No. 1 Nebraska swept Iowa 25-12, 25-15, 25-17 on Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, and Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa gave the Huskers a 27-0 record on Senior Night. The four seniors all started the match, and all four played a major role in the win before Nebraska honored them in a ceremony after the match.
Andi Jackson and Harper Murray tied for the team high with nine kills each, and Jackson hit .750 with two blocks. Bergen Reilly put up 35 assists, and Laney Choboy recorded a match-high 10 digs. The Huskers hit .457 as a team in the Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa win, and they held Iowa to a season-low .026 hitting percentage.
Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa behind its seniors
The first four Nebraska servers were all seniors, and Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa started with Choboy, Murray, Jackson and Reilly taking their turns at the end line. With all four seniors on the court, Nebraska went up 4-2 before an underclassman touched the ball. Junior Skyler Pierce recorded a kill on the seventh rally of the match.
Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa moved quickly in the first set, which Nebraska won 25-12 after taking a 15-8 lead at the media timeout. Murray and middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie ended the set with a block. The Huskers won the second set 25-15, with Ogbechie closing it out with back-to-back blocks before an Iowa attack error gave Nebraska the set.
Iowa took a 7-4 lead early in the third set, but Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa stayed on course as the Huskers answered with a 6-0 run to take control, and Murray had a six-point service run early in the set. The Huskers finished the match on a 3-0 run, and the final point was overturned after review, as it was first called a touch against Nebraska.
Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa in 75 minutes
The match took 75 minutes, and Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa was the 42nd straight win over the Hawkeyes. Nebraska improved to 42-0 against Iowa all time. The Huskers out-killed Iowa 47-22, and 11 different Nebraska players recorded a kill. Nebraska had nine blocks as a team, and the Huskers have now hit over .400 in four straight matches, the first time they have done that in the rally scoring era.
Nebraska volleyball sweeps Iowa also extended the win streak to 58 straight regular-season wins for Nebraska, an ongoing school record. It was also the seventh time in program history that Nebraska has started a season 27-0. The Huskers clinched the Big Ten regular-season crown on Thursday, the third time in four years they have won it outright, to go with the title they shared with Penn State in 2024.
Nebraska hit .682 in the first set and held Iowa to .050, and the Huskers finished the set with a block from Murray and Ogbechie. The second set saw Nebraska hit .400 while Iowa managed .071, and the third set finished 25-17 after a late 5-0 Iowa run cut the lead before Nebraska won the last three rallies.
The ceremony after the match honored all four seniors. Choboy, Jackson, Murray and Reilly have played together for four seasons, and the group has won four Big Ten championships in four seasons, including the outright crown the Huskers clinched on Thursday.
What the seniors leave behind
Choboy, Jackson, Murray and Reilly have spent four years in Lincoln, and the senior class has a regular-season record of 126-6. They were freshmen for Volleyball Day in Nebraska, when Nebraska played in front of a record crowd at Memorial Stadium and played in the NCAA championship match. Choboy said she started crying when she thought about Senior Night three days before the match, and her grandmother and cousin flew in from New York to surprise her on Friday.
Nebraska closes the regular season at home against No. 19 Minnesota on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network. Iowa fell to 13-17 overall and 2-14 in Big Ten play with the loss, and the Hawkeyes were held to 22 kills, less than half of Nebraska’s total of 47.