Nebraska Swept the Team That Swept Them for the Title

Husker fans, that was the one.

No. 1 Nebraska swept No. 2 Texas on Sunday afternoon — 25-19, 25-19, 25-16 — at T-Mobile Arena to close out the Players Era Showcase.

Straight sets. Against Texas. In the biggest match of the weekend anywhere in the sport.

The run that decided it

Nebraska trailed the first set 8-5.

Then they scored ten straight points.

Bergen Reilly served through it, the block went to work, and Texas made four errors trying to get out from under it. Ten to nothing in a match between the two best teams in the country.

Texas got back within 20-18. Nebraska took five of the last six — kills from Andi Jackson, Teraya Sigler and Manaia Ogbechie, then a Reilly ace to end it.

The numbers

Nebraska hit .293. Texas hit .152.

10 blocks to Texas’s total
7 service aces
Andi Jackson — 9 kills on .571, 2 blocks
Manaia Ogbechie — 7 blocks, 7 kills
Harper Murray — 8 kills
Teraya Sigler — 7 kills

Ogbechie’s seven blocks is the number to sit with. That is one player, at the net, taking a top-two offense apart.

Set two, same story

Texas led 4-1. Nebraska answered with a 6-0 run behind block assists from Jackson and Murray, pushed it to 18-10 on back-to-back kills from Murray and Jackson, and closed it out when Jackson put down the last ball of the set.

Set three barely got competitive. Tied at five, Nebraska went on a 5-1 run, built it to 15-9 on a Sigler ace, and finished the match on four straight.

What this actually was

The last time these two met with anything on the line, Texas swept Nebraska for the 2023 national championship in Tampa.

Sunday, Nebraska swept them back.

It was the first No. 1 versus No. 2 match in college volleyball since 2023, and the seventh Nebraska has ever played. They came in 3-3 in those. They are 4-3 now.

Nebraska is 2-0. Texas leaves Las Vegas at 2-2.

Wednesday, September 2, at South Dakota State in Brookings.

Husker fans, two matches into the season and the Huskers have beaten a team that had never lost to them and the team that beat them for a title. Whatever this season is, it did not start quietly.