Huskers sweep Mizzou to stay unbeaten

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BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star

COLUMBIA, Mo. — If Sunday’s noon start threw off everyone’s schedule, it didn’t show in another routine win for the second-ranked Huskers.

The Nebraska volleyball team won for the 26th straight time at Missouri, devouring the Tigers 25-20, 25-21, 25-18 for Sunday’s brunch special. The victory, the unbeaten Huskers’ 17th straight to open the season, was wrapped up before the players’ usual day-of-a-match schedule had kicked in.

“We get so used to it, and coach is always talking about going into your routine, so this was definitely an adjustment,” said sophomore Tara Mueller, who paced the Huskers with 14 kills.

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Nebraska's Jordan Larson hits the ball past Missouri's Amanda Hantouli, left, and Lei Wang during the first game Sunday at the Hearnes Center. (Nick King/Columbia Tribune)

Nebraska, now 8-0 in Big 12 play, was the more consistent team throughout, but the Huskers really turned it on in the latter stages of each set. Nebraska won 64 percent of the rallies after Missouri had reached 13 points in sets one and two.

Trailing 13-11, Nebraska won nine of the next 10 rallies in the first set, scoring twice on overpasses and once on a Jordan Larson ace. In set two, NU erased a 13-12 Missouri lead by scoring eight of the next 10 points. Kori Cooper had three kills in the Huskers’ charge.

“We just kind of weathered their runs and then found a way to turn it up and get ahead three, four or five points at the end of games,” John Cook said. Nebraska’s head coach added that the Huskers’ end-game play has improved in the two weeks since their close call at Iowa State.

“The key was we didn’t give up any big runs today,” he said.

That fact, when combined with the early start and the hangover from the Mizzou football team’s loss to Oklahoma State here Saturday, made Nebraska’s visit to the normally raucous Hearnes Center, nicknamed the “VolleyZou,” as tame as a Sunday afternoon stroll through the Children’s Zoo in Lincoln.

The crowd of 3,057 saw Missouri hit for big numbers in the opening set, but once NU adjusted, the Tigers managed kills on only 22 of their 81 swings in sets two and three.

Nebraska natives Megan Wilson, Amanda Hantouli and Catie Wilson, after combining for 57 percent of the Tigers’ kills on Wednesday at Kansas State, had only 10 as a trio on Sunday.

Julianna Klein had 16 kills and 10 digs to pace Mizzou (8-9, 2-5 Big 12).

Larson added nine kills for Nebraska, five of those coming in the third set, and had 15 digs. Libero Kayla Banwarth had 16 of her 19 digs in the final two sets.

Offensively, Cooper combined with fellow middle blocker Amanda Gates for 13 kills on 27 swings.

Gates, a .290 hitter for the season, has hit .439 while averaging 2.5 kills a set in NU’s four conference road wins. The senior from Columbus said her rhythm with sophomore setter Sydney Anderson continues to improve.

“Now it’s about terminating that ball right when she gets it to me,” Gates said. “That’s my big goal this stretch of the year.“

Having played four times in eight days, Nebraska now begins a stretch where the Huskers will play only once in nine days.

It’s not routine, certainly, but the break offers a chance for NU to work on things that the Huskers haven’t had a chance to focus on in limited practice time of late.

“All of that stuff helps you focus,” Mueller said. “We need to be playing at a national championship level, because that’s how teams are going to play against us the rest of the season.“

Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.