Nebraska Claims Big Ten Regular Season Title Outright With Sweep

The Huskers have won the last four league titles, including sole possession of three of them.

Nebraska stayed perfect with a sweep of Illinois at John Cook Arena. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

LINCOLN — Nebraska won’t be sharing the Big Ten title this year. 

The top-ranked Huskers clinched the league regular-season championship outright with a 25-23, 25-20, 25-12 sweep over No. 25 Illinois Thursday evening at John Cook Arena. 

NU improved to 26-0 and 15-0 in the Big Ten with two conference matches left. The Huskers have won the title outright three of the past four seasons and shared it in 2024 with Penn State. 

The teams traded kills and side outs early, scoring only three points on serve during the first pass through the serving rotations. The Illini went up 16-11 after winning seven of eight points, including an ace from Allysa Aguayo. 

Illinois (17-9, 9-6) led 18-13 when Harper Murray fired a back-row kill, sending Reilly to the service line. The Huskers finally found a rhythm and scored eight straight points. Teraya Sigler recorded three straight kills, and Manaia Ogbechie recorded back-to-back blocks as part of three consecutive Illini hitting errors. 

The Illini responded by tying the set at 21-all, but Ogbechie had a pair of kills late before Jackson finished it off with her four kills of the set. The Huskers hit .567 in the set, but gave away five points on missed serves. 

Nebraska started quickly with a 4-1 early lead, but the Illini took the lead 12-11 after Alyssa Aguayo recorded three kills over four rallies. Murray responded with a personal 3-0 run to put the Huskers in front for good with a tip kill, back-row kill and ace serve. She added another ace and two more kills down the stretch. 

The third set remained close until Keri Leimbach came in and served a 9-0 run that put the Huskers up 21-11 on their way to another sweep. 

Nebraska set a season best with a .483 hitting percentage. Sigler led the way with 13 kills on a .684 clip. Murray added 12 kills while hitting .391. Ogbechie and Jackson each had nine kills while hitting above .600. Reilly finished with 40 assists and seven digs. 

Mauch recorded 13 assists. Ogbechie had five blocks while Murray tallied a pair of aces. 

The Illini hit .200 led by 11 kills from Paityn Chapman. Harris led Illinois with three aces. 

Nebraska hosts Iowa for Senior Day on Saturday. That match is set for a 6 p.m. CT first serve on B1G+

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