Three takes from Nebraska volleyball’s dominant sweep over LBSU
No. 4 Nebraska volleyball (7-0) added its sixth sweep of the season against LBSU (3-4) at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday (25-18, 25-8, 25-21). The Huskers displayed a dominant effort after the Beach came back in set three.
NU hit .393, their highest hitting percentage of the season. The next best is a .366 clip vs. Lipscomb. Freshman setter Bergen Reilly had 32 assists, eight digs, four kills and a .525 setting percentage.
Freshman outside Harper Murray had 10 kills, junior Merritt Beason had nine and freshman middle blocker Andi Jackson added eight. Outside hitter Ally Batenhorst started set three and provided six kills and hit .750.
The Husker defense held the Beach to a .055 hitting percentage. They hit zero in set one, -.267 in set two followed by a .371 clip in the final set.
With LBSU’s offense clicking in set three, Nebraska hung in and came out with the win in a close set. Prevailing in close sets with be huge with this season and against No. 5 Stanford on Tuesday.
Here are my three takes from Nebraska’s sweep over LBSU:
Merritt Beason is settling in and dominating
After six matches as a Husker, Beason is settling into her new team and is dominating. Over the last few games, she has come into her own and shown off her explosive arm from all over the court. She is a threat on both pins and from the back row.
Beason’s back row attacks are some of the most powerful swings on the team. The crowd always lets out an audible noise of impression when Beason hits from the back row.
The junior said after the match that during the preseason, Cook adjusted her approach to start more inside. She struggled to hit balls that were way over her shoulder. She and Cook decided to move her approach wider like she is used to.
Since then, Beason has been on fire.
Against LBSU, she had nine kills and hit .350 with eight digs and three blocks. In the match before vs. Creighton, the 6-foot-3 opposite had 17 kills and a .216 clip. On the road at K-State, she had 10 kills and hit .214.
Assumably before her approach was adjusted, Beason hit .05 with three kills on 20 swings against Omaha.
“We’re always trying to tweak things and find one point better,” Cook said. “I think she’s gotten a lot of confidence from working on that. We’ve been working on a couple of things with her. It takes time. It’s like training a horse, you don’t do it in one day. It’s day after day working. I think she’s getting a lot of confidence.”
Serving boost
The Huskers’ serving has gotten a boost over the last few matches
Nebraska’s serving wasn’t up to par against LBSU. They had three aces and 10 service errors.
However, defensive specialist Laney Choboy has dialed in her serve. She adjusted it to start further back because of her tendency to hit it long. On Wednesday vs. the Bluejays, she had a team-high three aces. Against the Beach on Saturday, she added one ace.
Choboy served an 11-0 scoring run in the second set to help Nebraska to lead 20-5. She started the run with an ace and ended it with a service error.
“She was serving really tough and we kept the pressure on, didn’t let off. That was a nice defensive effort by us. Anytime you run 11 points, you’re doing some really good stuff playing at a high level.”
Nebraska’s serving specialist against LBSU was backup setter Kennedi Orr. Maisie Boesiger has been the middle-blocker server for the entire season up to this point.
Not only did Orr serve some really tough balls, but she also had several great defensive plays in the back row. The 6-foot-0 junior had five digs, which is two more than libero Lexi Rodriguez.
“She’s been doing a great job so we’re trying to find ways for her to help this team win,” Cook said. “That was one role we could create for her and she made the most of it. She’s a great defensive player. She made some unreal defensive plays tonight.”
Setter Bergen Reilly’s serve has improved since the start of the season. She has had four aces in the last three matches. She had one in the four matches before that.
Serving is and will be huge for this team down the stretch, especially as they take on No. 5 Stanford and No. 19 Kentucky next week.
Hildebrand’s homecoming
Former Nebraska assistant coach Tyler Hildebrand returned with his team of two seasons, LBSU. The Huskers and the Beach played last season as well. He received a huge standing ovation from Devaney.
“It’s really emotional for me to come here,” he said after the match. “It’s the people and the fans and the place and the women on that team that I’ve spent a lot of time with, and those three freshmen I spent a lot of time recruiting and getting to know them. So it’s really special. The thing I was most excited for was it just means so much when the crowd cheers for their own.”
“It just makes this place like nowhere else.”
He wanted his team to play better, obviously. They struggled to kill the ball because Nebraska prepared well on their preferred shots. Hildebrand said the Huskers blocked them on the crafty shots they usually score on. Cook was proud of how his team prepared and responded to LBSU’s creativity.
Hildebrand knows the vast majority of Nebraska’s players outside of freshman Laney Choboy (was committed to Minnesota) and junior Florida transfer Merritt Beason. During warmups, he spent time talking with Cook and assistant coach Jaylen Reyes.
He recruited Bergen Reilly, Andi Jackson and Harper Murray to Nebraska during the summer of 2021. This 2023 class was exactly what he expected from the players but was a little sooner than anyone could have anticipated at that time.
“Bergen and I spent a lot of time together and I spent a lot of time with her parents,” the head coach said. “I talked to her parents for like five minutes before the game and I spent six minutes watching her on video.”
“I’m not a prophet, but I was like, “Man, I think that if she comes (to Nebraska), she’s gonna be one of the best setters that Nebraska has had,” he said of the freshman setter.”
He said Jackson, who had eight kills, no errors and hit .667, “has come a long way.”
As for Murray, Nebraska’s staff has known for a while that she was the best player in her class. She had 10 kills, hit .333 and added three blocks in Nebraska’s win over LBSU on Saturday.
“They’re doing what we expected them to, but to do it this early is maybe a little impressive,” he said.
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