Nebraska Volleyball vs. Michigan: Round 2

SB Nation

The Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Michigan Wolverines are set to meet for the 2nd time this season, but this time in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is also Harper Murray’s hometown so we could draw in even more

fans from the area if they choose to be Husker fans for the day.

Speaking of Harper Murray……After Friday’s match against Michigan State, she surpassed 1,000 career kills. The 2x All-American is hitting at a .513% clip in her last 3 matches. She is also averaging 3.75 kills/set this season as well!

The Huskers managed to get another sweep last night over a Michigan State team that did not stop coming at us. Nebraska had to fight for every point they wanted or else Michigan State could’ve turned their 3-4 point runs into something more and maybe steal a set.

The Huskers still haven’t lost a set since the Creighton match back in mid-September. If everything stays on track, they probably won’t be in danger of losing another set until their Halloween night battle against Wisconsin in Madison.

Michigan and Nebraska played their first match of conference play against each other in Lincoln back on September 24th. Nebraska would pull out the 3-0 sweep, but it didn’t come without a little push back from a tough Michigan squad.

Grad Student Allison Jacobs was their top star of the night, but this was not a surprise to most. She had 8 of the teams 24 kills, on 28 swings, and hit at a .143% clip while also adding 3 blocks as well.

Jacobs had twice as many kills as the next two players, who only had 4 kills, Cymarah Gordon and Ella Demetrician. Jacobs is usually in the drivers seat for this team and other players feed off of her play and energy.

Sophomore Ella Demetrician, who is a very good offensive player for the Wolverines, struggled against the Huskers in their first go as she only had 4 kills, on 20 attempts, and 4 errors to hit an even .000%. She also only tallied 1 block. Demetrician is one of the key pieces of their offense they will look to get going this time around.

Nebraska’s offense was very spread out in their 1st meeting with 2 players that were in the double digits for kills. Harper Murray and Virginia Adriano had 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Both hit over .350% for the night, contributing to their hitting percentage of .380% as a team.

The Husker middle blockers also had a good night as Rebekah Allick and Andi Jackson had a combined 17 kills and 5 blocks. Freshman Manaia Ogbechie also got a little bit of playing time at the end, tallying 1 block on the night.

The Wolverines stayed with the Huskers in the 1st set of that September match and it looked like they could possibly take a set from us. The next 2 sets were completely different though as Nebraska didn’t let them get over 15 points in either set.

Even though Michigan now knows how Nebraska works, both offensively and defensively, I don’t see them changing their game up that much. Their offense runs through Allison Jacobs and will continue to until she graduates.

The match is set to begin at 1:00pm CT at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The match will only be available for streaming on B1G+.

Michigan Wolverines (12-6, 2-5 B1G)

#1 Serena Nyambio 6’2” SR MB
#2 Allison Jacobs 5’11” GR OH
#3 Cymarah Gordon 6’0” RS-FR OPP
#4 Ece Senyapici 6’3” FR MB
#5 Lydia Johnson 6’3” JR OPP
#6 Ellie White 5’11” SO Setter
#7 Morgan Burke 6’0” JR Setter
#8 Leni Stanton-Parker 5’10” FR OH
#9 Ella Demetrician 6’2” SO OH
#10 Carly Greskovics 5’6” JR Libero
#11 Amalia Simmons 5’11” RS-JR OH
#12 Jenna Hanes 6’3” SO MB
#14 Hannah Brady 5’7” FR Libero
#15 Jacyn Bamis 6’1” GR MB
#16 Camille Edwards 5’11” RS-FR Setter
#19 Maddi Cuchran 5’5” GR Libero
#22 Sydney Schnichels 6’4” RS-SO OPP
#28 Trixie McMillin 5’5” SO Libero