By Nebraska Athletics
LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team swept the Iowa Hawkeyes 25-17, 25-11, 25-13 on Sunday afternoon at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in front of a crowd of 8,667.
In their 11th straight win, the Huskers (14-1, 4-0 Big Ten) hit .404 and held Iowa (8-8, 2-2 Big Ten) to .155.
Nebraska had seven aces and just one service error. The last time the Huskers had at least seven aces with one or fewer service errors was Nov. 12, 2017 against Rutgers (nine aces, one error). Lexi Rodriguez had three of NU’s aces to go with a match-high 12 digs.
Merritt Beason led NU offensively with 10 kills on .400 hitting and added five digs. Leyla Blackwell had a season-high nine kills on .692 hitting, and Rebekah Allick had nine kills and hit .583 with three blocks. Harper Murray added seven kills on .353 hitting with two aces. Lindsay Krause chipped in five kills on six swings (.833) all in the third set.
Bergen Reilly contributed 35 assists, and Kennedi Orr and Laney Choboy each had five digs.
The Huskers did not surrender an ace to the Hawkeyes. NU’s last eight opponents have combined for just seven aces.
Michelle Urquhart led Iowa with 11 kills on a .269 hitting percentage.
Set 1: Blackwell notched three kills and a solo block to propel the Huskers to an 8-4 lead. Iowa brought the score to 10-10 before Rodriguez went to the service line and sparked a 4-0 run for NU that included kills by Beason and Murray and an ace by Rodriguez. A Reilly kill and Murray ace put the Big Red up 18-12 and forced a Hawkeye timeout. Beason scored her fifth kill to give Nebraska set point, and Allick put down an overpass to close out the 25-17 set victory. NU hit .333 and sided out at a 77.8% mark.
Set 2: Behind an ace from Rodriguez and kills from Murray and Blackwell, the Huskers took a 6-2 lead. Five straight errors from Iowa stretched the advantage to 11-3. Two kills from Landfair and one from Allick powered a 4-0 run to put the Big Red up 16-6. Kills by Murray and Beason and Rodriguez’ third ace of the match extended Nebraska’s lead to 22-9. NU finished out the set, 25-11, with two kills by Blackwell and one by Reilly. Through two sets, Nebraska’s middles combined for 16 kills and no errors for a combined hitting percentage of .800.
Set 3: A Beason kill and solo block, Krause kill and Reilly ace were part of a 5-0 run to put NU up 13-5. Krause notched two kills and Murray registered an ace and a kill to help give the Huskers a 22-12 lead late in the third. A Krause/Allick block and an Allick solo block closed out the set, 25-13, and the match, 3-0.
Up Next: The Huskers will take on No. 10 Purdue on Friday, Oct. 11 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The match is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Audio coverage will be provided by the Huskers Radio Network.