Nebraska vs Rutgers Volleyball: Huskers Sweep Big Ten Opener, Go 12-0

Husker fans, the box score says 3-0. The second set says something else.

No. 1 Nebraska beat Rutgers 25-21, 25-22, 25-15 on Friday night in front of 10,497 at John Cook Arena to open Big Ten play. The Huskers are 12-0, and that’s their 14th straight win in a Big Ten opener.

Now the part the sweep hides.

Six set points

Nebraska led the second set 23-13. Ten points clear, one swing from taking a 2-0 lead and getting on with the evening.

Rutgers then scored nine of the next 10 points, fought off five set points, and got it to 24-22 before an attack error finally ended it.

The Scarlet Knights had already made the first set uncomfortable. They hit .312 in it, they fought off two set points of their own, and Nebraska put up no blocks at all in the opening 25 points.

Harper Murray was asked afterward whether the third set was a relief.

“We wanted to come out in that third set and make it quicker, obviously, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that they played really well,” Murray said. “I still think the first two sets we played well. We didn’t play our best, but that third set was probably our best out of the three.”

Her teammate on the panel put the first set more bluntly: they had an amazing night, and great teams adjust.

“The best Rutgers team”

This wasn’t a No. 1 team stumbling against a bad one. Rutgers came in 9-4.

One Husker senior said she told teammates before the match that this was the best Rutgers team she had seen in her time in Lincoln, and that watching the film made her look forward to it.

Laney Choboy, who finished with a season-high 15 digs, spent the night annoyed at the other end of it. Her serve started both of Nebraska’s big runs, and she still wasn’t satisfied.

“I was getting annoyed because they were just absolutely diving my serves. I mean, I did only have one ace, but that’s a testament to them. They worked really hard and they were passing great. So good job to them.”

A first start, and the dig that set the tone

Keri Leimbach made her first career start, in the back row, with Skyler Pierce the other option.

“We just wanted somebody really comfortable playing back row, and I think Skyler could have done a good job, but Keri’s been playing great and provided a spark when she’s gone in,” Dani Busboom Kelly said. “The first rally of the game she had an awesome dig we converted for a kill. So she’s becoming a really nice DS for us.”

Any nerves, on a first start that opened with her serve?

“No, I didn’t see any nerves from her. Every time there’s a break in play or there’s a moment she could go in, I can feel her staring at me like, am I going in? Put me in, put me in.”

The third set was the answer

Whatever was wrong in the middle of this match, Nebraska fixed it in 20 minutes.

The Huskers hit .444 in the third and held Rutgers to .000. Fifteen kills against eight, and the Scarlet Knights finished the set with as many attack errors as kills.

A Murray and Jackson block made it 20-13. Pierce ended it with her fourth kill.

The numbers that carried it

Andi Jackson had the cleanest night of anybody on the floor: 14 kills on 19 swings with two errors, a .632 clip, plus four blocks.

Murray led with 15 kills and hit .323. Bergen Reilly ran it to 39 assists, and added two kills and two blocks. Nebraska hit .320 as a team and held Rutgers to .137.

Set one was the 14th set this season Nebraska has hit over .400.

Up next, and it’s tonight

Ohio State closes the nine-match homestand tonight at 8 p.m. on BTN.

Busboom Kelly spent part of Friday night explaining why the league is going to be harder than it looks on paper: teams with new coaches in year two, Oregon and Wisconsin trading points, Illinois beating Minnesota.

“It’s going to be a battle, but I’m excited to be in the Big Ten season.”

Husker Nation, Rutgers just showed what a Big Ten night looks like when the other team plays its best. Twelve wins in, that’s the most useful thing that happened all evening.