WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Nebraska expected to endure some bumps and bruises on a three-match road trip in the Big Ten. But it was after blood started spouting from Mikaela Foecke’s nose that the Huskers kicked into gear to get an important win.
Foecke’s season-high 21 kills helped No. 4 Nebraska bounce back from Wednesday’s loss at Wisconsin with a 25-16, 22-25, 25-14, 25-18 win at No. 16 Purdue on Saturday night in front of 5,289 in Mackey Arena.
The outside hitter from West Point, Iowa, fell one kill shy of her career high — set in 2015 in a five-set win at Penn State — and committed one hitting error to hit .476.
It was on that lone miscue in 42 swings that Nebraska’s leading attacker got shaken up. With NU trailing 18-17 in Game 2, Purdue middle blocker Blake Mohler blocked Foecke’s tip try, and as Foecke tried to pop the ball back up in the air, it caught her in the nose, leading to a delay in play as the NU training staff attended to her.
“I passed it into my face basically,” Foecke said. “It survived. All in one piece.”
The stoppage was one of a series of delays that stretched the match to 2 hours, 19 minutes. Coach John Cook used all three of his replay challenges, and Purdue’s Dave Shondell used a pair. Early in the third set, coaches challenged three plays in four rallies.
“I just thought we just grinded it out,” Cook said. “That felt like a total grind-out match, let’s just grind away. It was ugly on both sides at times, but we made some brilliant plays at times and did some really good things.”
The only thing that seemed more sluggish than the pace was Purdue’s attack. The Boilermakers (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) entered the night third in the nation in attack percentage (.341), but committed 26 hitting errors to hit a season-low .134.
Nebraska (14-4, 7-1) bottled up outside hitter Danielle Cuttino, the Big Ten’s kills leader, who hit .087 with 14 kills and 10 errors. Junior opposite hitter Sherridan Atkinson’s 15 kills led the Boilermakers, but she added eight errors as well.
“We did a nice job on (Cuttino),” Cook said. “I’ll give credit to (assistant) Tyler (Hildebrand) preparing those middles and preparing our block on how to deal with her. She got a few tips down on us, and we made an adjustment.”
Foecke said Nebraska’s intention Saturday was to attack the middle of the court, often left open as Purdue committed a middle blocker to the Huskers’ left-side hitters. Both Foecke and outside hitter Annika Albrecht, who hit .321 with 13 kills, took rips out of the back row on what is called a “bic” set, short for “back-quick.”
Kelly Hunter also handed out plenty of sets to NU’s middles and right side. Middle blockers Briana Holman and Lauren Stivrins combined for 16 kills, and opposite hitter Jazz Sweet added six as Nebraska hit .287.
After Purdue tied the match by winning the final three points of Game 2, the Huskers used big runs to put away the final two sets. Nebraska broke open the third with an 8-1 run that included two back-row kills from Foecke and four Purdue errors.
After NU 19-12 in Game 4, the Boilermakers cut it to 21-17 before Holman and Albrecht each added two kills to close out the match.
“I think we just went back to our game plan,” Foecke said. “When they got in their runs, we were sort of getting away from what we were supposed to do.”
While the Boilermakers outblocked NU 10-7, Cook said the Huskers’ blockers did their job getting touches on Purdue attacks to start Nebraska’s transition offense. Hunter led NU with 13 digs, while junior libero Kenzie Maloney added 12.
“I thought Kenzie was a stud tonight. She made a couple really nice digs,” Cook said. “That’s how you get those hitters to start making errors. That’s their best hit, and Kenzie was popping those up like ‘what else you got?’ ”
It was a challenging attitude that has defined the Huskers’ start to Big Ten play. Nebraska sits at 7-1, tied atop the conference with Penn State, despite playing six matches against teams ranked in the top 20.
The Huskers will head into next week’s home matches against unranked Northwestern and Illinois after sticking out their chin — and nose — to get a pair of wins in a three-match road trip.
Said Cook: “If you would’ve said ‘Hey John, you’re going to go through the end of this stretch and come out 2-1’ with the schedule we’ve already played up to this point, this three-match road swing, I would’ve been very happy to say ‘Yeah, we’re 2-1.’
“Who would’ve bet we would go through that gauntlet right there and be in this position?”
Nebraska (14-4, 7-1)……25 22 25 25
At Purdue (15-4, 5-3)……16 25 14 18
NU (kills-aces-blocks): Foecke 21-1-0, Albrecht 13-2-1, Holman 9-0-3, Stivrins 7-0-4, Sweet 6-0-2, Hunter 1-0-3. Totals 57-3-13.
P: Atkinson 15-1-3, D. Cuttino 14-0-3, Mohler 5-0-5, S. Cuttino 4-0-2, Stahl 3-1-2, Evans 1-0-2, Williams 1-0-0, Otec 0-1-0. Totals 43-3-17.
Set assists: NU 54 (Hunter 44, Maloney 5, Townsend 2, Albrecht 1, Holman 1, Atherton 1), P 40 (Evans 36, Peters 3, D. Cuttino 1).
Attendance: 5,289.
