Three Takes: Husker Volleyball swept Illinois third time, advance to finals

No. 10 Nebraska Volleyball swept Illinois 25-12, 25-21 and 25-17 to advance to the regional finals/Elite Eight against No. 2 Texas. The Huskers will play the Longhorns on Saturday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.

NU’s serving, defense and hitting were all highlighted in this dominant win.

Here are my three takes from Nebraska’s regional semifinals win:

Illinois is one of the best serving teams in the country and has the most service aces nationally (246).

Against Nebraska, they had four service aces and seven service errors. Libero Taylor Kuper had two aces and two errors.

The Huskers had eight aces and four errors. Middle blocker Lauren Stivrins and defensive specialist Kenzie Knuckles each had three aces.

“We went into it knowing that they were a great serving team but we also went into it knowing we’re a great serving team as well,” said Knuckles, who led a 4-0 run to give Nebraska a 15-13 advantage in the third set.

Stivrins led a 6-0 scoring run from the service line in the first set, helping Nebraska advance to an 18-9 led. She also had a 4-0 run in the second set to push the Huskers from a 21-17 lead to a 24-17 lead.

Outside hitter Madi Kubik said Stivrins goes on runs like that in practice so she wasn’t surprised to see that from her.

Illinois focuses a lot on serving tough but struggled against the Huskers.

“We know that Nebraska is a really good passing team and we know that any team that is in-system is going to be tough to stop,” Kuper said. “We pride ourselves on putting a good ball in the court but I think it’s seen better days.”

Nebraska held the Illini to a .088 hitting percentage including hitting -.057 in the first set.

The Huskers kept all of Illinois’s hitters in check. Middle blocker Kennedy Collins had a team-high eight kills and a .263 clip.

Megan Cooney, a First-Team All-Big Ten selection was too ill to fly to Austin, Texas for the match. Illinois Head Coach Chris Tamas said his team practice one day with the lineup they played against Nebraska in.

Husker Head Coach John Cook said Nebraska was also thrown off by this big change to the lineup.

“I think once we figured out their lineup and what they were trying to do, I thought our floor defense really took over,” Cook said. “In (set) three there, they couldn’t get a ball down on the floor.”

Husker defensive specialist Keonilei Akana stepped up and had a team-high 13 digs. Libero Lexi Rodriguez had eight digs and four assists. Setter Nicklin Hames had 10 digs added to her 33 assists.

Nebraska’s floor defense will be tested again versus Texas on Saturday who hit .387 against Washington.

Nebraska hit .260 on Thursday and had three players who hit over .290.

Middle blocker Kayla Caffey had 11 kills, hit .529 and added five blocks. Outside hitter Madi Kubik added another 11 kills and hit .290 with seven digs.

Freshman Ally Batenhorst, who is from Houston, Texas and had lots of family and friends in the crowd, hit .143 with six kills and three blocks.

Outside hitter Lindsay Krause had eight kills with a .429 hitting percentage. She hit .800 in the first set, was errorless in set two but hit negative in the final set.

“I think what was big for all of us coming into this match was playing fearless,” Krause said. “We’re playing in the Sweet 16 so there is no point in holding back on anything.”

The Huskers will need to continue to be fearless but also play smart against a really talented Texas team.