Nebraska Volleyball shocks Wisconsin with a sweep

Second-ranked Nebraska shocked No. 7 Wisconsin with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 win in Madison, Wisconsin.

Nebraska defeated Wisconsin in Madison for the first time since 2013 after eight straight losses. It was Nebraska’s first sweep there since 2012.

Nebraska’s winning streak is 18, and the Huskers ended the Badgers’ nine-game winning streak.

It was also Wisconsin’s first home loss in the last 26 games. During the nine-match winning streak, Wisconsin had lost just two sets.

The road for Nebraska in the Big Ten holds many more challenges, including six more road games, another game against Wisconsin and a road trip to Penn State. But winning in Madison was a great start to the month and pushed Wisconsin out of the pack for the Big Ten race that is now just Nebraska and Penn State.

Nebraska’s serve Friday played a major role in the victory. The Huskers had five aces, and even more serves forced bad passes for Wisconsin, limiting the Badgers’ offense to its worst passing percentage of the season.

Lexi Rodriguez and Olivia Mauch each had two ace serves.

Nebraska had a hitting percentage of .202.

Taylor Landfair had 13 murders. But Nebraska’s offense led to kills everywhere the Badgers didn’t. Merritt Beason had 11 kills, including huge kills late in sets. Andi Jackson had seven kills, Harper Murray six and Rebekah Alick three.

Outside hitter Sarah Franklin had 16 kills, but was the Badgers’ only major producer. Anna Smrek had eight kills but also 10 errors for a negative hitting percentage. Julia Orzol had six murders.

Nebraska led in blocks 10-9, led by Allick with seven.

Nebraska won the first set in a surprising way: the blocking.

Nebraska led blocks 6-3. Some of that was the result of some good serving for the Huskers, putting the Badgers hitters in unfavorable attempts.

Nebraska’s blocks were a big difference, as the Huskers had just one more kill than Wisconsin in the set.

The Huskers’ first lead of the set was 9-8. Nebraska got kills at every turn. Jackson put a shot through two blockers. Murray dropped a tip after attacking the back row. Beason ended the set with a kill after attacking the back row.

The second set saw wild swings in momentum. Nebraska trailed, but then won seven of the next nine rallies. Then the Badgers retook the lead with a 9-1 run.

But Nebraska got the final wave, after a good helping from Mauch, kills from Landfair and another set point kill from Beason.

The third set was close until late in the set. Murray served a 4-0 run, giving Nebraska an 18-15 lead. The last two runs came after hitting errors by Franklin and Smrek.