Nebraska Clinches a Share of Big Ten Title with Sweep Over Washington

The Big Ten championship will stay in Lincoln for another year.

After Nebraska’s 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 win over No. 18 Washington Sunday afternoon, and Penn State’s five-set victory at Wisconsin earlier in the day, the Huskers clinched at least a share of the league’s regular-season title for the fourth straight year.

No. 1 NU needs to win just one of its three remaining regular-season matches — Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, all at home — to win the championship outright.

The Huskers showed little signs of any fatigue against No. 18 Washington in their 82-minute victory in front of 9,294 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena. The Huskies made Nebraska work for it, especially in the third set, but NU remained perfect on the year, improving to 25-0, 14-0.

“We were maybe a step slow to start the game. I don’t know if it was physically or just with our eyes,” NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said during her post-match radio interview. “We did have to rely a little bit on some grit, and we really got into a nice groove.”

Andi Jackson goes up for an attack against Washington. The senior middle blocker finished with five kills on eight attacks as she played the first two sets. | Nebraska Athletics

The Huskers’ offense showed few signs of fatigue coming off a Saturday evening match at Oregon. The Huskers hit a season-best .477 as Bergen Reilly ran the show with 37 assists. She also went 4-for-4 attacking and with eight digs.

Harper Murray led NU with 13 kills at a .357 clip. The senior outside hitter recorded NU’s only three aces and added three blocks. Virginia Adriano added nine kills on a .438 hitting percentage, and Manaia Ogbechie terminated seven of her nine swings and also had three blocks.

Andi Jackson put up five kills on eight attacks in the first two sets before giving way to sophomore Kenna Cogill in the third set. She recorded kills on all three of her swings.

Do you get deja vu???@BergenReilly ends the second set on the dump!! 👇 pic.twitter.com/agVTCKWnRu
— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) November 9, 2026

Skyler Pierce (two kills, .400) saw some action in the second set, and Campbell Flynn and Jayden Robinson also made a brief appearance. Although not everyone saw the court, Busboom Kelly said the substitutes she brought in upheld the high level of play.

“I want to get some experience and put some players in, but it’s hard,” Busboom Kelly said. “You don’t want to change the whole lineup. Then that gets a little dicey.”

Nebraska jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Huskies called a timeout. After the break, Washington won eight of the next 10 points to take the lead. It led by as much as 13-11 before NU went back in front. With the set tied at 16-all, the Huskers scored five of the next six rallies, including kills by Teraya Sigler, Bergen Reilly and Virginia Adriano.

The second set was tied at 9-all when Nebraska took over. Olivia Mauch ran off six straight points featuring three NU kills and three Washington hitting errors. Three points later, Murray went on another 6-0 run with two aces to help the Huskers pull away and hold UW to a season-low for points in a set.

The third set also remained tight early, and the Huskies went up 15-14. Nebraska responded by winning the next four points on kills from Teraya Sigler, Adriano and Cogill before a UW hitting error.

THIS PANCAKE>>>> 🥞

COME ON @Olivia_Mauch!! pic.twitter.com/V5q2DMt59o
— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) November 9, 2026

The Huskers reached the red zone first, but Washington scored the next two points to go up 21-20. With the score tied at 22, Murray teamed up with Ogbechie and Reilly for a block. She then hammered a back-row kill on a scramble play after a pancake dig from Mauch. Murray finished the match off with an ace. NU has won all 171 sets under Busboom Kelly where they reached 20 points first.

“That’s the sign of a team with some grit and that killer mentality,” Busboom Kelly said about Murray’s final attack. “A lot of players might roll shot that in and play it safe, but she went for it and got a kill.”

Washington (18-5, 9-5) finished with a .210 hitting percentage as Destler led the team with 12 kills. NU limited the effectiveness of Simona Mateska, who put up 31 kills earlier this year in a five-set win over Wisconsin. The sophomore outside hitter had just five kills and four errors on 22 attacks against the Huskers.

Washington’s most successful attack was tip shots over the Husker block, which eventually NU adjusted to. Sigler led the defense with 10 digs, to go with her six kills, and Mauch recorded seven digs. Choboy chipped in five assists and four digs.

“That’s a good team, and they tip for kills,” Busboom Kelly said. They’re aggressive. These weren’t tips that were easy, so I thought they were placing them really well. We were a hair step behind (because of our) quick turnaround, but overall we handled it well.”

Busboom Kelly said she was quite pleased with NU’s performance on their last road trip of the regular season. She brought one of her children along, and the staff also had their spouses travel to the Pacific Northwest. She joked that they would be allowed to go on future away matches.

“I’m gonna say (the trip graded out at an) A-plus,” she said. “Now the spouses and my kids can come again because we won both. Thank gosh, we didn’t jinx that.”

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