No. 12 Husker volleyball breaks its three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over Northwestern (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16). Nebraska is now 7-3 and 1-0 in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats (5-7) and Huskers battled for four sets, but as soon as the final whistle blew, Northwestern’s Megan Miller was handed a bouquet of light pink flowers by her former teammates and coaches. Miller transferred from Nebraska after two seasons.
Her former Husker teammates wrapped her in a hug as tears glistened in their eyes. Miller lost her mother a few months ago, as BTN mentioned. Nebraska hitter Lexi Sun handed Miller a tissue as tears streamed down her face.
It was a special moment for Miller and her friends.
Here are my three takes from the Huskers 3-1 victory over Northwestern:
Cook has found his lineup after mixing and matching players in the non-conference schedule: setter Nicklin Hames, middle blockers Kayla Caffey and Callie Schwarzenbach, libero Lexi Rodriguez, left-side hitters Madi Kubik and Ally Batenhorst and Lindsay Krause at opposite hitter.
Cook did what he said and kept the starting lineup sound until the fourth set when Lexi Sun came off the bench for Batenhorst.
Caffey served the first time around but had an error. Cook said she serves great in practice and that they want to get her serving in games.
After that, setter Anni Evans was the server for the middles. She had one ace and led a 7-0 scoring run from behind the service line in the fourth set. Cook said they can have her set from the back row and bring in a blocking sub if Hames needs to come out for some reason.
Kubik hit .455 in set one with six kills and one error. Her zero-hitting percentage in the second set lowered her match percentage to .289. She had 19 kills and six errors with three in set 2.
Batenhorst, the other left-side hitter, had eight kills with four errors and hit .200. In set 3, she hit -.400 with two errors on five swings. At opposite, Krause has 15 kills with two errors, a .500 clip and two blocks.
At middle, Caffey hit a team-high .647 with 12 kills and one error. Schwarzenbach sparked Nebraska with five blocks in the fourth set.
The Huskers had a team total of 10 blocks compared to Northwestern’s eight. The Wildcats didn’t record a block in the final set.
Nebraska’s offense and defense seemed to be humming along during this match. There were some hiccups and a few scoring runs by the Wildcats, but the Huskers played the fourth match almost to their full capability.
Sun sat for three sets and when Cook turned to her to spark Nebraska, she did.
“I see my opinion when she’s dialed in, she’s the best left-side blocker in the country,” Cook said after the game on the Huskers Radio Network. “We were getting lit up over there in what we call the red zone. So I said, ‘Lexi, you got to go in and shut this down,’ and she did. When she did that, they kind of fell apart.”
While she didn’t start, Sun proved she’s still an important piece to this team. She earned a block as soon as she stepped on the court. Sun and Caffey stuffed Northwestern’s Ella Grbac on Sun’s first point of the match.
Once Sun proved it could be done, Nebraska had five more blocks in the match.
The Huskers struggled to crack Northwestern’s Hanna Lesiak (14 kills) and Leilani Dodson (12 kills). NU’s strong block in the final set sent the Wildcats hitting percentage to -.032 on the set. They hit .222 as a team during the match.
Understandably, Cook wants to establish a core group of starters/major contributors to create consistency and chemistry. But, having sure a deep lineup gives Nebraska an option to get a spark from the bench. Sun proved how valuable that is against Northwestern.
Nebraska played all-around solid volleyball after getting going in the final set.
The Huskers started down 3-0 following back-to-back errors. At one point, Northwestern led 6-2 until Sun’s first block sparked a 4-0 comeback run. A Wildcat service error tied it up and Nebraska never looked back.
The Huskers went on a 7-0 scoring run with Evans behind the service line. Northwestern had three errors in that span and Evans had an ace. Dodson crushed her only kill of the set and Nebraska scored four consecutive points.
NU had an 11-1 scoring run in the fourth set.
Talk about a momentum builder after three consecutive losses to ranked opponents. Going into this match, Nebraska desperately needed to find a way to win any way they could. The Huskers kicked on the afterburners in the final set and made it happen.
While Sun proved a spark for the blocking game, defensive specialist Kenzie Knuckles sparked her teammate’s fighting spirits.
“She does so much for us with her fighting spirit and just competing and that’s why she named her captain,” Cook said. “I thought she made some big plays tonight and brought an intensity to our side that we’re going to compete tonight and fight for every point.”
Nebraska displayed that competitive edge against Northwestern and will need to bring it to every Big Ten match this season.
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