COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland’s hot start threw some early trouble at No. 5 Nebraska, but after the Huskers weathered the initial storm, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way in NU’s 11th straight win.
Annika Albrecht and Mikaela Foecke each had eight kills to help Nebraska head into the final week of the regular season tied for the Big Ten lead after beating Maryland 25-23, 25-18, 25-13 Saturday evening at the Xfinity Center Pavilion.
Nebraska (24-4, 17-1 Big Ten) hit better than .300 for the fifth straight match, finishing at .310 Saturday. Foecke led the way, hitting .438 with one error on her 16 swings.
Maryland (17-13, 6-12) never found a way to slow NU’s attack. The Terrapins finished with 24 digs, well below their average of 11.6 digs per set in conference play, and the Huskers outblocked Maryland 9-4. The Huskers, who average 14.5 digs per set in Big Ten play, finished with 29 digs in a match with plenty of quick side-outs.
“There was not much rallying,” Nebraska coach John Cook said in a post-match radio interview. “They couldn’t dig. We couldn’t dig.”
The offenses had their way in the opener, in which Nebraska held on after taking a 24-20 lead. Maryland erased three set points on two NU errors and an ace from Samantha Drechsel, but Albrecht’s third kill of the first set gave the Huskers the important opening win.
NU survived the first set despite finishing with two fewer kills than the Terrapins, who got six kills from freshman outside hitter Erika Pritchard. Maryland outhit Nebraska .367-.333 in the first set, but committed four service errors — a pattern that would be costly for the Terrapins throughout the night.
“We didn’t play our best, but we played well enough to win,” Cook said. “We were nice and steady. We took their big haymaker punch in Game 1 and found a way to win that game.”
After leading 15-13 in the second, Nebraska took control with a 5-1 run that included a pair of kills from freshman opposite hitter Jazz Sweet, who finished with five on the night. The Terrapins’ serving woes continued with six more errors in the second set.
Maryland would finish with 12 service errors, half by sophomore Gia Milana, who was kept in check by Nebraska for the second time this season. A night after putting down 19 kills in the Terrapins’ win over Iowa, the sophomore outside hitter finished with three kills and four attack errors against the Huskers, giving her a negative attack percentage in each match against NU this year.
None of the other Terrapins fared much better in the final two sets — Maryland had 17 kills and 18 hitting errors after the opening set. Pritchard had a match-high 10 kills, but she hit .062 with eight errors.
“When Maryland passes, they’ve got a nice offense. They’re going fast,” Cook said. “The problem is they’ve got two setters, so it’s hard for them to stay consistent, and they don’t pass that well, so it’s hard for them to stay consistent enough.”
Nebraska’s blocking, which became resurgent with six stuffs in the third set, had something to do with it.
Nebraska middles Briana Holman and Lauren Stivrins each had four blocks Saturday, and while setter Kelly Hunter’s connection with the middles was less than ideal, Cook said, Holman and Stivrins’ 10 combined kills included some highlight swings.
“Kelly just was setting some tight, some off. She was just inconsistent and they couldn’t get synced up there,” Cook said. “As the match went on, we finally got our slide going. Lauren and Bri both had two huge kills on that.”
Foecke and Albrecht each had two aces and served long runs in the decisive clincher. The Huskers ran off nine straight points on Albrecht’s serve to go up 13-5. Foecke later served a 5-0 run that included a pair of Nebraska blocks.
Both Nebraska and No. 1 Penn State are 17-1 in league play heading into the final week of the regular season. The Huskers play at 12th-place Northwestern on Wednesday before hosting 10th-place Iowa for Senior Night on Nov. 25.
The Nittany Lions have back-to-back road matches on Friday and Saturday at No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 7 Minnesota.
Nebraska (24-4, 17-1)……..25 25 25
At Maryland (17-13, 6-12)…..23 18 13
NU (Kills-Aces-Blocks): Albrecht 8-2-2, Foecke 8-2-0, Holman 6-0-4, Sweet 5-0-2, Stivrins 4-0-4, Hunter 2-0-3, Maloney 0-1-0. Totals 33-4-15.
UM: Pritchard 10-0-1, Drechsel 8-1-1, Gardner 5-0-3, Gaskin 4-0-0, Milana 3-0-1, Murray 2-1-0. Totals 32-2-6.
Set assists: N 33 (Hunter 27, Maloney 3, Townsend 2, Stivrins 1), UM 30 (Snyder 17, Bentz 9, Milana 3, Burgio 1). Attendance: 1,667
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — A short-handed Ohio State team mired in the middle of the Big Ten pack nearly threw a wrench into No. 5 Nebraska’s Big Ten title plans on Friday night.
Without their usually deft serving touch, the Huskers needed their attack to get hot near the finish to pull out a 25-23, 25-12, 22-25, 25-23 win in St. John Arena.
