Nebraska volleyball tops Michigan and remains undefeated in Big Ten play before game at Wisconsin

Now the Huskers' November schedule becomes more challenging, starting with Friday's game at No. 8 Wisconsin (15-4, 9-1 Big Ten).

On Saturday night, Nebraska earned a four-set win over Michigan in front of 8,517 spectators at the Devaney Sports Center. The scores were 26-28, 25-17, 25-11, 25-21.

Nebraska's nation-leading home winning streak now stands at 38 over three seasons.

In the league standings, Nebraska and Penn State are tied at the top, with Wisconsin one game behind.

Harper Murray led the Huskers with 17 kills and three ace serves.

Merritt Beason was a key reason the match didn't go to the fifth set, as she scored each of Nebraska's last four kills in a tight fourth set, including on match point.

“I think (setter Bergen Reilly) does a great job of setting the hot hitter and obviously it ended up being Merritt,” Murray said.

Beason finished with 16 kills while hitting .370. Andi Jackson added 10 kills and five blocks.

Michigan outside hitter Allison Jacobs dominated at times, finishing the game with 18 kills and a .300 batting average. Nebraska was able to fend off a few blocks on her in the final two sets.

“(Jacob’s) hits from everywhere. She does a really good job,” Cook said. “She knocked our block down. It’s so frustrating because we’re undisciplined.”

Nebraska served better with six aces and four errors. Michigan struck out 14 times.

After losing the first set, Nebraska won the next three. And in the third set, the Huskers dominated, hitting .520 — just one hitting error on 25 attempts — and holding Michigan to .032.

Michigan also had a late lead in the fourth set at 18-15. Then Kennedi Orr came to serve. Orr always seems to believe she can take on the Huskers, and this time she did, using a 4-0 run to put Nebraska ahead. This included a quick kill from Lindsay Krause after she replaced Taylor Landfair.

“We (Ella Demetrican) reached the finish line in this run. She did a really good job with that,” Cook said of Orr’s service run. “She also brings great energy when she comes in. And Lindsay took some big swings coming off the bench. This isn't easy.

“I felt like we had no energy out there and the crowd went into an uproar when (Krause) came in and brought energy. We got four or five points there to win the thing. That’s why we call them game changers.”

Michigan won the first set with a great performance from Jacobs, who had seven kills on 10 attempts in the set. Michigan won the extended set 28-26, earning the final point on an outside attack from Valentina Vaulet.

Nebraska failed to convert two set points. Nebraska struck seven times in the set and was blocked three times.

Nebraska came back with a great start to the second set. Murray served up a 5-0 run that included two aces and two kills from Murray, leading to an 11-4 lead. Murray had four kills in the set.

Nebraska finished with a .206 batting average and Michigan hit .150.

Michigan sophomore Morgan Burke of Omaha Skutt had 32 set assists and eight digs.

Michigan has already improved significantly, going from seven wins all of last season to 16-4 this season.

Cook was really proud of Nebraska's serve-receiving unit, which didn't concede an ace.

But Nebraska's scoring – 20 goals by the Huskers – was disappointing.

“And there were some serious hitting errors. Like a way out,” Cook said. “I don’t know if it was our focus. We never found a good rhythm the whole night.”