The Blackshirts

Volleyball

Nebraska Held UNLV to .054 and Now Gets Texas

Nebraska volleyball players in red celebrating a point at T-Mobile Arena, with Harper Murray (27) and Teraya Sigler (11) shouting and Andi Jackson (15) facing away from the camera.
Photo courtesy Nebraska Athletics

The season is one match old and the defense already looks unfair.

No. 1 Nebraska opened the 2026 season Saturday night with a sweep of UNLV — 25-18, 25-15, 25-16 — at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in the first match of the Players Era Volleyball Showcase.

The Huskers hit .337. They held the Rebels to .054.

The number that decided it

Nebraska led the country in opponent hitting percentage last season at .129. Saturday they held UNLV to less than half of that.

The blocks are why. 10 to 2, and it was not close at any point:

  • Andi Jackson — 8 kills, 5 blocks
  • Manaia Ogbechie — 3 kills, 4 blocks
  • Harper Murray — match-high 11 kills on .364, plus 3 blocks
  • Teraya Sigler — 8 kills, hitting .467
  • Bergen Reilly — 32 assists, 10 digs, 5 kills, 3 blocks — a double-double
  • Olivia Mauch — 10 digs, tied for match high
  • Skyler Pierce and Virginia Adriano — 3 kills each

Nebraska also won the serve, 6 aces to 2.

Set 1 — 25-18

The Huskers went up 8-2 on a Jackson kill and then let UNLV back in it, a 5-0 Rebel run cutting it to 12-10.

That was the whole threat. Sigler and Murray answered with kills, and Nebraska scored five in a row to lead 23-16 on back-to-back kills from Adriano and Murray. Sigler aced for set point. UNLV fought off two of them before Murray closed it.

Set 2 — 25-15

Tied at 3-3, and then the block took over.

Two stuffs and two forced errors made it 7-3. Jackson and Reilly combined for three kills, a Rebel error made it 19-12, and a closing 5-1 run ended it.

UNLV hit -.029 in the set — negative, meaning they made more errors than they made kills. Nebraska had four blocks and forced eight attack errors in that set alone.

Set 3 — 25-16

10-5, then five straight — a Jackson ace, kills from Ogbechie and Pierce — and it was 15-5.

Murray finished the match herself with her 10th and 11th kills. Nebraska hit .310 in the set.

What it counts toward

This one is on the record. Thursday’s win in Arlington was an exhibition and Nebraska was still 0-0 walking into Las Vegas.

Now they’re 1-0, in the first meeting these two programs have ever played.

One more thing, because it is becoming a genuine oddity: under Dani Busboom Kelly, Nebraska had won 96 straight sets in which it reached 20 points first. UNLV never got past 18 in any set Saturday, so all three go on the pile. Ninety-nine and none.

Texas, this afternoon

No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Texas, Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT on FOX, same building.

It is the first 1-versus-2 match since 2023 — and the last five of them have all involved Nebraska. The last time these two met with everything on it, Texas swept the Huskers for the 2023 national title.

Husker fans, the opener did what an opener is supposed to do. This afternoon is the real question.

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