No. 5 Nebraska swept Maryland for the second time in a week and a half with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-13 victory on Saturday evening, wrapping up a 2-0 weekend for the Huskers (24-4, 17-1).
After committing 14 service errors and allowing .200 hitting at Ohio State on Friday, the Huskers out-hit the Terrapins (17-13, 6-12) .310 to .115 and committed eight errors (with five aces) at the service line. Nebraska finished with a season-low 33 kills thanks in part to 22 attack errors and 12 service errors by Maryland.
Junior Mikaela Foecke and senior Annika Albrecht finished with eight kills on 16 swings apiece while Foecke chipped in a team-high seven digs. Senior Kelly Hunter finished with a match-high 27 assists. The Huskers recorded nine blocks in the game led by middle blockers Briana Holman and Lauren Stivrins with four apiece,
Nebraska jumped out to a 5-1 lead and kept the lead until Maryland tied it up at 13-all. Nebraska pulled ahead again with a 5-2 run, giving the Huskers set point at 24-20. The Terps staved off three set points before Albrecht ended it with a kill.
Nebraska never trailed in the second set, getting off to another good start with a 4-1 lead early. The Terrapins pulled within one a couple of times but never pulled even and Nebraska used a 10-5 run to close out the set.
Maryland earned a couple of leads early in the third at 1-0, 4-3 and 5-4, but the Huskers ripped off a 9-0 run with Albrecht at the service line to take control and cruised to victory.
The Huskers have one week left of the regular season and are one of two teams who have only lost one match in conference play, Penn State being the other. The Huskers handed the Nittany Lions their only loss of the season in the team’s Big Ten opener on Sept. 22.
Nebraska will wrap up a three-game road trip on Wednesday with a match at Northwestern before returning home to close out the season at the Devaney Center against Iowa.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
