Nebraska volleyball dominates No. 1 Pitt to advance to national title match
Nebraska volleyball blasted No. 1 Pitt 25-20, 25-23, 25-17 for an emphatic sweep and a berth in the national title match on Sunday afternoon.
Head coach John Cook and company moved to 33-1 on the season with a wire-to-wire beating of the No. 1-seeded Panthers who were ranked No. 4 in the country in the AVCA poll. The Huskers quickly imposed their will in the first before winning a closely contested second and running away with the match in the third.
Harper Murray posted a match-high 13 kills for Nebraska while Merritt Beason and Ally Batenhorst added eight kills each. Meanwhile, Pitt’s Olivia Babcock tallied a team-high 12 kills on a .148 attack percentage. The Huskers capitalized on 22 Panther attack errors and eight service errors while out-killing Pitt 39-36 in the win.
Nebraska will face either No. 2 Texas or No. 1 Wisconsin in the national championship at 2:00 p.m. CT on Sunday on ABC. It will be the Huskers’ 11th national title appearance as the program seeks its sixth championship. Here’s a recap of how the action unfolded on Thursday night.
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Nebraska wasted no time making its presence felt at the net
Neither team could gain much separation in the first half of the opening set. The initial 27 rallies featured seven ties, three lead changes and a 3-0 run each for Nebraska and Pitt. The Huskers achieved the largest lead for either squad at 15-12 at the media timeout. Neither squad managed a hitting percentage above .100 to that point.
Nebraska’s defensive success spurred largely from its eight blocks in the first set. The Huskers used a block and a Panther attack error to stretch its advantage to 19-15 and claim a Pitt timeout.
After growing a six-point lead, the Panthers fought off a pair of Nebraska set points before a stuff at the net from Bekka Allick and Beason clinched a Husker victory in the first. Beason and Murray led Nebraska with four kills each while Allick added four blocks. The Huskers totaled just nine kills in the set.
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Huskers win a tight second set
A four-rally Beason run at the service line pushed Nebraska in front 10-5 in the second. Following Cook’s third successful challenge of the night, the Huskers took a 15-9 lead but Pitt countered by winning back to back rallies and forced a timeout from Nebraska.
The Panthers cut the Huskers’ cushion down to two at 17-15 before Olivia Babcock’s fourth service error of the match sparked a Nebraska run. Three of the next four rallies went to the Huskers but Pitt countered with a 3-0 run to make it 21-19. Murray kept the Huskers in front with three kills in the final eight rallies.
Once again, Pitt battled overcoming three Nebraska set points before a service error helped the Huskers to a 25-23 win and a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Nebraska hit .211 in the second and added three blocks to its total. Babcock paced the Panthers with a match-high 10 kills on 20 swings with five errors after two sets. For the match, the Huskers moved their hit percentage .183 compared to Pitt’s .105.
Commanding third sends Nebraska to the national championship
Pitt found itself in familiar territory down 2-0 after coming back from the same deficit in the Regional Final to defeat No. 2 Louisville last week. The Panthers raised their level of play accordingly forcing three ties in the first 12 rallies. But, Nebraska met the challenge, kept Pitt at arms length and did not surrender its edge while using a 9-1 run to take a 19-10 lead and a stranglehold on the match.
Soon enough, Nebraska had match point up 24-14. The game-clinching rally proved to be elusive once again for the Huskers, but on their fourth match point a net violation.
Murray hit .273 on 33 swings which led all attackers among those with at least 10 attack attempts. Allick tallied four kills to go along with assists on 10 of Nebraska’s 15 blocks. As a team, the Huskers hit .245 while holding Pitt to .137.
