No. 2 Nebraska hits 16-1 with victory over Scarlet Knights

LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team swept the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 25-15, 25-16, 25-12 in front of a crowd of 8,500 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday night.

The Huskers (16-1, 6-0 B1G) won their 13th straight match and extended their nation-leading home win streak to 36 matches. Rutgers fell to 5-12 overall and 0-6 in the Big Ten.

The Huskers hit .314 in the match, including .615 in the third set with 16 kills and no errors. NU also notched nine blocks and held Rutgers to .083 for the match.

Harper Murray led Nebraska with 13 kills and 11 digs for her third double-double of the season. She also had two service aces. Leyla Blackwell registered nine kills and hit a match-high .600 with seven blocks. Taylor Landfair had six kills, while Merritt Beason had five and Lindsay Krause and Rebekah Allick each had four. Krause and Allick hit .667 and .571, respectively.

Bergen Reilly contributed 35 assists and 13 digs to notch her third straight double-double. Lexi Rodriguez and Laney Choboy each had nine digs.

NU had three aces and two service errors, while Rutgers had two aces and nine errors.

Alissa Kinkela led Rutgers with nine kills.

Set 1: Blackwell and Landfair combined for all of NU’s first four points, as Blackwell notched two kills, Landfair posted one and the two combined for a block. The score was tied at 8-8, but a Murray kill and another Blackwell/Landfair block helped the Huskers pull ahead, 13-9. A Blackwell kill and block, along with three Scarlet Knight errors, were part of a 5-0 run served by Olivia Mauch to extend the lead to 18-12. Back-to-back kills by Murray increased NU’s lead to 20-13, and Landfair’s third block of the set closed out the 25-15 set victory. The Huskers held Rutgers to .000 hitting in the set.

Set 2: Allick, Murray and Beason all registered a kill in a 4-0 run to put Nebraska up 7-3. The Big Red extended the advantage to 15-5 behind two Murray aces and kills from Murray, Landfair and Blackwell. An Allick kill off a diving dig by Choboy forced a Scarlet Knight timeout at 17-7. Two Blackwell kills sparked a 4-0 run served by Choboy that put NU at set point, and the Huskers finished out the set on a Blackwell/Murray block.

Set 3: A Blackwell kill and Blackwell/Murray block gave Nebraska an 8-4 lead in the third set. Krause put down two kills to stretch the lead to 14-8. Beason and Blackwell combined for a block and Blackwell, Beason and Murray posted a kill apiece to make the score 21-11. Two Murray kills ended the set, 25-12 and the match, 3-0.

Up Next: The Huskers will head to East Lansing, Mich., to take on Michigan State at 5 p.m. (CT) on Friday, Oct. 18. NU will play at Ohio State the following day, Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2:30 p.m. (CT).