Passing Woes Cause Nebraska to Drop a Set, but Huskers Regroup for Win Over Purdue

LINCOLN — Nebraska knew the short serves were coming, but it still couldn’t pass them. 

The Huskers struggled to pass Purdue’s serves in the second set, allowing the Boilermakers to become the first team to take a set off them since Florida Gulf Coast on Sept. 20. 

NU made the necessary adjustments, including getting the middle blockers more involved in serve reception, and held off No. 13 Purdue to earn a 25-13, 20-25, 25-19, 25-14 victory Saturday afternoon at John Cook Arena. 

Purdue (11-5, 4-3) recorded just two aces, but its tough serving caused the Huskers’ offense to break down, committing hitting errors or easily diggable attacks. To counter the short serves, the Huskers got their middle blockers more involved. 

Andi Jackson entered the match with just 13 receptions on the season, while Manaia Ogbechie had passed just seven serves. The duo finished with nine and five passes, respectively, without any errors. 

“We had worked on passing short serves for two weeks because that’s kind of Purdue’s game, so I was a little disappointed not to see us execute,” NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “But we made great adjustments, and they did a great job and got us out of rhythm. I’m proud to see us get back in rhythm fairly quickly.”

Nebraska (18-0, 7-0)  dominated the first set with a trio of long service runs. Harper Murray got Nebraska going with a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 first-set lead. Andi Jackson recorded two kills and a block in the run. Bergen Reilly added two six-point streaks from the service line, including one to close the set. The Huskers hit .455 in the set, led by a perfect 5-for-5 performance from Virginia Adriano. 

Adriano struggled, much like the rest of her teammates in the second set, but rebounded with five kills and no errors in the third set. She finished with a season-best 11 kills on a .381 hitting percentage. After three matches with attacking struggles, Sigler said it was great to see Adriano’s hard work pay off in a match. 

“She never shied away from swinging,” Sigler said about Adriano. “Kudos to her, and kudos to Bergen to keep setting her and out-of-system with Liv to keep setting her. No matter the past swings, no matter the past errors, she’s capable of doing hard things for us. She was super resilient today.”

The Huskers went up for good in the set after a 3-0 run gave them a 10-8 advantage. Purdue got as close as 19-18, but Nebraska closed by winning six of the final seven rallies. 

Sigler led the charge in the third set with three kills in the final five rallies. She said after losing the second set, she wanted to shake off any mistakes, swing hard on attacks and not settle for tips or roll shots as much. 

“If I’m gonna get blocked, if I’m gonna make an error, I’m gonna make an error and get blocked going for it,” she said. “That was kind of like a reality check for me — I need to be here for my team. Forget myself and my stats, but how can I be there for my team to help them win?”

The fourth set was tied 8-all before an Adriano kill sent Olivia Mauch to the service line. The NU libero served the next eight points for a 9-0 run, including three bump assists to Murray and an ace. 

“We might have came out (with) a little lack of energy, and we worked through that,” Busboom Kelly said. “Then the competitive spirit showed in Game Four. I think they really wanted to make a statement in Game Four.”

Mauch finished the match with a career-high 21 digs to go with eight assists. The Huskers recorded a season-best 64 digs. NU outblocked Purdue 12 to 6, led by six blocks from Jackson. Ogbechie and Reilly were also in on five blocks. 

“I couldn’t do it without my block,” Mauch said. “They have been so good throughout the whole season, so kudos to them. It makes it really easy for me to dig behind them. ”

After hitting .036 with seven kills and six errors in the first set, Purdue finished with a .133 hitting percentage, its second-lowest this season. Addy Tindall led the Boilermakers with 16 kills, but they struggled to get production from the OH2 position, with Mimi Mambu and Sydni Vice combining for 10 kills and 12 errors. 

Opposite Grace Heaney didn’t have a kill (or error) on her first 10 swings, but the Elkhorn North graduate tallied nine on her final 22 attacks. 

Before the match, Heaney received a warm reception from her home-state crowd, and Mauch gave her a mini-ball.  The two were teammates at Premier Nebraska for two seasons. 

“She’s just a great person on and off the court, and just so fun to be around and play with,” Mauch said. 

Despite Murray and Jackson hitting below .200, the Huskers finished the match with a .303 hitting percentage, with Reilly tallying 44 assists and 15 digs. 

Four Huskers finished with double-digit kills, the first time doing so in a Big Ten match since 2024. They were led by 15 from Sigler. Murray added 13 kills and eight digs while Ogbechie had 10 kills on 14 errorless swings. Sigler called the effort the definition of a team win. Even if Murray’s and Jackson’s hitting percentage dipped, they contributed in many other ways, including some that don’t show up on the stat sheet.

“Those two are amazing people, but they were also amazing leaders today,” she said. “They’re gonna do what they can to help us, whether that’s attacking, whether that’s blocking… To be able to know that we have so many weapons in so many different areas in the game is such a confidence boost for our team.”