The streak is over. 

UCLA ended Nebraska’s run of 48 set victories in a row that dated back to Sept. 16 in a five-set win over Creighton. 

However, the Huskers’ perfect season continues as they earned a 25-17, 25-23, 19-25, 25-15 win Friday night in front of a school record crowd of 10,498 at Pauley Pavilion. 

“It was good for us to get tested, and then I thought we delivered,” NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said on her postgame radio interview. ”In some big moments, certain players that knew they were going to get the ball, had to get the kill. It was great to see them do that under pressure.”

NU (25-0, 15-0) also saw its streak of 15 matches in a row of hitting at least .300 end as the Huskers finished with a .299 hitting percentage. The last time the Huskers failed to hit .300 in a match was also the last time they failed to sweep their opponent. Bergen Reilly led the offense with 34 assists. 

Nebraska led 6-1 in the third set before the Bruins (14-11, 8-7) rallied and began stringing points. UCLA eventually took a 15-13 lead in the set. Nebraska closed to 18-16, but the Bruins ran off five points in a row to take control before Maggie Li added kills for their final two points. The Huskers hit .190 in the set and tried to find a spark late by bringing in Campbell Flynn. 

Andi Jackson said it was good for the Huskers to face a little bit of adversity and be pushed by an opponent. Even though they’ve been tested before, dropping the set will benefit them going forward. 

“We all agree that it was really good for our team. The pressure is off,” Jackson said on the BTN broadcast. “You could definitely tell in the first, second and third sets, we were playing like there was so much pressure on us and just a weight on us. So now that’s gone, and we can play free once again.”

NU finished with 12 hitting errors, which is not too out of line with its recent performance, but it took them 137 swings to accumulate 53 kills. 

For the first time all season, an opponent outdug the Huskers as UCLA finished with 59 digs, led by 17 from libero Lola Schumacher. Setter Kate Duffey and outside hitter Maggie Li added 10 each. NU recorded 48 digs, paced by 14 from Laney Choboy. 

Li led the Bruins with 20 kills while Cheridyn Leverette added 17 kills. Marianna Singletary finished with 12 kills and seven blocks. 

“We’re getting outworked defensively, which is rare for us,” Busboom Kelly said. “UCLA played exceptional, especially from the defensive end, and their outsides were great. We learned that we’re not invincible.”

The Huskers’ offense struggled to start, recording just two kills in the first 16 rallies. However, UCLA had bigger problems, committing four hitting errors, missing two serves, and having two bad sets. NU extended its lead to 19-9 on five straight points from Rebekah Allick — four kills and a block with Virginia Adriano — before UCLA regrouped behind a 5-0 run. Harper Murray added 3 kills in the red zone to help wrap the set up. 

The second set also featured some drama as UCLA used a 5-0 run to go up 10-5 in the second set as they recorded 8 kills on their first 19 kills. The Huskers only had one kill on 13 swings in the same time frame. 

Nebraska battled back and took a 13-12 lead after winning eight of the next 10 rallies. The Bruins went back in front and led 18-16, but the Huskers again locked in and won seven of the following eight points. During one of those two points, an attack from Li was called long. However, replays showed that NUs block touched it, which, if called, could have cut the Huskers’ lead to 21-20, but the Bruins opted not to challenge the play. 

UCLA fought off two set points, but Murray delivered the final point with a big swing to push NU’s set streak to 48. 

In the fourth set, NU raced out to an 11-5 lead as Jackson recorded three kills during a six-point stretch. She put up seven kills in the set as she finished the night with 15 kills on 24 errorless swings. 

“Our passers pass so good, and Bergen and Campbell set the ball so well; they put it in great positions,” Jackson said. “I go up and obviously have space and vision when I’m hitting, but it’s really like when you get such a great set off of a great pass, it makes it super easy.”

The Bruins got as close as 14-11 in the fourth set after a missed serve, and NU won eight of the next nine rallies to put the match on ice. 

“We ended on a super high note, and kind of the way we’ve been playing all year,” Busboom Kelly said. 

Murray finished with 14 kills while Allick contributed 13 kills on a .440 hitting percentage and seven blocks. Taylor Landfair only recorded five blocks, but was in on six blocks. Adriano finished with just two kills as Allie Sczech played the second and third sets and also recorded two kills. 

The Huskers stay in Los Angeles and face another tough test against No. 17 USC on Sunday at noon CST. 

“USC is very, very good,” Busboom Kelly said. “They are definitely a team that’s playing great right now and is young, but they serve really tough. It’s going to be quite the battle on Sunday.”

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