Nebraska volleyball dominates Georgia Tech en route to Elite Eight
From The Daily Nebraskan: https://www.dailynebraskan.com/sports/nebraska-volleyball-dominates-georgia-tech-en-route-to-elite-eight/article_826abef0-9551-11ee-a35e-4bd962079708.html
The DN’s coverage of the NCAA volleyball tournament is presented by Atmosphere Lincoln
Despite playing a nationally ranked team in an unusual time slot, Nebraska volleyball took care of business Thursday in arguably its most complete game of the tournament.
The Huskers swept No. 12 Georgia Tech in the regional semi-final (25-11, 25-16, 25-21). Nebraska outperformed the Yellow Jackets in every aspect as it looked more than ready for a game of this caliber.
“You get a lot of confidence from preparing well,” head coach John Cook said postgame. “You can see it in our team. They were very confident with how we were gonna defend [Georgia Tech].”
Sophomore middle blocker Bekka Allick opened the scoring quickly with an empathetic kill on the game’s first play. Allick, along with junior outside hitter Ally Batenhorst had their way early, exchanging kills while the Huskers jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets tried to match their aggressiveness but did not find the same success with hitting errors galore.
“We’re just kind of going for it,” Batenhorst said postgame. “I think when those (kills) hit the ground, it just brought a lot of momentum for our team and I think for me especially it just kind of set the tone for the match.”
It had been a quiet first set for junior outside hitter Merritt Beason until back-to-back kills added to the Nebraska lead. She followed that up with the first service ace of the game to extend the lead to 21-10.
Georgia Tech couldn’t shake off the mistakes as the Huskers ended the first set on a 4-0 run with all points coming from Yellow Jacket errors. Nebraska dominated its way to a 25-11 set win while holding Georgia Tech to a -.111 hitting percentage. The Husker front row recorded 12 kills in the set, hitting at a .281 clip.
It was a new set, but the same mistakes continued for the Yellow Jackets with four of Nebraska’s first six points coming off of errors in the second. Georgia Tech’s attack showed some improvement from set one but was met by a barrage of blocks with freshman middle blocker Andi Jackson being the primary contributor.
“I think we did a really good job today adjusting and we had really disciplined blocking,” Jackson said postgame. “I think it really showed in the second set.”
The Huskers recorded 10 blocks in the second set after only having two in the first. Freshman outside hitter Harper Murray put an exclamation point on the set with a kill, giving Nebraska the 25-16 win.
The Huskers hit at a remarkable .500 clip while holding the Yellow Jackets to just a .029 hitting percentage. It was all Nebraska heading into the third set.
Similar to its first two matchups in the tournament, the third set was a battle for the Huskers as Georgia Tech was doing everything it could to extend its season. The Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the match with a kill by senior outside hitter Tamara Otene. This started a competitive stretch where the game remained within two points.
Errors started to pile up on Nebraska’s side while Georgia Tech’s front row capitalized on attack opportunities, keeping them in court. The Yellow Jackets took their biggest lead at 13-11 after a kill attempt by Batenhorst went long.
Georgia Tech was inches away from gaining breathing room on multiple occasions with service errors that barely landed out of bounds. With the Huskers in dire need of a play, it got one that ultimately served as the difference.
With the set tied 19-all, Batenhorst was stuffed at the net. However, freshman setter Bergen Reilly kept the play alive by keeping the ball up while falling down. With some help from the net, Allick set the ball up to Beason, who sent it back with authority. The kill sent the Devaney Center into a frenzy while sucking the life out of the Yellow Jackets.
“That play, not only did it give us confidence, I think it deflated Georgia Tech,” Cook said postgame. “That was just a willpower play. It sends a message to the other team that nothing’s going down.”
The play sparked a 6-0 Nebraska run, giving them match point. After the Yellow Jackets scored two in a row, Beason put things to bed with a kill, sending the Huskers to the regional final.
While going down with a fight, Georgia Tech hit just .147 in the third set, finishing with a clip of .019. The Yellow Jackets had no match for the complete play of Nebraska.
“We were all over them with our gameplan,” Cook said postgame. “When you hold a team at this stage of the game to .019, it’s a great defensive effort on our part.”
Beason finished with 11 kills on a .435 hitting percentage with Batenhorst not far behind with 10 kills of her own. Jackson led the game with five blocks with Georgia Tech as a whole having only four on the game.
The Huskers are one step closer to a trip to Tampa as they will take on the winner of No. 8 Kentucky and No. 9 Arkansas on Saturday in the Elite Eight. With the Devaney Center rocking on a Thursday afternoon, Cook expects even more on Saturday night.
“[The fans] were fired up today, and I think Saturday’s gonna go another notch,” Cook said postgame.
