No. 1 Huskers Close Homestand with Sweep of Ohio State

No. 1 Nebraska finished its nine-match homestand with a 25-19, 25-10, 25-12 sweep of Ohio State on Saturday night in front of 10,497 fans at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

 

Nebraska (13-0, 2-0 Big Ten) used a balanced offensive attack to hit at a pace of .333, with five players recording six or more kills. The Huskers stifled Ohio State (8-4, 1-1 Big Ten), holding the Buckeyes to an -.010 hitting percentage.

 

It is the eighth time the Big Red have held an opponent under .100 hitting this season and the second time Nebraska has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage.

 

Virginia Adriano, Manaia Ogbechie, and Skyler Pierce all tallied seven kills to lead NU. Ogbechie hit an efficient .667 with seven kills and one error on nine swings, while Pierce hit .333 (7-2-15). Bergen Reilly finished with 31 assists, five digs, and four blocks.

 

For the seventh time this season, the Nebraska defense recorded 10 blocks, with Andi Jackson, Kenna Cogill, and Reilly pacing the Huskers with four each. Olivia Mauch led NU with 16 digs, her 10th match with 10-plus digs this season.

 

Set 1: The Huskers took the opening set 25-19 over Ohio State in a frame that featured 13 ties and four lead changes. The Buckeyes built their largest lead at 14-11 and still led 15-13 at the media timeout, but Ogbechie’s kill out of the break ignited a 12-4 NU run to close the set. A kill from Jackson and a pair of Buckeye errors put the Big Red out front 23-18, and after an Ohio State kill, back-to-back kills by Reilly and Pierce ended the set.

 

Set 2: Nebraska rolled to a 25-10 win in the second set, holding OSU to five kills and a negative hitting clip in the frame. After a deadlock at five, Murray served the Huskers to a 4-0 rally that had the Big Red out front after consecutive kills by Pierce. Campbell Flynn served back-to-back aces during a 5-0 run that made it 14-6, and Pierce followed with a 7-0 service run, including a pair of aces, for a 22-8 lead. Mauch’s ace after an Adriano kill brought up set point, and a block assist by Jackson and Adriano ended the set for the Huskers.

 

Set 3: Nebraska raced to a 9-2 lead in the third, capped off by kill by Murray, to force a Buckeye timeout. Ohio State trimmed its deficit to 16-10 on an ace from Mia Stahler, but the Huskers pushed the lead back to 21-11 on a block assist from Reilly and Cogill, as Ohio State burned another timeout. Nebraska closed a dominant set with another block from Reilly and Cogill to close the match in three, hitting .440 and holding Ohio State to -.062 in the final game.

No. 1 Nebraska returns to action next week on the road, as the Huskers visit No. 14 Penn State and Maryland on Thursday, Oct. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 3.