Nebraska Volleyball Advances to Sweet 16 with Sweep of Miami

Nebraska volleyball is headed back to the Sweet 16.

No.2 Nebraska (31-2, 19-1 B1G) swept Miami (23-11, 12-9 ACC) Saturday, 25-19, 25-14, 25-18, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. This will be the program’s 40th NCAA Regional appearance.

The Huskers used a mix of dominating offense and suffocating defense to stamp out the Hurricanes. Nebraska hit .293, while holding Miami to a paltry .058 hitting percentage.

Despite being out-swung (104-92), Nebraska finished the match with more kills (41-32), assists (38-31), aces (3-1), digs (43-35), and blocks (10-7). Miami did lead in two categories, however: attacking errors (26-14) and service errors (5-4).

The top attacker in the ACC, Flormarie Heredia Colon, finished the match with 14 kills on 39 swings, but committed 11 errors as well. Nebraska on the other hand spread the ball around, having all attackers finish with over six kills but not having a single one hit double digits.

Bergen Reilly shared the sugar by collecting 33 assists while adding four of her own kills. Taylor Landfair was the top target with 27 swings, terminating eight of them while also sending back four shots.

Merrit Beason also finished with eight kills, but the top kill getter for the Huskers was Harper Murray with nine, along with two aces and 12 digs.

Rebekah Allick was a force on both sides as she collected six kills and seven blocks to lead all defenders. Keeping it on the defensive side, Lexi Rodriguez entered the night needing 56 digs to pass Justine Wong-Orantes on the Nebraska all-time digs list. She added nine to her total Saturday night.

Nebraska will now host the regional in Lincoln next weekend. Wisconsin will face Texas A&M at 6 p.m. CST Friday, followed by the Huskers vs. Dayton 30 minutes after that match. The winners will play Sunday at 2 p.m. for a spot in the Final Four. Friday’s matches will be televised on ESPN2, and Sunday’s will be on ABC.

Box score

Set 1: A Murray kill and block by Merritt Beason and Allick, along with a trio of Miami hitting errors, helped the Huskers take a 13-8 lead. Kills from Jackson and Landfair extended the advantage to 19-12. The Hurricanes pulled within four at 21-17, but a Husker block ended a 3-0 Miami scoring run. NU closed out the set, 25-19, on a Hurricane hitting error. The Big Red held Miami to .091 hitting in the set. 

Set 2: Kennedi Orr at the service line sparked a 3-0 run to hand the Huskers an early 7-3 lead. A Murray ace and two Hurricane hitting errors stretched the lead to 16-9. Orr enjoyed another service run, which included an ace, along with a Landfair kill and Allick/Landfair block that put Nebraska ahead 20-10. Andi Jackson and Beason combined for NU’s sixth block of the match to end the set, 25-14.  Nebraska hit .300 in the set while limiting Miami to an .081 attack percentage.

Set 3: Two kills apiece from Reilly and Jackson, along with an ace by Murray and block were part of a 7-0 run to give the Huskers a 9-3 advantage. Miami came back to pull within three at 12-9. The Huskers responded by winning five of the next six rallies to take a 17-10 advantage. Nebraska led by at least six the rest of the way, earning the victory on Reilly’s fourth kill of the match. Nebraska hit .357 in the third set while Miami hit .000.

Nebraska Athletics Notes

MORE: After Nebrasketball: Nebraska Blown Out in Big Ten Opener

MORE: Nebrasketball Embarrassed in Conference Opener at Michigan State

MORE: Nebraska Wide Receiver Dae’vonn Hall to Enter Transfer Portal

MORE: Nebraska Volleyball Cruises in First Round Sweep of Florida A&M

MORE: Trying to Make Sense of a Wild Week for Nebraska Football

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.