Sheldon: 3 Quick Sideouts from Nebraska's Win over Maryland

Huskers get another sweep, but some worrisome cracks show before a huge match at Penn State.

Andi Jackson had nine kills on 10 attacks vs Maryland | Amarillo Mullen

Nebraska improved to 12-0 with a Saturday sweep of Maryland. Here are three quick sideouts on the match and the Huskers.

Serve receive - still not great

It started on the first point of the night when Teraya Sigler and Olivia Mauch chose to let a serve from Maryland’s Haley Melby go. It dropped well inside the back line for an ace.

This has been a recurring theme for Nebraska this season. How many opposing serves have you seen land for an ace after a Husker passer made the decision to let a ball go? 

Maryland landed nine - NINE - aces on Saturday, the most by a Husker opponent since Texas fired 12 during their dominant win in the 2023 NCAA title match.

Freshman Teraya Sigler is shouldering a big job as a primary serve receiver in her first year. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

“It felt a little disconnected,” NU assistant coach Jaylen Reyes said to John Cook in the post-match TV interview.

The passing woes have to be galling to Reyes, who until this year coached the Huskers’ back row and was himself a former libero in his playing days at BYU. Especially after NU appeared to make progress coming off back-to-back solid passing matches against Michigan and Arizona.

Much of the issue appears to be a lack of communication between players when the serve is hit. The Huskers are breaking in a couple of new primary passers with Sigler, a freshman, and Mauch, a sophomore who earned her fifth straight start at libero on Saturday.

Olivia Mauch was NU's starting libero for the fifth straight match on Saturday. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

“A lot of those aces are coming into the seams,” Reyes said. “A lot of it is going to go get the ball. We’re kind of on our heels. Our weight is going backwards.”

Someone needs to speak up and be decisive. Opposing teams are going to continue to hunt those gaps with their serves.

Middles shined again

On the other hand, when your middle blockers hit over .700 combined, your passing can’t be ALL bad.

Nebraska’s pin hitters struggled to consistently put balls away against a Maryland team that’s going to finish in the bottom third of the Big Ten this season.

The middles? No such worry.

Rebekah Allick, murderer of overpasses. | Amarillo Mullen

Senior Rebekah Allick tied her career high with 13 kills Saturday with just one error on 17 attacks. She showed off her full range - putting away slide attacks down the line, crushing overpasses, and connecting well in transition off both setters NU used in the match.

And Saturday will boost Andi Jackson’s journey back to a .400 hitting percentage. After hitting .778 on Wednesday vs Michigan, Jackson hit a toasty .800 with nine kills on 10 swings vs. the Terrapins.

Even her one miss, on the fifth rally of the night, was first ruled a kill, but overturned after a Maryland challenge. A fingertip away from a perfect 10-for-10 night.

Andi Jackson was one swing shy of a perfect night offensively. | Amarillo Mullen

The match moved Jackson’s hitting percentage for the season to .397.

DBK clearly open to experiment

Despite the season about to move into its third calendar month, Nebraska coach Dani Busboom Kelly again showed she isn’t afraid to substitute or experiment, using 14 of her 17 players in the match.

It started early when the Huskers brought redshirt freshman outside hitter Skyler Pierce into the match for Taylor Landfair late in the first set, her seventh appearance of the year.

Skyler Pierce was among several Nebraska reserves who played vs. Maryland. | Nebraska Athletics

Game 2 became Nebraska’s laboratory whiteboard. Nebraska ran a 6-2 offense in the set, using freshman setter Campbell Flynn and opposite hitter Allie Sczech in a double sub with starting setter Bergen Reilly and starting opposite Virginia Adriano. Sigler, normally a back-row mainstay who takes the occasional swing, went through three front-row rotations as well.

The changes were a double-edged sword. Nebraska hit an impressive .324 in the frame with 18 kills, its most in any set on Saturday. But the blocking and serve receive led to a nail biter.

Maryland landed four aces and put away 14 kills of its own to push the set into extra points, where the Huskers held on 27-25 after Harper Murray landed a roll shot from the back row. Game 2 was the only frame in the match the Terrapins recorded more than six kills.

Allie Sczech (2) was part of a 6-2 attack Nebraska ran in the second set against Maryland. | Amarillo Mullen

Maybe NU had a match against a lower-level opponent identified as the chance to get more of its bench involved, and it's hard to complain much when you hit .360 against a conference opponent.

But there were still plenty of instances of not-exactly-champagne-volleyball to iron out with a Friday night showdown at Penn State coming this week.

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