LINCOLN – The Nebraska volleyball team moved to 2-0 to start the season after a 25-10, 25-21, 25-16 sweep of Lipscomb in front of a crowd of 8,583 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday evening.
The Huskers hit .366 and held Lipscomb to .091, the second straight day the Huskers kept their foe under .100.
Merritt Beason paced the Big Red with 11 kills, while Harper Murray chipped on 10 kills on .389 hitting with three service aces. Murray’s serve was key in a 9-0 Husker run in set two that helped the Huskers erase a six-point deficit late in the set.
Andi Jackson, playing her first collegiate match, chipped in eight kills on .700 hitting with four blocks. Ally Batenhorst and Maggie Mendelson had five and four kills, respectively.
Bergen Reilly had 29 assists and nine digs, and Lexi Rodriguez led NU’s defense with 10 digs and seven set assists. The junior libero surpassed 1,000 career digs during the first set.
The Huskers had 20 more kills (42-22) and 13 more digs (38-25).
Set 1: Beason had three early kills to spark the Huskers to a 10-2 advantage. Murray had a back-row kill and an ace on consecutive plays during a 6-0 run. Mendelson and Jackson had back-to-back kills to make it 12-3, and two more kills by Jackson pushed the lead to double digits, 15-5. Murray tacked on two more kills for an 18-5 lead, and the Huskers went on to win 25-10. NU hit .550 in the opening set and held Lipscomb to .000.
Set 2: Set two took on a much different tone as Lipscomb rallied from down 5-3 to take a 15-10 lead at the media timeout. The Bisons led 19-13 when Murray terminated a kill and Lipscomb hit into the net to cut the deficit to 19-15. Lipscomb held a 21-16 lead before committing a service error, which was followed by two kills by Beason and an ace by Murray to trim the Bisons’ lead to just one, 21-20. After a Lipscomb timeout, Murray served another ace to tie the score at 21-21, and Beason and Mendelson combined for a block and a 22-21 lead. Batenhorst terminated a bump set from Rodriguez to make it 23-21, and the junior outside hitter connected again off a set from Reilly for set point, 24-21. Batenhorst put the set away, 25-21, with her third straight kill, as the Huskers ended the set on a 9-0 run off Murray’s serve.
Set 3: The Huskers broke out from a back-and-forth third set with a 6-2 spurt to go up 13-9. Murray and Mendelson had kills before Beason recorded three kills in a row. Reilly tacked on a pair of kills, and Beason recorded her 11th of the match for an 18-12 Husker lead. Lindsay Krause entered the match and tooled a block to make it 21-13. After a Lipscomb timeout, Krause added another kill and Beason and Jackson ended the match with a block for a 25-16 win.
Up Next: The Huskers finish the tournament against SMU on Sunday at 2 p.m. Utah State will face Lipscomb in the first match at 11 a.m. Doors will open at 10 a.m. SMU fell to Utah State earlier on Saturday, 3-1.
Nebraska outside hitter Merritt Beason #13
VB vs Lipscomb