Kenny Larabee, KLIN
No. 2 Nebraska Upsets No. 1 Wisconsin in Five Sets
Nebraska volleyball refused to quit Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
The No. 2 Huskers upset No. 1 Wisconsin in five sets: 25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-13. Nebraska improved to 19-0 on the season and 9-0 in Big Ten Conference play.
The win snapped a 10-match losing streak for the Huskers at the hands of the Badgers.
Nebraska came out on fire in the first set hitting .214 and notching 17 kills. Wisconsin managed just two blocks, but that quickly changed.
The Badgers turned up the block in the second set, notching 12 as Nebraska's hitting errors began to pile up. Those errors compounded more in the third set as the Huskers tried to hit around the block more, sending many of them wide or long.
After Nebraska hung on in the fourth, a rocking Devaney Center has the fifth set tied 12-12. The Huskers ripped off the next two but All-American Sarah Franklin kept Wisconsin in it with a kill.
On the next play, it seemed as if Wisconsin had tied the match at 14-14. But John Cook challenged that a Badger had committed a net violation.
Upon review, Wisconsin was indeed in the net. Point Nebraska for the upset victory.
Nebraska hit .130 for the match to Wisconsin's .217. The Huskers committed 44 hitting errors and 11 service errors.
Despite the errors, Big Red never stopped fighting. That's something the Devaney Center volleyball attendance record crowd of 9,198 appreciated to the tune of multiple moments eclipsing 100 decibels.
Merritt Beason notched a match-high 21 kills while Harper Murray (14) and Ally Batenhorst (13) both eclipsed the double-figure mark. Bergan Reilly finished with a double-double of 49 assists and 17 digs.
Nebraska, set to move up to No. 1 in the AVCA coaches poll Monday, will stay home next weekend to host Maryland on Friday and Rutgers on Saturday.
Get the Husker Volleyball Bobblehead Doll.