Nebraska 3, Long Island 0
25-11, 25-15, 25-17
Tonight’s match got started just after 7:30pm because of the San Diego-Kansas State match running 5 sets earlier tonight. The Wildcats got the win and will
get the Cornhuskers tomorrow night, in an old Big 12 rivalry, at 7:00pm CST in the 2nd round matchup.
Olivia Mauch got the start at libero tonight after not playing in the final regular season match against Ohio State. DBK most likely let her have this one since it is an opponent that should be swept and also Laney Choboy played against OSU while Maisie Boesiger was the libero on senior night.
Starting tonights match, the Huskers came out strong getting an early lead, but Long Island was playing them tough with Sara van Gisteren getting 4 kills on 4 swings right out of the gates. After this, the Huskers adjusted and she cooled off.
The Huskers had no hitting errors through the first half of the set and only ended up with 1 at the end of the 1st. LIU cooled off as a team after their fast start with the Huskers getting the 15-9 lead going into the 15-point TV timeout.
LIU would take their 2 timeouts for the set back to back after the Huskers scored 3 unanswered points after the timeout to go ahead 18-9. Nebraska scored 3 more points, to go up 21-9, to make LIU take their 2nd timeout.
The Sharks would only score 2 more points in the set, with one coming from a challenge that was won, as the Huskers won set 1 in a commanding 25-11 way.
Andi Jackson led the way with 5 kills while Rebekah Allick and Virginia Adriano both had a perfect attacking set at 1.000%. The Huskers were very strong in their attacking game only having 1 hitting error and hitting .615% for the set while holding Long Island to .034%.
Nebraska started the 2nd set with a quick 4-0 lead and only recording 1 more error early on. Virginia Adriano debuted her strong serve near the end of B1G play, but has been struggling a little tonight, recording 2 service errors instead of aces.
At the TV timeout, the Huskers led 15-7 and had already gotten 6 blocks, in the match, only halfway through the 2nd set as they proved to be a brick wall.
DBK brought out the double sub in the middle of this set as well bringing Allie Sczech and Campbell Flynn in for Virginia Adriano and Bergen Reilly to get them some tournament time in an early-on match. Maisie Boesiger also came in as a serving sub as well.
LIU started to go on a little run, after Nebraska took their early lead, to bring them to 1o points in the set. The Huskers didn’t give up their lead though. While LIU had a bit of a run, Nebraska continued to extend their lead through this forcing LIU to take a timeout at 21-12.
Bergen Reilly recorded 2 aces back to back after this timeout. The Huskers forced another LIU timeout when they brought set 2 to set point at 24-14. The Sharks got a point right out of the timeout, but the Huskers shut down the set with the next point.
Rebekah Allick and Andi Jackson were tied with 7 kills at the end of the 2nd while Jackson led the team, hitting .778% so far through 2 sets of play.
The Huskers struggled just a little more, with help from the LIU defense, hitting .464% in the second which was about .200 less than the 1st set. LIU’s offense got going just a little more, hitting .129%.
Nebraska commanded set 3 from the start taking another 4-0 lead and forcing LIU to take a timeout when they extended their lead to 6 at 7-1. They were also hitting perfect through the first 7 swings of the set and going 11 for 12 in the late stages of the set.
DBK got even more of her bench players some tournament time during the later points of the 3rd. Skyler Pierce came into the match on the outside, for Taylor Landfair, and Manaia Ogbechie ended Andi Jackson’s night subbing for her. Landfair returned near the end of the set.
LIU took their final timeout of the match when the Huskers took at 12 point, 18-6 lead. LIU came out of this timeout with a little bit of momentum, scoring 3 points and the Huskers only scoring 2.
The Huskers struggled, just a little, to close the match out letting LIU score some points that they probably shouldn’t have gotten. LIU went on a 4-0 scoring run late, but Rebekah Allick ended that to take us to match point. It would take 2 match points, but Manaia Ogbechie closed out the match for the Huskers to send them to the 2nd round.
Rebekah Aliick and Andi Jackson closed their nights out at the top of the score sheet, hitting .750% and .833%, respectively. Jackson led in blocks, though, with 5 while Allick had 4.
Taylor Landfair and Harper Murray both had 7 kills hitting .250% and .400%, respectively. Virginia Adriano followed them with 6 kills, Manaia Ogbechie with 3, Bergen Reilly with 2, and Teraya Sigler and Skyler Pierce both with 1.
The Huskers had a strong hitting night, but allowed maybe a few too many errors against a team that isn’t as strong as some of the bottom tier B1G teams. They had 8 errors, but still ended the night hitting a strong .476%.
LIU’s numbers took a little dip in the 3rd, even after a strong finish, hitting .120% in the 3rd and .094% overall. Sara van Gisteren ended her season with 8 kills, but ending in the negative at -.034%.
Nebraska will be right back at the Bob Devaney Center tomorrow night, at 7:00pm CST again when they take on the Kansas State Wildcats in the 2nd round of the tournament. The match will be streaming on ESPN+ once again. This will be the last match streamed on ESPN+ if they are to win tomorrow night.
