Nebraska Volleyball Sweeps Penn State: 45 Straight Wins, and 250 for Busboom Kelly

Nebraska’s 44-match regular-season winning streak went to Penn State, the school that handed the Huskers their last regular-season loss, and came back as a 45-match streak. No. 1 Nebraska swept No. 16 Penn State 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 on Thursday at Rec Hall and hit a season-high .440 doing it.

The question going in was whether the streak would hold in its first Big Ten road match of the year. It did. Nebraska is 14-0 and 3-0 in the league, and it has now won 21 straight away from home.

250 for Busboom Kelly

Head coach Dani Busboom Kelly won her 250th career match, and she got there in her 295th. That is the fourth-fastest to 250 in Division I women’s volleyball history, behind Heather Olmstead at 292 matches and Dave Shoji and Andy Banachowski at 293 each.

Setter Bergen Reilly had 34 assists, which carried her past Kelly Hunter into third on the program’s career assists list. She needed 15.

How it got there

Nebraska led the first set 7-1 and then had to hold on. Penn State climbed back to within one at 19-18 and again at 20-19, and Nebraska took five of the last six points. The Huskers hit .414 in that set and .455 in the second, and took the third 25-18.

Penn State had 5,450 at Rec Hall. Kennedy Martin, who came in with 1,798 career kills, had 17 on the night, and Whitney Lauenstein added 12. It was not enough.

The history

Nebraska now leads the series 31-13. Penn State’s last two wins over the Huskers came 20 days apart in 2024, the Nov. 29 regular-season match and the NCAA semifinal Nebraska led 2-0. Nebraska has beaten the Nittany Lions three straight times since.

The people

Andi Jackson had 11 kills on .625 hitting and a team-high seven blocks, as the reigning AVCA and Big Ten Player of the Week. Harper Murray had 13 kills on .400 hitting, and Manaia Ogbechie added six.

Next is Maryland on Saturday, where the Huskers are 21-1 all-time and have won 21 in a row. First serve is 6 p.m. CT, streamed on B1G+.

Husker Nation, Saturday at Maryland tells us whether a 45-match regular-season streak holds through a second road match this week.