Junior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke notched her seventh double-double of the season with a match-high 15 kills and 11 digs. Nebraska (23-4, 16-1 Big Ten) also needed every one of redshirt freshman middle blocker Lauren Stivrins’ career-high 12 kills to stay tied with No. 1 Penn State in the conference title race and extend NU’s winning streak to 10 matches.
“This is really our first match we haven’t played, I thought, really, really great volleyball since Wisconsin,” coach John Cook said in his post-match radio interview. “That was 10 matches ago. It’s hard to be good every night. But, give Ohio State credit. They compete and they battle. They’ve got a nice team. We had our hands full.”
Some of the Huskers’ challenges were self-inflicted. NU had a season-high 14 serving errors and recorded only five blocks in four sets against the Buckeyes, who started freshman setter Becca Mauer in place of injured three-year starter Taylor Hughes.
But Ohio State was the more-composed side for much of the match, with outside hitters Ashley Wenz (11 kills, 10 digs) and Luisa Schirmer (10 kills, 13 digs) each putting together double-doubles.
“That was us being uptight and Ohio State punching us in the mouth,” Cook said. “We didn’t handle that as well, so we’ve got to learn from that.”
It didn’t take long to see the Huskers would be in a battle with eighth-place Ohio State (14-14, 7-10). Wenz scored on back-to-back rallies in the first set to put OSU up 23-22 before the Huskers won the final three rallies on kills by Stivrins and Briana Holman and a double block from Holman and setter Kelly Hunter.
After the Huskers ran away from the error-prone Buckeyes in the second set, Ohio State made a match of it in the third behind a spark off the bench from sophomore outside hitter Bia Franklin, whose six kills that set included a pair late to help the Buckeyes pull away from a 21-21 tie.
As rattled as Nebraska’s play was for much of the night, the Huskers didn’t flinch in the closing moments of the final set, which featured 12 ties. Schirmer and Franklin each fired aces to pull the Buckeyes even, but Nebraska got kills on the ensuing rally each time.
Ohio State drew even for the final time when Mauer’s setter dump dropped to the open floor to make it 23-23. But after an OSU timeout, Stivrins threw down the first ball to give the Huskers a match point.
NU made it count by slowing the Buckeyes, who hit .480 in the finale, for one of the few times in the final set. The Husker block got a good touch on a swing by Schirmer and, in transition, Hunter found Foecke, who blasted a ball through the block to the floor to end it.
Stivrins joined Foecke with four kills in the fourth set, helping the Huskers hit .581 in the frame. It was the first time in 12 matches Stivrins reached double digits in kills.
“One of the reasons that she was successful early was they were putting two blockers on Mikaela and letting Lauren go one on one, and she made them pay,” Cook said. “Game 4, they started putting two blockers on Lauren, and she still made them play. That’s a sign of a great player.”
And it’s likely the final time Nebraska will have to deal with Schirmer, who had 10 kills and a team-high 13 digs for the Buckeyes. After the match, Cook said he pulled aside Schirmer, who keyed OSU’s win over Nebraska last season with 16 kills, and told her how much he admired her career.
“She was kind of a question mark in recruiting, how good she would be. But she competed tonight,” Cook said. “She only had 10 kills, but she basically won Game 3 for them.”
Hunter set Nebraska to .341 hitting for the match and added 12 digs to her 47 assists to help overcome five service errors. Junior libero Kenzie Maloney had 12 digs, and senior Sydney Townsend had a match-high 14 digs and served three of the Huskers’ six aces.
Cook said Nebraska brought some nerves into Friday’s match after having lost three of the last four to Ohio State. Saturday’s opponent, Maryland, which beat Iowa 3-1 on Friday, doesn’t figure to have the same stigma, especially considering the Huskers swept the Terrapins in Lincoln on Nov. 8.
That’s it’s own kind of challenge for the Huskers to handle. They’re all big now with NU likely having no margin for error to win the Big Ten championship and claim one of the top four national seeds in the NCAA tournament.
“What we’ll have to caution on tomorrow is we just played Maryland a week ago and they didn’t compete very well, but they were on their third leg of a road trip,” Cook said. “So we’re going to see a different Maryland team than we saw in Lincoln.”
Nebraska (23-4, 16-1)…………….25 25 22 25
At Ohio State (14-14, 7-10)………23 12 25 23
NU (Kills-Aces-Blocks): Foecke 15-1-1, Stivrins 12-0-0, Albrecht 11-0-3, Sweet 9-0-0, Holman 8-0-5, Hunter 5-1-1, Townsend 0-3-0, Maloney 0-1-0. Totals 60-6-10.
OSU: Wenz 11-0-2, Schirmer 10-1-2, Smeathers 9-0-1, Witte 8-0-1, Franklin 6-1-0, Mauer 3-1-0, Swan 2-0-1, Gruensfelder 0-1-0, Halm 0-1-0. Totals 49-5-7.
Set Assists: N 55 (Hunter 47, Albrecht 3, Townsend 2, Maloney 2, Holman 1), OSU 44 (Mauer 39, Gruensfelder 3, Wenz 2). Attendance: 3,001
