Murray Lights Up the Badgers as Nebraska Earns a Top-Ten Sweep

With a perfect pass from Campbell Flynn, Bergen Reilly could have set the ball to any of her three attackers. 

However, everyone knew where the ball was going. 

Harper Murray flew out of the back row and pounded an attack off the Wisconsin block. The ball fell to the floor for the final point in No. 1 Nebraska’s 25-23, 25-14, 25-20 sweep over the seventh-ranked Badgers Saturday evening at John Cook Arena. 

The kill was the exclamation mark on a sparkling performance for Murray in front of a national television audience on FOX. 

Murray finished with 20 kills on 34 swings, marking the seventh time she has recorded at least 20 kills in a match. Unlike the previous six times she reached that mark, she did it this time in just three sets. Her .471 hitting percentage was the best in a match in which she had at least 18 kills. Murray also added four digs, three blocks and an ace. 

“She just got in a flow with her overall game,” NU coach Dani Busbook Kelly said. “She was passing great, serving great, so I think it was just coming naturally and smooth to her tonight.”

Despite her impressive final stat line, the match started inauspiciously for Murray as she committed hitting errors on her first two attacks of the night — a cross-court shot that went wide and a back-row attack that sailed long. Murray said the key was setter Bergen Reilly kept going to her after her early mistakes. 

Not that Reilly ever seriously considered freezing out her three-time All-American attack from the offense. She also admitted she didn’t know Murray committed errors on her first two swings. 

“She just really radiates confidence, and as a setter, that’s something you love to see,” said Reilly, who finished with 38 assists, six digs and two kills. “A lot of people on our team do a great job of that. After they make an error, they want the ball again. It makes your job really easy when everyone’s just demanding the ball, and they want to go get a kill for you.”

Nebraska (17-0, 6-0) committed six errors in the first set as Wisconsin took an 18-17 lead. The Huskers responded on a kill from Virginia Adriano, a Badger hitting error and an out-of-system kill from Murray on an assist from Mauch. 

After a UW timeout, Reilly chased down a shanked dig near her bench to keep a play alive. The Badgers couldn’t convert the free-ball chance as a tight set caused Lynney Tarnow to hit the ball into the net.  

After Wisconsin fought off three set points, Murray ended it with a back-row kill that previewed what was to come. 

The second set was tight until Nebraska’s littles took over from the service line. With NU up 11-10, Olivia Mauch served a 5-0 run. After a Badger sideout, Laney Choboy helped lead another five straight Nebraska points. Murray recorded three kills and two blocks during the 10-1 run, extending her hot streak to 11 kills on 18 swings. 

Mauch and Choboy didn’t just get it done from the service line. They led NU’s floor defense with 12 and 13 kills, respectively. For the match, Nebraska outdug the Badgers 44-28. NU also won the blocking battle 9-2, with Manaia Ogbechie recording seven stuffs. 

“I think our block and our back row just suffocated them,” Reilly said. “It’s just so freeing at the net or even being in the back row, knowing like, ‘Hey, Liv and Laney are back there. It’s probably going to be up.’ They find ways to control the game without scoring, and I don’t think there’s many littles in the country that can do that.”

In the third set, Nebraska’s block helped it pull away late. Tied at 16-all, Sigler notched a kill before Ogbechie and Adriano recorded back-to-back blocks. The teams traded side outs before the Huskers scored the final three points of the match, capped off by Murray’s final kill. 

Jackson added 11 kills on 20 attacks while Sigler also had a solid night with nine kills at a .533 clip. As a team, the Huskers hit .396, the highest for a Wisconsin opponent this season.

Decelise Champion led Wisconsin (11-5, 5-1) with 12 kills on a .241 hitting percentage. Audrey Flanagan and Eva Travis each added seven kills. Setter Charlie Fuerbringer was UW’s most efficient attacker with five kills on seven attacks to go with her 29 assists. 

The Badgers’ middle blockers were a non-factor as they combined to record five kills and five errors on 20 attacks. While UW passed decently enough to remain in system, Busboom Kelly said they did enough with their serve to limit Wisconsin’s attacking options. 

“We did a great job of changing depths, which kept them on their toes and that makes it really hard on middles when you’re driving it deep, dropping it short, making them change their routes,” she said. “They might have had a pretty good passing number, but I thought we did a good job hitting our zones.”

The match capped off a long day for several Huskers. Murray, Jackson and Reilly appeared on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show earlier in the day, making them the first volleyball players on the football pregame show. Busboom Kelly said she heard from some critics (her parents) about whether the show would be a distraction before such a high-caliber opponent. 

“I’m glad that they played well, or I would have heard it from my parents,” she said. “We just continue to lead the charge in awareness and momentum with the sport of volleyball, and that’s just another example.”

For the match, the Huskers wore black long-sleeved jerseys as part of a Black Out. Nebraska used its black Taraflex court, and almost all 10,497 fans wore black. 

Murray said she loves it when they do a Black Out — they also did one last year for the Penn State match — and it adds more energy to the atmosphere. 

“We play better under pressure, and we love the hype around our games because that’s what we want,” she said. “We want people to come and watch. We want them to have fun when they’re watching our games. The Black Out is always such a good idea, and I love when we do it every year. Our fans really commit to it, so it helps a lot, and it’s super fun.”