Sheldon: 3 Quick Sideouts from Nebraska's sweep of Illinois

Offensive superlatives, defensive highlights, and an empty bench. Nebraska was dominant in one of its most-impressive wins of the year.

Nebraska swept its 14th straight match Thursday, beating Illinois at John Cook Arena to remain undefeated at 23-0. | Amarillo Mullen

Nebraska stayed perfect with yet another sweep, this time against Illinois. Below are three quick sideouts after the match.

The most dominant match of the season?

It might be hard to top, at least emotionally, the Penn State match for Nebraska’s best match of the year to this point, but the Huskers’ 14th straight sweep Thursday could be viewed as NU’s best performance of the season.

Nebraska hit a season-best .488, raising its season hitting percentage by 6 points to .345, which would shatter the previous school record.

Virginia Adriano (9) had eight kills and hit .500 Thursday vs. Illinois | Amarillo Mullen

The best argument for this win being Nebraska’s finest is in how many Huskers contributed. Dani Busboom Kelly played 14 players. Ten of them recorded a kill, and all but one of those had at least three kills.

Volleyball is a sport without garbage time and features substitution limits. You don’t normally see this many players in one match, even if a team runs a 6-2 system. But Busboom Kelly and her staff make good use of their depth, and NU didn’t suffer the slightest letdown when players came off the bench.

When Skyler Pierce, Allie Sczech and Manaia Ogbechie come in and thrive, it lifts the vibe for everyone.

“We want to have everybody prepared for this hopeful run that we’ll make,” Busboom Kelly said in a post-match TV interview on FS1. “ They deserve it. This is a great team, and they all deserve a chance to showcase what they’ve been working on.”

Andi Jackson was perfect

Remember once upon a time (in early September), when we were a little worried about Andi Jackson’s attacking? 

After a perfect night of nine kills on nine swings, Jackson’s hitting percentage jumped to .422 for the season, making her a near-certainty to be first-team All-American again.

Nebraska middle blocker Andi Jackson was a perfect 9-for-9 against Illinois. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The junior middle blocker might be the country’s best slide attacker, and her connection with setter Bergen Reilly rarely falters. It did once on Thursday, when the two failed to link up on a transition play when Jackson jumped sooner than Reilly anticipated. 

After initially giving Jackson a hitting error, the scorers later amended that since she didn’t get a chance to swing at the ball. So even Nebraska’s mistakes were chalked up to honest errors.

Jackson also had four blocks, part of a defensive effort that limited Illinois to .095, the 11th time this season the Huskers have held an opponent below .100.

A career night for Laney Choboy

Nebraska’s junior libero had plenty to do with Illinois’ paltry hitting mark herself.

Choboy was everywhere defensively, hoovering up a career-best 20 digs in just three sets while adding a pair of service aces.

Laney Choboy's career-high 20 digs included several highlight-reel saves. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Her brilliance was distilled on one standout rally midway through the second set. After sending the serve over to Illinois in right back, Choboy sprinted to her spot in left back, and dove to get a hand under a deft tip from Illini opposite hitter Auburn Tompkinson. Outside hitter Alyssa Aguayo also failed to put down a swing, dug by Choboy, who had little time to breathe before making a one-handed, diving save after Illinois blocked a swing by Teraya Sigler. 

The Huskers finally won the rally on a kill by Harper Murray, but when the sell-out John Cook Arena crowd rose to their feet at the end of the point, there was no doubt the applause was for the Husker in the off-colored jersey.

Busboom Kelly was also quick to point out that, according to Nebraska’s internal metrics, the Huskers passed a season-best 2.63 out of 3. Choboy passed nine of Illinois’ serves, and it was just the second time all season the Huskers did not allow an ace.

On a night of gaudy offensive numbers, the Huskers’ primary defender might have been the player of the match.

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