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3 hours ago
1
Nebraska volleyball’s road back to the Final Four has begun.
In the first game of the Dani Busboom Kelly era, the top-ranked Huskers took on No. 3 Pittsburgh in the first game of the AVCA First Serve Showcase at Pinnacle Bank Arena (25-22, 25-11, 20-25, 25-23).
It took a bit for Nebraska to clean the dust off, but the Huskers still played well enough to defeat the Panthers in four sets.
Although Nebraska took the first set, Pitt didn’t make it easy
From the start, it was neck-and-neck, with both teams trading blows. Nebraska led 10-9 at the first media timeout, but the Panthers took advantage of the Huskers’ unforced errors and slowly took over. Nebraska hit .162 and had nine total hitting errors in the set.
Pitt took the lead late in the set, but Taylor Landfair took matters into her own hands. The senior outside hitter subbed in when the Huskers were down 21-19 and promptly had an emphatic block and kill to give the Huskers the lead back.
Landfair’s electricity fired up the crowd and gave Nebraska enough momentum to go on a 7-1 run and win the set 25-22. The 2022 First Team All-American finished the set with a team-high four kills, two blocks and a .375 hitting percentage.
Nebraska erupts in second set
The Huskers’ momentum carried right into the second set. Nebraska opened up on a 5-1 run, prompting Pitt to call its sole timeout of the set.
However, that wasn’t enough to stop the hemorrhaging.
The Huskers continued to pile it on, giving the Panthers no room to get back into the set. After shaky hitting in the first set, Nebraska cleaned it up and Pitt struggled to answer.
Pitt didn’t score more than two consecutive points in the set as the Huskers won 25-11 to take a 2-0 lead.
Pitt answers in third set
The Panthers answered their rough second set by taking the third set 25-20.
Pitt jumped out to a 7-2 lead by taking advantage of a few Nebraska hitting errors. The Huskers cut the deficit to two, but the Panthers continued to play steady and keep control of their lead.
After having a negative hitting percentage in the first two sets, Pitt outside hitter Olivia Babcock had five kills in the third.
Back to business in fourth set
After the subpar third set, Nebraska returned to form in the fourth set.
Pitt hung around for a bit, but Nebraska had an answer for everything the Panthers threw at them.
After a block by Virginia Adriano and Rebekah Allick gave the Huskers an 18-15 lead Pitt was forced to call a timeout.
However, the Huskers came out of the timeout firing and finished the set strong, winning 25-23.
Nebraska will be back in action against Stanford on Sunday at 2:30 P.M. CST on ESPN.
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