5-1 spurt for an 11-7 lead. Purdue managed to pull within one three times in the set — first at 13-12, again at 17-16 and a final time at 21-20. But the Huskers withstood their threat, capitalizing on two Boilermaker attack errors and a Stivrins/Kubik block to bring it to match point at 24-20. A Stivrins kill punctuated it, 25-21.
Noting Tonight’s Match
–Nicklin Hames joins the company of two former Huskers with 4,000 career assists at Nebraska: Kelly Hunter (4,125 from 2013-17) and Fiona Nepo (4,824 from 1995-98). Hames now has 4,040.
-Nebraska leads the all-time series with Purdue 20-8, including 11-4 in the John Cook era.
-The Huskers have won eight of the last nine meetings.
-NU has an 12-2 advantage at home in the series, and it has not surrendered a home match to Purdue since 2013.
-Tonight was Nebraska’s third win over a ranked opponent this season and its first over a top-10 foe.
Up Next
Nebraska has another top-10 matchup ahead, welcoming No. 3 Wisconsin to the Devaney Center on Wednesday, Oct. 27. First serve is set for 8 p.m., and Larry Punteney and Audrey Flaugh will have the call on Big Ten Network. John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will have the radio call on Huskers Radio Network.
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