The Huskers kicked off the Halloween weekend in Michigan with a game against the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Nebraska came out looking a little slow on defense, losing set one after letting Michigan get a good lead and then battling back. Nebraska would not let the Wolverines take another set and battling to win the last three sets.
This was a big team win. Each set a different player took over. Every starting hitter had double digit kills. Harper Murray led the Huskers with 16 kills, Virginia Adriano
added 14 hitting .500. Andi Jackson had 13. Teraya Sigler had a double double with 12 kills and 12 digs, along with three blocks. Mania Ogbechie rounded things out with 11 kills also hitting .500 and adding four blocks.
Defense was slow for the Huskers in the first set, but they picked it up as the game went on. Olivia Mauch had 13 digs to end the night.
The Huskers hit .412 on the night and held Michigan to .289.
Michigan was led by Ella Demetrician with 21 kills and Cymarah Gordon with 16.
Nebraska 3, Michigan 1
Set 1: Nebraska 26, Michigan 28
Nebraska started off kind of slow in this set. The serve receive was not great the first few serves and the Huskers were finding it hard to score. On the opposite side of the net Michigan started off looking really smooth on serve receive and had some good kills by Ella Demetrician. Michigan was tipping over the block and the Huskers were not able to pick them up. The Huskers were able to even things up, but each time they did Michigan would get the ball back. The Huskers first lead of the night came at 10-9. Olivia Mauch’s serving prompted a 6-0 run and the Huskers went up 14-10. Michigan was not going to let the Huskers go that easy though and they brought it even at 17-17. Michigan was able to hit the red zone first and was picking up everything the Huskers were hitting at them. Michigan had set point at 24-20 and the Huskers were able to push to 24-24. The two teams battled back and forth over many set points. Michigan wins it 28-26.
The Huskers hit .396 on the set, but they allowed the Wolverines to hit .465. Cymarah Gordon had 8 kills and hit .700 on the set to lead all hitters.
Set 2: Nebraska 25, Michigan 20
Mania Ogbechie started things off with a big kill in the middle. Nebraska got off to a 4-1 lead. Michigan battled back to bring the set to a tie on 6-6. Bergan Reilly went on a service run getting two aces in a row and putting the Huskers up 10-6. Teraya Sigler went into the crowd to save a ball in a long rally, she flipped over the front row and continued to play the point. The Huskers ended that long rally with a Harper Murray kill. The Huskers go into the media time out up 15-10. Once again the Huskers went on a run behind Reilly’s serving going up 21-14. Virginia Adriano was the hot hand at the end of this set, getting kill after kill for the Huskers. The Huskers had four set points before a missed Michigan serve gave them the set.
Nebraska hit .323 in set two, but held Michigan to a much lower percentage of .261.
Set 3: Nebraska 25, Michigan 20
While the Huskers have a big hustle play, Michigan is able to get the first two points of the set. The Huskers were battling back and the two teams battled back and forth, but Michigan had the lead 7-6. Nebraska pulled ahead and then Michigan came right back tying it up 14-14. Teraya Sigler and the Nebraska block came alive during the second half of this set, as Sigler and Ogbechie come together for two blocks to put the Huskers up 20-16. Nebraska takes the set on a Michigan hitting error.
Nebraska hit .364 on the set, while holding Michigan to .171.
Set 4: Nebraska 25, Michigan 14
Mania Ogbechie starts off the set with a quick kill in the middle. It was quickly followed by an Andi Jackson kill on a Michigan overpass. Olivia Mauch served the Huskers to a 4-0 lead. Andi Jackson was hot early on getting three kills at the start of the set helping the Huskers to go up 8-4. Jackson served the Huskers on a 5-0 run. Nebraska goes into the media timeout up 15-8. Nebraska put their foot on the gas and came up 19-10 before their was a long pause as the officials reviewed something on the court. What it was we never found out. Gabby DiVita was subbed in for Sigler and got a kill on her first hit. Mania Ogbechie ends the set wih a kill.
The Huskers hit a blistering .625 in set four.
