Huskers Blank No. 25 Penn State in Blackout at the Bob

Photo Credit: Nebraska Athletics

LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team moved one step closer to an unbeaten regular season with a 25-14, 25-11, 25-14 sweep of No. 25 Penn State in front of a crowd of 8,537 wearing black at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday night. 

On a night when the Huskers celebrated their third straight Big Ten Championship, the Big Red (29-0, 19-0 Big Ten) swept Penn State (17-12, 11-8 Big Ten) twice in the same season for the first time ever. In the six sets played this season, Penn State never passed 15 points.

Nebraska will look to finish a perfect regular season on Saturday night against Ohio State for the third time in school history (1994 and 2000). 

Harper Murray had 11 kills, seven digs and four blocks and hit .476. Rebekah Allick had nine kills and hit .750 with four blocks. Andi Jackson had six kills and hit .357 with four blocks. Virginia Adriano posted five kills and served two aces, and Taylor Landfair added five kills. 

Bergen Reilly finished with 29 assists, 12 digs and two aces, while Laney Choboy recorded 11 digs. 

Nebraska dominated in every facet of the game. The Huskers hit .385 to .011 for Penn State. NU had more kills (39-23), blocks (9-2), digs (41-23) and aces (7-0). Nebraska sided out 36-of-41 rallies (87.8 percent).    

Set 1: Landfair and Allick had back-to-back kills for a 6-3 lead. Murray added two kills and a block with Jackson to help NU go up 13-8. The Big Red led 16-9 after a kill by Allick and block by Allick and Reilly. Landfair added two kills and an ace to extend the lead to 21-11, and a Murray kill, Choboy ace and Jackson kill earned set point. NU finished it off, 25-14, on a block by Jackson and Reilly. 

Set 2: Teraya Sigler served an early ace, and Adriano had back-to-back aces after two kills by Murray for a 6-2 lead. Jackson, Reilly and Landfair recorded kills, and a block by Allick and back-to-back Reilly aces made it 14-5. After a Penn State timeout, Adriano and Allick posted a block, Allick and Murray terminated kills, and the Huskers led 18-5 after the 8-0 run served by Reilly. Murray and Manaia Ogbechie combined for a block before PSU hit out twice for a 22-6 lead. NU went on to win 25-11 after two kills by Adriano and one by Sigler.          

Set 3: Jackson had three kills and two blocks as the Huskers built a 7-3 lead. Allick and Murray had kills to double up the Nittany Lions, 14-7. Reilly and Allick tallied kills to take the lead to 21-11. The Big Red finished the sweep, 25-14.   

Up Next: The Huskers end the regular season against Ohio State on Saturday at 8 p.m. at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers will honor their four seniors - Rebekah Allick, Maisie Boesiger, Taylor Landfair and Allie Sczech - after the match.