#2 Nebraska Volleyball Impressive in a sweep of #20 USC

Nebraska 3 vs USC 0 – 25-18, 25-22, 25-16

Ally Batenhorst was a Husker at this time last season. She transferred to USC to complete her final year of play there. Tonight she returned to the Bob Devaney Center for the first time since her transfer. She received a standing ovation that brought tears to Ally's eyes. Well done Devaney Center fans, well done.

Batenhorst played well for the Trojans tonight. She had 13 kills and nine digs and was her team's leading hitter. Harper Murray and Merritt Beason played the “go to” role for the Huskers. Murray had 12 kills and Beason 11.

Defensively, Lexi Rodriguez led all players with 13 tackles. The digs Rodriguez makes aren't simple rolling punches to her arms. She lunges, flies, and runs toward the ball to create something very close to magic.

Around 18:18 of the second set, Nebraska started playing volleyball at a higher level. There was a swipe at Rodriguez and a swipe at Murray that broke the spirit of the other team. Thoughts from opposing teams: “If Nebraska is capable of making plays like this, how do we kill a ball?”

Nebraska held USC to a .137 hitting percentage, compared to the Trojans' normal hitting percentage of .220. This defensive effort is always a combination of block and ground defense, but tonight it had a lot more to do with ground defense. Nebraska dropped some spikes in the first and second sets, but kept the hard-hit balls from hitting the ground.

Nebraska has a high ability to make plays at will when the ball is out of the normal system. That skill came in handy against USC. A play came in the third set when Beason hit a ball from the back row, was blocked, and sank her own blocked ball high enough for Bergen Reilly to push the ball down for a kill.

The team has never specifically practiced this sequence, but they definitely practice being ready to play any ball, and when you play that ball, they practice where to send it to get a good attack. This game outside the system is a special skill. All teams practice it, but Nebraska excels at this aspect of the game.

There are many drills that force a team to work on balancing the playing field. This means that when a player clears a space on the floor, the player next to him moves a little to fill some of the space he left behind. They have six people covering the 900 square meter space. It's impressive to watch how Nebraska moves and shifts to keep the field balanced.

You have excellent spatial imagination. They move fluidly and seemingly as a unit. As one player moves, the other five adjust according to their direction and distance. They must all be very good at geometry!

Nebraska travels to Illinois for a game on Thursday, October 3rd. The game begins at 6:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on FS1. Illinois is 8-5 this season. They lost both conference games in three sets this weekend, first to Oregon and then to Washington.

Saturday:
#10 Purdue defeated #16 Minnesota 3-2
#7 Wisconsin triumphed over Northwestern 3-0
#11 Oregon defeated Indiana 3-1
Iowa outlasted Maryland 3-2
Washington defeated Illinois 3-0

Sunday:
#2 Nebraska is in full control of #20 USC 3-0
#4 Penn State defeated Michigan State 3-1
UCLA defeated Ohio State 3-1
Michigan defeated Rutgers 3-2
#5 Louisville dominated #3 Stanford 3-0
#1 Pitt defeated #13 Georgia Tech 3-0
#12 Kentucky defeated #15 Florida 3-1