No. 1 Nebraska swept No. 16 Penn State 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 on Thursday night at Rec Hall, improving to 14-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten while handing the Nittany Lions their second conference loss. The Huskers hit .419 and limited Penn State to .230 in front of 5,450 fans in University Park. Nebraska finished with a 46-41 edge in kills, a 40-35 advantage in digs, and a decisive 10-3 margin in blocks. The win extended the program’s streak of road and neutral-site victories to 21 matches, tied for 13th all-time in NCAA history and the third-longest in Nebraska history.
It was also a milestone night for head coach Dani Busboom Kelly, who recorded her 250th career victory in her 295th match. That pace ranks as the fourth-fastest to 250 Division I wins in women’s college volleyball history, trailing only Heather Olmstead (292 matches), Dave Shoji (293), and Andy Banachowski (293).
Setter Bergen Reilly directed the offense with 34 assists, adding 16 digs and three blocks. The performance moved her into third place on Nebraska’s all-time assists list with 4,145, passing Kelly Natter. Five Huskers hit above .300. Outside hitter Harper Murray led the attack with 13 kills on .400 hitting, along with four blocks, three digs, and two aces. Middle blocker Andi Jackson posted 11 kills at a team-high .625 and anchored the net with seven blocks. Teraya Sigler added eight kills and five digs, while Virginia Adriano and Manaia Ogbechie each finished with six kills.
Nebraska never trailed in the opening set. Blocks and a serving run by Laney Choboy helped the Huskers jump out to a 7-1 lead and force an early Penn State timeout. The Nittany Lions clawed back to 19-18 on a Kennedy Martin kill, but Nebraska closed on a 6-2 run that included a Manaia Ogbechie kill, Jackson’s fourth kill of the set, an ace from Choboy, an ace from Murray, and a set-point kill from Sigler.
Penn State opened the second set with three straight points, but Nebraska answered with four in a row, including a pair of Jackson kills and block assists involving Reilly and Murray, to take a 6-4 lead. After the teams tied at 10-10, the Huskers ripped off a 12-4 run fueled by kills from Ogbechie and Adriano plus a Penn State attack error. Sigler and serving from Campbell Flynn pushed the margin to 22-14, and Ogbechie closed the set with a kill and a block alongside Murray.
The third set followed a similar pattern. Penn State led 3-1 early before Nebraska scored four straight points on Choboy’s serve. Tied at 12, the Huskers pulled ahead with a four-point burst that featured a Murray ace and a solo block from Jackson. Murray then recorded three kills in a four-point stretch to make it 21-17. Serving from Olivia Mauch, capped by an Adriano kill, set up match point, and Ryan Hunter finished the sweep with a kill off a Reilly set.
For Penn State, Kennedy Martin led with 17 kills and Whitney Lauenstein added 12, while Alexis Stucky distributed 32 assists. Nebraska travels to the East Coast Saturday night to face Maryland, with first serve set for 6 p.m. CT on B1G+.
