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Nebraska Volleyball Survives Top-10 Scare, Fends Off Purdue in Five Sets

The Huskers overcome a rough second set and a meltdown in the third to escape with the win over the Boilermakers.

Enrique Alvarez-Clary

Merritt Beason.
Merritt Beason. / Amarillo Mullen

Big Ten. Top 10. Five sets.

No. 2 Nebraska (15-1) scratched and clawed its way to a five-set victory over No. 10 Purdue (12-4) in front of a raucous Bob Devaney Sports Center crowd Friday evening. The Huskers remain undefeated in Big Ten play with a 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 17-15 win over the Boilermakers.

A light show between the second and third set was, despite the pageantry, a distant second to the amazing play on the court.

Bergen Reilly guided the Huskers to a .242 hitting percentage as she dished out 60 assists and added to her double-double count with 17 digs.

Merritt Beason led the team in kills as she collected 22 to go along with eight digs and three blocks. Harper Murray had clutch kill after clutch kill as she added 17 to the Nebraska tally.

The Husker middles were active early but slowed down as the match went on. Andi Jackson had 14 kills while Rebekah Allick added 10.

Nebraska Volleyball
Andi Jackson. / Amarillo Mullen

Purdue found something that worked and kept going to it as Eva Hudson and Chloe Chicoine carried the load for the Boilermaker offense with 26 and 22 kills, respectively. Raven Colvin had just five kills for Purdue but did more than enough defensively as she put up a wall at the net with 11 blocks.

Purdue outhit the Huskers .311 to .242 but committed 19 service errors compared to the Huskers' seven.

Up next for Nebraska is a second match in as many nights as the Huskers welcome the Rutgers Scarlet Knights into Lincoln. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT Saturday.

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Enrique Alvarez-Clary
ENRIQUE ALVAREZ-CLARY

Enrique Alvarez-Clary, better known as Rico, is the Assistant Program Director at 93.7 The Ticket in Lincoln, Nebraska as well as the Executive Producer for the Supernovas Radio Network which broadcasts every Omaha Supernovas match during the inaugural season of the Professional Volleyball Federation. A native of Nebraska, Rico first graduated from the prestigious Bellevue West High School and went on to graduate from the University of Nebraska-Kearney where he also competed in Track & Field. Being behind the scenes for so long, Enrique has shifted into a more on-air role co-hosting the "Happy Hour" and lending his voice to many other shows on 93.7. Enrique focuses his coverage of Nebraska on football, volleyball, mens & womens basketball, softball, and track and field. When Enrique isn't covering Huskers Athletics you can find him hanging out with his wife Rachael and their two children Elliot (daughter) and Kade (son). Rico can be reached at rique2688@gmail.com or on Twitter/X @RadioRicoAC

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