Nebraska Volleyball Sweeps Oregon in Eugene

Husker volleyball extends their winning streak to 20 matches with another top-25 victory

Nebraska volleyball players celebrate a point at Oregon. / Nebraska Athletics

A high-powered new addition to the Big Ten Conference met the same fate as many before them.

No. 2 Nebraska (23-1, 13-0 B1G) volleyball continues their dominance in the conference with a sweep of No. 12 Oregon (17-5, 9-4 B1G), 25-12, 26-24, 25-18. That makes for 20 consecutive wins and 17 sweeps on the year.

The Huskers dominated the first set, holding the Ducks to negative hitting. The second set needed extra points, but the Big Red prevailed late partially due to one of several correct challenges from coach John Cook. The third set saw Nebraska slowly pull away to take the victory.

Thursday was the second straight match to involve the Huskers and set an arena's attendance record. Oregon's new record of 8,566 is nearly 1,200 more than previous record set last year.

Facing one of the better blocking teams in the nation Nebraska hit .278 with 44 kills, 14 errors and were blocked seven times. Serving and defense were on full display as well with four aces, six blocks and 52 digs for the Huskers who out-dug the Ducks 52-38.

Harper Murray and Taylor Landfair led the way, both hitting over .400 with double figure kills. Murray with 14 and 10 digs on .414, Landfair with 13 and two blocks on .407.

Taylor Landfair celebrates one of her first kills as a Husker. / Amarillo Mullen

Merritt Beason and Andi Jackson chipped in six kills each while Bergen Reilly added three of her own to go along with 33 assists and nine digs.

With her first dig of the match, Lexi Rodriguez took sole possession of second place in career digs in Nebraska volleyball history. The senior Libero finished the match with 14 digs.

Olivia Mauch continued her masterful play from the service line with two aces.

Mimi Colyer led the way for Oregon with 52 swings and 13 kills as the Ducks broke out a 6-2. Cook told the Big Ten Network after the match that he expected Oregon to go away from the 6-2 after being dominated in the first set, but the Ducks stuck with it an kept the next two sets much closer.

The Pacific Northwest road trip continues as Nebraska will face the Washington Huskies Saturday. That will be another late match, with first serve set for 9:30 p.m. CST.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Set Synopses

Set 1: Nebraska took a 4-0 lead, but Oregon fought back to tie the score at 6-6. Back-to-back kills by Murray, two by Landfair and one by Jackson made it 11-6 Big Red. Landfair added three more kills and a block with Allick as the Huskers built an 18-8 advantage. After Oregon scored three in a row, a service error by the Ducks preceded an ace by Mauch, a block by Allick and Beason and a kill by Murray that made it 22-11 Huskers. A kill by Jackson and a solo block by the sophomore middle blocker gave the Huskers a 25-12 win. NU hit .476 in set one and held Oregon to -.031. 

Set 2: Oregon led 8-6 when Murray and Jackson pounded kills, and Murray served an ace for a 10-8 Husker lead. Reilly dumped a kill before Beason tallied another to make it 13-10. But the Ducks ran off three straight points to even the score at 14-14. After a Husker timeout, Murray tooled a block and the Ducks hit long twice to put NU back in front, 17-14. The Ducks rallied to tie the score at 19-19, but Jackson terminated a kill and Allick and Landfair combined for a block and a 21-19 advantage. Landfair ended a long rally with a kill to make it 22-20, but the Ducks came right back to even the score at 22-22 after a kill and a Husker hitting error. After an NU timeout, Landfair posted her eighth kill, but Colyer answered for the Ducks. The Ducks then hit long to give NU set point, 24-23, but a kill by Oregon tied it 24-24. Oregon hit wide to give the Big Red another set point chance, and Murray ended the set at 26-24 with her ninth kill. 

Set 3: Oregon led 6-4 when Kennedi Orr served a 4-0 run to put the Huskers up 8-6. Reilly dumped two kills, and Allick and Landfair each posted one. After Oregon tied the score at 8-8, Landfair earned a sideout kill and Reilly served an ace before an Oregon error made it 11-8. The Ducks came back with a 3-0 run to make it 11-11, but Beason terminated and Mauch served her second ace before Oregon hit wide for a 14-11 Husker edge. After an Oregon timeout, Reilly set Beason for back-to-back kills, and Allick and Beason stuffed a Duck attack for a 17-11 lead. After Oregon got within 17-13, Allick recorded a solo block, and three Murray kills put the Huskers up 22-15. Nebraska finished off a 25-18 win with three kills by Landfair. 

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