Nebraska Volleyball Notches Record-Setting Win Over Rattlers | Hurrdat Sports

No. 1 Nebraska volleyball served Florida A&M off the court to open the NCAA Tournament in impressive fashion, surrendering a rally-scoring era program record 29 points in a sweep.

The Huskers swept the Rattlers 25-3, 25-9, 25-17 at the Devaney Center in just 65 minutes Friday, securing Coach John Cook’s revenge for Nebraska’s loss to Florida A&M in 2004, the only previous meeting between the two teams.

“These guys now understand what it takes,” Cook said. “Every point from here on out is national championship point. They were very focused tonight. They were in school today, it’s a Friday, there’s a lot going on, there was another match going on before us, and just to keep their focus and come out and execute like that was very rewarding. We’ll have to do that for five more matches.”

The domination started at the service line, where Nebraska kept Florida A&M scrambling most of the night. The Huskers recorded six aces with only three errors and held the Rattlers to minus-.043 hitting.

“They run people all over the place in that 6-2, so if they don’t pass, it’s really hard, and they couldn’t set the really fast ball to [Jada Rhodes] all night … I thought our serving was really great,” Cook said. “Liv, we’re going to have to ice her shoulder tonight. She served so many.”

Freshman Olivia Mauch served the ball 24 times, leading runs of 10-0, 6-0 and 5-0. She had four of Nebraska’s six aces. Cook has teased Mauch about her “wimpy serve” in the past, calling it Bennington JV-level, but it was one of Nebraska’s biggest weapons on Friday, and Cook said rotation two with the freshman serving has been the team’s top point-scoring unit this season.

“It just drops,” Harper Murray said of Mauch’s serve. “I think she’s been working on her hand contact with Jordan [Larson] a lot. I serve next to Liv in practice, and I always hear Jordan giving her feedback, and she’s very coachable. It’s gotten a lot better, but it’s also really hard to pass. I know a lot of us don’t like passing it.”

The in-state product added five digs and six serve receptions without an error in her NCAA Tournament debut.

“It’s definitely surreal,” Mauch said. “Just being able to wear the Nebraska jersey in the first place is so special, and then making it this far just extra puts the cherry on top. I’m just doing it for the seniors, I think, because they got cut short last year, and [the other returners] too, but just trying to finish out strong.”

Nebraska was sharp on offense as well, hitting .391 while notching 27 more kills and 11 fewer errors than the Rattlers. Bergen Reilly posted a double-double with 32 assists, 12 digs and two kills on three attempts. Murray led the attack with 12 kills on .440 hitting while Andi Jackson added eight kills on .538 hitting.

Cook rolled out his usual starting lineup but had Leyla Blackwell (five kills) play the last two sets for Rebekah Allick (three kills on three swings in the first) and Lindsay Krause (four kills) play the third set for Taylor Landfair (four kills on eight swings). Merritt Beason accounted for the other two aces and five kills.

“I want to keep our team loose,” Cook said. “I want them to be loose, to have fun and enjoy this, because it can be overwhelming. It feels good to win, I don’t care who you’re playing. It’s the tournament, so there’s a lot riding on it, but it’s really important that we continue to have fun and enjoy the opportunities to play here, especially in Devaney, and our crowd was awesome tonight.”

Nebraska dashed any hopes at a potential upset in the first set with the most lopsided win in program history. The Huskers used a 10-0 run with Olivia Mauch serving to race out to a 12-1 lead before Florida A&M’s first kill. The Huskers then closed out the set with a 12-0 run featuring Beason at the service line.

Nebraska hit .500 behind six kills from Murray and held A&M to minus-.172 hitting and just two kills. The Huskers recorded 20 digs, two blocks and two aces to hold A&M to three points, the fewest Nebraska has allowed in any set during the rally-scoring era.

“The last time I did it was probably club, but I think that says a lot about our focus in the first set,” Murray said of the 22-point win. “We didn’t make many errors, and we did what we could to keep them with low points. But I just think that says a lot about our focus tonight.”

The second set was only slightly more competitive. Nebraska used an 11-1 run including eight straight with Murray serving to build a 16-4 lead, then Mauch closed it out with a 6-0 run including back-to-back aces on the final two points.

Nebraska hit .333 and held Florida A&M to minus-.130 with three kills.

The third set saw five ties and five lead changes early as the Rattlers took their first leads of the night, but Nebraska used a 5-0 run with Mauch serving to jump back in front for good at 9-5. A&M kept it close for a bit before the Huskers created more space with a 5-1 run including two kills and a block assist from Beason.

The Huskers traded sideouts for a bit before Krause closed out the match with kills on the final two points.

Nebraska hit .344 in the final set while Florida A&M finally finished in the positive at .100 with 11 kills.

Nebraska volleyball will return to the Devaney Center on Saturday to face No. 8 Miami in the second round. The Hurricanes swept South Dakota State 25-17, 25-23, 25-15 in the first round.

Flormarie Heredia Colon led the way with 21 kills on .292 hitting and 13 digs while Grace Lopez added 12 kills on .258 hitting and 10 digs. The two pins recorded more kills than all of the Jackrabbits combined and slowing them down will be the key for the Huskers on Saturday.

“They’re international players,” Cook said. “They’ve got great arms, they hit a lot of different shots, there was three jump servers today. They’ve got major league arms and [Heredia Colon] was hitting some balls today in the back row, just thumping them. So it’s going to be a great match. I think they’re going to be really fun to play. Their lefty opposite does a really nice job. This team’s beat Stanford and Texas, so this is going to be a great challenge for us.”

First serve is set for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN+.