Check out quick takes from our Nebraska football writers ahead of the Huskers' game against Indiana in Lincoln.
Volleyball
'Great' Nebraska volleyball road win paves way to annual battle with Wisconsin
Another road match for the Nebraska volleyball team against a top-20 opponent had some fans wondering if the team was vulnerable for a loss on Thursday, especially with a big match against Wisconsin on Saturday.
Just like last week against Penn State, the match wasn’t close.
Top-ranked Nebraska never allowed No. 15 Indiana to reach 20 points in a 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 sweep in Bloomington, Indiana. It was the Huskers’ 16th straight win to begin the season.
Harper Murray led the Huskers with 11 kills on .364 hitting, while also having one of the plays of the match on defense when she sprinted off the court to track down a deflected ball near the Husker bench. Nebraska eventually won that point on a back-row kill by Murray. She also had seven digs and two blocks.
Teraya Sigler added 10 kills, Andi Jackson had nine and Manaia Ogbechie eight. Ogbechie also had match-high six blocks.
“It’s a great win on the road against a ranked team with a big game waiting on Saturday,” coach Dani Busboom Kelly said to the Huskers Radio Network. “I thought we handled everything really well. We played good. Indiana gave us everything they had and I thought we did great.”
If Indiana (10-4, 3-2 Big Ten) would have been able to take down No. 1 Nebraska it would have been arguably the best win in program history, and energized the program while playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,705.
Nebraska quickly showed it would hard to see that happening on this night.
The Huskers fired out to an 8-2 lead, doing so in dominating fashion with kills on eight of its initial nine hitting attempts. NU played fast, smart with its attacks and powerful. Balanced, too, getting kills from every spot at the net.
That set the tone in a sweep. It wasn’t until the middle of the third set that the Hoosier fans had any hope for even winning one set.
Nebraska passed the first test in a two-match week that also includes playing No. 7 Wisconsin on Saturday. And now six weeks into the college season Nebraska is the only undefeated team for NCAA Division I. Pittsburgh was the other remaining unbeaten before being defeated 3-1 by No. 6 SMU on Wednesday.
Now the final two undefeated teams in Big Ten play face off in Lincoln on Saturday night. Wisconsin has done so while facing a more challenging schedule than Nebraska – UW will begin Big Ten play by playing six consecutive ranked teams.
The Badgers have two of the top freshmen in the country in outside hitter Audrey Flanagan and 6-foot-6 right-side hitter Decelise Champion, who has played with the senior national team for Puerto Rico. Lincoln Southeast graduate Natalie Wardlow has played as a serving specialist for the Badgers.
Nebraska will need to be prepared to play a great match, Busboom Kelly said.
“They’re very, very good and it’s a team that’s continuing to change and find their identity,” she said. “So teams like that are always scary to play because it’s going to click, and when it does it’s going to be scary.”
