Nebraska Volleyball Grounds Flyers to Advance to the Elite Eight

The Huskers played well into the night but survived a Friday the 13th scare from the Dayton Flyers to advance to the Elite Eight.

Bergen Reilly points to Harper Murray (27) after Murray's first ace of the game. / Amarillo Mullen

Next stop: Elite Eight.

No. 1-seed Nebraska (32-2, 19-1 B1G) finished off 5-seed Dayton (31-3, 18-0 A10), 25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 25-13, Friday night to advance to the Regional Final on Sunday.

Nebraska finished with fewer attacks (134-149) than Dayton but had more kills (53-39), assists (50-35), service aces (7-4), digs (69-49) and blocks (11-8). The Huskers used a not-so-balanced attack to win John Cook's 100th NCAA Tournament match. Nebraska hit .216, but most of the offensive damage came from one player, Harper Murray.

The super sophomore collected a Nebraska NCAA Tournament match record 22 kills, 11 in the third set, on 44 swings. That was good for a .318 hitting percentage. She also stuffed the stat sheet with four service aces, 16 digs (a new career high), and four blocks while committing only eight errors.

Harper Murray had 22 kills against Dayton, the most by a Husker in an NCAA Tournament game. / Amarillo Mullen

Not to be outdone, the all-time leader in kills for the Dayton Flyers, Lexie Almodovar, took 68 swings and led her team in kills with 20. The undersized Almodovar came up clutch in the Flyers' third-set victory, pouring in 12 kills on 18 errorless swings.

Setting Murray up for success, Bergen Reilly finished with 47 assists, six digs and four blocks. Reilly kept the Flyers' defense honest as well with her two kills.

The Husker middles had a big night with Rebekah Allick contributing 10 kills and four blocks to the final tally and Andi Jackson finishing with eight kills and seven blocks. Taylor Landfair added eight kills of her own as she played without having Lindsay Krause threatening to sub in due to illness.

Nebraska's Bergen Reilly, Andi Jackson, and Harper Murray go for the block against Dayton in the NCAA regional semifinals. / Nebraska Athletics

Senior captain Merritt Beason did not have the best night offensively, finishing with only three kills and four errors. However, she chipped in six digs and three blocks to balance it out.

Lexi Rodriguez had 22 digs to put her a mere 25 away from overtaking Justine Wong-Orantes for the most in a Nebraska career.

The Nebraska-Wisconsin 2024 trilogy - the Huskers swept the Badgers twice during the regular season - will conclude with a meeting in the Elite Eight at 2 p.m. CST Sunday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. That match can be seen on ABC.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Set Synopses

Set 1:  Dayton got off to a hot start taking a 4-1 lead. Murray provided a pair of kills to help the Huskers crawl back, and two kills by Landfair brought the Huskers within 8-7. Allick recorded three kills, and Jackson and Merritt Beason had a block that tied the score at 12-12. Murray's third kill gave Nebraska its first lead at 14-13, and a kill by Jackson put the Huskers up 15-14 at the media timeout. Jackson and Reilly teamed up for a block after the break, and Murray served an ace before another Jackson kill made it 18-14. But Dayton posted a block and and an ace to cut it to 18-16. After a timeout, the Huskers closed the set on a 7-1 run to win 25-17. Landfair, Allick and Murray all had kills down the stretch, and Reilly served a 6-0 run to end the set. 

Set 2: The Huskers used a 4-0 run that included an ace by Rodriguez to go ahead 7-3. Dayton fought back to within 13-12, but Allick terminated a long rally and the Flyers committed an error for a 15-12 Husker advantage. Dayton made a service error, and Murray then served three straight aces before a block by Reilly and Jackson made it 21-14. Nebraska used a timeout after Dayton scored three in a row, and Landfair terminated for a sideout kill, and the Huskers went on to win 25-18. 

Set 3: Dayton got out to an 8-4 start after four straight kills by Almodovar and an ace by Gaby Arroyo. Murray had two kills and a block with Jackson to help NU pull within 9-7, but Dayton answered to go back up 12-8. Murray continued to keep the Huskers in it with two more kills to cut it to 13-11. After a Dayton kill, Murray had a kill and a block with Jackson, and the Flyers hit out before Jackson smashed a kill for a 15-14 Husker lead. Another Murray kill made it 16-15, but the Flyers went on a 4-1 run to gain a 19-17 lead. Dayton led 20-18 before committing a service error, and Landfair returned an overpass down to the floor to tie the score at 20-20. Landfair tied the score again at 21-21, and Murray put her 16th down for a 22-21 lead. But an Almodovar kill and a Husker net violation made it 23-22 Flyers. Dayton served out to tie the score at 23-23, but the Flyers earned set point with a kill. Murray answered for the Big Red with back-to-back kills to earn match point, 25-24, but Almodovar kept the Flyers alive with her 18th and 19th kills to regain set point for Dayton, and the Flyers won 27-25 with a block. 

Set 4: Murray continued her strong play early on, recording four kills as the Huskers went up 7-4. Jackson was then in on two straight blocks, one with Reilly and one with Landfair, as the Huskers built the lead to 10-4. Reilly, Landfair and Allick tallied kills, and Reilly served an ace to increase the lead to 16-7. Allick's 10th kill and an ace served by Mauch put the Huskers up 20-8 and in control. NU went on to finish off the match, 25-13. 

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