Nebraska volleyball libero moves up all-time digs chart in sweep of Northwestern

Another win for Nebraska volleyball as Lexi Rodriguez continues to make her mark on the program.

No. 2 Nebraska (22-1, 12-0 Big Ten) ends the weekend road trip with a win over Northwestern (4-16, 2-10 Big Ten), 25-18, 25-15, 25-15. During the game, Rodriguez moved into a tie for second place in program history due to digs.

Rodriguez and legendary Husker libero Kayla Banwarth are now both at 1,706 career points. Olympian Justine Wong-Orantes takes the top spot with 1,890.

The Huskers celebrated their 19th straight win with an extremely balanced offensive performance, hitting .287 with 39 kills and just 12 errors. Nebraska was equally impressive from the service line, finishing with seven aces.

The visitors collected seven blocks and forced the home team into 21 attacking errors.

Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly was aggressive on offense, recording four kills along with 25 assists and nine digs. Senior captain Merritt Beason led the offense with nine kills and posted an impressive .643 hitting percentage.

Husker middle blocker Andi Jackson had another impressive performance, solidifying her case for an All-America win with eight kills on .545 slugging and two blocks. Rebekah Allick and Harper Murray finished with four kills each.

Murray struggled to find the floor on the northwest side of the net, managing 20 shots for a .050 hitting percentage. However, she has won the Wildcats three times.

Nebraska remains on the road with a trip to the Pacific Northwest next weekend. The Huskers face the Oregon Ducks on Thursday and the Washington Huskies on Saturday.

Box score

Sentence 1: Nebraska took a 6-1 lead early in the game with three kills on six shots and an ace from Olivia Mauch. Three kills from Landfair helped extend the lead to 13-6, but Northwestern battled back to get within 15-12 after a 5-1 spurt sparked by three kills from Hazan. Beason and Jackson responded with kills to make the score 17-12, and Reilly and Jackson recorded two straight kills before an ace from Murray increased the Husker lead to 20-13. Nebraska led 21-13 before Northwestern scored on a three-point run, but the Huskers got two kills from Beason and won 25-18.

Sentence 2: With the score tied at 4-4, Murray scored a kill before a Northwestern scoring error and a block from Jackson and Reilly made it 7-4 for the Big Red. Reilly dropped a kill and an ace from Murray gave the Huskers a 9-5 lead. Northwestern got within a point at 10-9, but a solo block from Landfair, a kill from Allick and an ace from Reilly brought the Huskers back within four, 13-9. Landfair, Allick, Murray and Beason scored kills and Beason served an ace to extend the lead to 19-12. Landfair and Jackson stopped the kill, and a block from Allick and Landfair put the Huskers on the score. Reilly scored a kill for the 25-15 win.

Sentence 3: Leyla Blackwell started the set for the Huskers at middle blocker, scoring two kills and a block with Murray for a 4-1 start. Murray had two kills and an ace as the Huskers extended their lead to 13-5 after serving a 5-0 run. Northwestern cut the score to 15-9, but Reilly dropped a kill and Lindsay Krause blocked to put Nebraska up 17-9. The Wildcats used another 3-0 run to get within 17-12, but Beason answered and Murray and Blackwell led a Northwestern attack to make the score 19-12. Beason and Jackson combined for a block before Rodriguez served an ace and the Huskers pulled away for a 25-15 win.

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