Nebraska 3-Rutgers 0: 25-21, 25-22, 25-15
The Huskers kicked off B1G play tonight as they welcomed Rutgers into town. Nebraska being the #1 team looked at this match like they could probably roll through it, but Rutgers wasn’t the same team we’ve seen before.
The Scarlet Knights came to compete and that they did. They seem to just have a different vibe this year. They look like they are determined to get several wins, finish above where they were predicted to finish, and most of all, reach the first
ever B1G Tourney.
Since Teraya Sigler was ruled out tonight, Skyler Pierce got her chance to start and try to show she can be dominate. Since they started in a rotation that put Pierce in the back row, Keri Leimbach saw, what I consider, her first career start which is very exciting for the Nebraska native.
It seemed like the Huskers were feeling the loss of Sigler tonight. Pierce got the nod to play in her place and a subpar night compared to what we see out of Sigler. DBK had said that Jayden Robinson would be next in line if Pierce didn’t produce, but DBK didn’t turn to Robinson at all.
Rutgers looked like a better team than they have in a long time. They kept each set close and if it wasn’t close at one point, they made sure to pull within a few points before the Huskers would close out the set.
The Huskers struggled to close out sets today. The first set took 4 set points, the 2nd took 5 set points, and the 3rd only took 2 set points. Is this a Nebraska issue or has Rutgers really improved that much? Time will tell on the Rutgers question, but Nebraska needs to get back to closing the set on the first chance they get like they did in the 3rd.
Harper Murray and Andi Jackson both had stellar night and definitely made up for the loss of Sigler tonight. Murray had a team high 15 kills, hitting .323% and Jackson had 14 kills, hitting .632%.
Manaia Ogbechie followed that up with 7 kills of her own, while Virginia Adriano added 5, and Skyler Pierce had 4.
The 1st and 3rd sets went really well for the team, hitting wise, as they hit above .400% with only 3 errors in both sets. Things got sloppy in the 2nd when they only hit .154% and had 9 errors. The 5 set points, and the scoring run Rutgers went on, helped lead to such a dip in their numbers.
Overall for the night, the team hit .320% and held Rutgers to hitting .137%. The Scarlet Knights big 3, Skylar George, Karis Willow, and Imani Howell, topped their stats sheet with Howell the only one hitting above .300% on the team.
Like Andi Jackson said in her post match interview, they weren’t playing up to their potential. She also added that they really haven’t yet this season. We saw glimpses of it against Missouri on Wednesday, but they still have a lot of room to grow.
They are such a good team, though, that even when they aren’t playing up to where they should be, they still find a way to close out the match, and sweep too.
The Huskers are right back at it tomorrow night as they host Ohio State. This is their last match at home before going on the road to Penn State, Maryland, and Indiana. Tomorrows match begins at 8:00pm and will be televised on B1G Network.
