Huskers Clinch Share of Big Ten Title at No. 18 Washington

No. 1 Nebraska swept No. 18 Washington 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 in front of a crowd of 9,294 at Alaska Airlines Arena on Sunday afternoon to pick up their second top-20 win in a 24-hour span this weekend.

 

Nebraska clinched a share of the Big Ten title with the win. The Huskers have three Big Ten matches remaining and need only one more win to clinch the outright Big Ten title.

 

The Huskers clinched their 38th overall conference title and seventh in the Big Ten. It marks the first time the Huskers have won four consecutive conference titles since 2004-08 in the Big 12.

 

Nebraska (25-0, 14-0 Big Ten) hit .477 as a team while limiting Washington (18-5, 9-5 Big Ten) to a .210 hitting percentage to record the Huskers’ eighth 25-0 start in program history.

 

Nebraska’s .477 hitting percentage is the highest in a single match against a ranked opponent in the rally-scoring era. The Huskers have hit .400 or higher in four of their last five matches.

 

The Big Red picked up their 56th consecutive regular-season victory and extended their win streak in road and neutral-site matches to 27, which tied for seventh all-time in NCAA history and is second in program history.

 

Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly improved to 66-28 against ranked opponents in her career, including 24-1 at Nebraska.

 

Harper Murray led the Huskers with 13 kills on a .357 hitting percentage while adding three aces. Virginia Adriano added nine kills on .438 hitting, and Manaia Ogbechie tallied seven kills and hit .778.

 

Bergen Reilly finished with 37 assists and eight digs. Teraya Sigler led the Big Red with 10 digs and added six kills.

 

Set 1: Nebraska hit .419 and took the first set 25-20 to go ahead 1-0 in the match. A kill from Sigler gave the Huskers a 7-2 lead, forcing Washington to take the first timeout. The Huskies answered with a 9-2 run to take a 10-9 lead, but the Big Red held a slim 15-14 advantage at the media timeout. After trading points for a few rallies, Nebraska pushed its lead to 20-17 on a Washington attacking error. The Huskies got no closer than three the rest of the way, as a kill from Murray capped off the first set for the Big Red.

 

Set 2: Nebraska dominated the second set, winning 25-13. The Huskers hit .464 and held Washington to a .069 clip. It was back-and-forth early in the set, as a kill from Washington’s Katy Wessels tied the score at 9-9. The Huskers reeled off six straight points to take a 15-9 lead and used another 6-0 flurry to balloon their lead to 22-11 on an ace from Murray. The Big Red capped off a dominating victory on a kill from Reilly to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

 

Set 3: The Huskers came away with a 25-22 win to secure the sweep. The score was close throughout, as the Huskies held a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. Nebraska scored four straight to take an 18-15 lead, but Washington used a 4-1 spurt to tie the score at 19-19. After the Huskies took a 21-20 lead on a kill from Samantha Destler, Nebraska went on a 5-1 run to close out the match. An ace from Murray gave the Big Red the win to move to 25-0.

 

Nebraska returns to action with a matchup against Illinois at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Thursday, Nov. 12. First serve between the Huskers and Illini is set for 6 p.m. CT on Nebraska Public Media/B1G+.