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Louisville Bound: Nebraska Volleyball Sweeps Wisconsin to Earn Final Four Trip

The Huskers swept the Badgers for the third time this season to win the regional final and earn a bid to the national semifinals in Louisville.

Kaleb Henry

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska volleyball is going back to the Final Four.

The Huskers swept Wisconsin in the regional final Sunday afternoon at the Bob Devaney Sports Center: 26-24, 25-17, 25-21. This was the third sweep over the Badgers this season for the Big Red.

NU is into the national semifinals for the 18th time in program history.

Nebraska hit .210 for the match as setter Bergen Reilly handed out 29 assists. Harper Murray notched a double-double of 10 kills and 12 digs.

Taylor Landfair finished with a match-high 13 kills on .267 hitting. Andi Jackson added 10 kills on .474 hitting.

The Husker defense, as it has all year, showed up big. NU notched 12 blocks and 59 digs to frustrate the Badger attack.

Lexi Rodriguez tallied 17 digs. She is now eight digs from tying Husker legend Justine Wong-Orantes for the all-time program record.

Murray was named MVP of the Lincoln Regional. Other Huskers on the All-Regional team are Reilly, Rodriguez, and Andi Jackson. The rest of the team includes Sarah Franklin (Wisconsin), Logan Lednicky (Texas A&M) and Lexi Almodovar (Dayton).

Nebraska joins other 1 seeds Pittsburgh and Louisville in punching its ticket to the national semifinals in Louisville. The Panthers and Cardinals will meet in one semifinal Thursday while the Huskers await the winner of Sunday night's regional final between Penn State and Creighton. The championship match is set for Sunday, Dec. 22, at 2 p.m. CST on ABC.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Set Synopses

Set 1: The Huskers went up 4-2 on a kill from Murray. Wisconsin fought to take an 11-7 lead, but NU battled back behind a kill apiece from Landfair and Rebekah Allick and a triple block to regain a 15-14 edge. Three straight Landfair kills stretched the advantage to 21-16 and force a Badger timeout. Wisconsin came back to tie the score at 24-24, but a serving error, along with Landfair’s sixth kill of the match, closed out the 26-24 set victory for the Huskers. NU hit .300 in the set.

Set 2: Nebraska sprinted out to an 8-2 lead, sparked by Merritt Beason at the service line. A 7-0 run with Beason at the line included three Jackson kills, two blocks by Bergen Reilly and Jackson and an ace from Beason. NU continued to extend its advantage and took a 14-4 lead behind a block from Allick and a kill from Landfair. The Badgers brought the score to 15-10 before an Olivia Mauch ace and Allick kill made the Husker lead 18-10. Landfair and Beason notched a kill each to help finish out the 25-17 set win.

Set 3: Wisconsin earned a 7-4 lead early on in the set. The Badgers extended the lead to 15-11, but two Murray kills and a Beason ace were part of a run that tied the score at 15-15. NU then went on another 4-0 run to grab a 19-16 lead, and a Jackson kill put the Big Red at the 20-point mark. Murray and Allick combined for Nebraska's 10th block to make the score 23-20. At 23-21, the Huskers stuffed the Badgers on back-to-back attacks to close out the match.

Nebraska Athletics Notes

  • With the win, Nebraska advanced to an NCAA Semifinal for the 18th time in program history and for the seventh time in the past 10 seasons. The Huskers’ 18 NCAA Semifinals rank second in NCAA history, and Nebraska’s seven semifinal appearances in the last 10 seasons lead the nation.
  • Nebraska has made 13 NCAA Semifinals since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1998. The Huskers’ 13 trips to the semifinals in the 64-team NCAA Tournament era lead the nation.
  • John Cook has led Nebraska to an NCAA Semifinal for the 12th time in his 25 seasons. He is one of only two coaches two make 12 NCAA Semifinals with one school.
  • Cook improved to 101-25 in his NCAA Tournament career, including a 93-20 record at Nebraska. He ranks second all-time in career NCAA Tournament victories and NCAA Tournament wins at one school.
  • With the win, Nebraska improved to 134-37 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers rank second in NCAA history in postseason wins and winning percentage (.784).
  • Nebraska improved to 33-2 on the season with the win. The 33 wins tie for the most victories by a Husker team since the 2000 national championship team went 34-0.
  • NU improved to 18-15 all-time in NCAA Final matches, including a 10-5 record in matches played in Lincoln.
  • NU improved to 87-7 all-time in home NCAA Tournament matches, including 32-2 at the Devaney Center.
  • The win was Nebraska’s 26th consecutive home victory in the NCAA Tournament, a school record.
  • Overall, Nebraska has won 45 consecutive home matches dating back to Dec. 1, 2022. The Huskers own the nation’s longest home winning streak, and the streak is the longest since Nebraska moved into the Devaney Center in 2013.
  • Nebraska finished the 2024 season with a perfect 22-0 home record. The 22 home victories are a school record, one year after the Huskers set a then-school record with 21 home wins in 2023.
  • The Huskers finished with back-to-back undefeated home seasons for the first time since posting four consecutive undefeated home seasons from 2005 to 2008.
  • With the win, Nebraska improved to 13-1 against ranked opponents this season, including 8-1 against top-10 opponents. The Huskers’ eight wins against top-10 teams ties the school record, as the 1995 national championship team also had eight victories against top-10 opponents.
  • Nebraska improved to 104-1 in the NCAA Tournament when taking a 2-0 lead. The Huskers have won 103 consecutive postseason matches when winning the first two sets.
  • Lexi Rodriguez had 17 digs in the match. Rodriguez now has 265 career digs in the NCAA Tournament. In the match, she passed Kayla Banwarth (253 digs) for the most career digs by a Husker in the NCAA Tournament.
  • Rebekah Allick had four blocks in the match. Her first block was the 500th of her career, as she became the sixth Husker in the rally-scoring era to record 500 career blocks.
  • Harper Murray (10 kills, 12 digs) recorded her eighth double-double of the season and her second straight. Six of Murray's eight double-doubles this season have come against ranked opponents.
  • Nebraska held Sarah Franklin, the 2024 AVCA National Player of the Year, to a season-low .128 attack percentage. The Huskers held Franklin to under .200 hitting in each of the three matches against Wisconsin in 2024.
  • The Huskers held Wisconsin to a .126 attack percentage. That was the second-lowest mark of the season for the Badgers, trailing only the .094 they hit against the Huskers on Nov. 1. Overall, Nebraska held Wisconsin below a .170 attack percentage in each of their three matches this season.

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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