The Nebraska volleyball team kept rolling on Saturday, and this time the Huskers added another statement win to an already spotless season.
Nebraska knocked off No. 13 Purdue 3-1 at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, improving to 19-0 overall and 8-0 in Big Ten play. The Huskers dropped the second set but answered by taking the next two in control, winning 25-13, 20-25, 25-19, 25-14.
The match did include a brief wobble for Nebraska after the team had won more than 24 sets in a row. After losing the second set, the Huskers regrouped and closed the match with authority. Based on how they handled Purdue after that slip, the loss of focus stood out - and it could matter later in the season on the road to a national championship.
Teraya Sigler led the way with a career-high 15 kills, and Nebraska had four players reach double figures in kills. The Huskers hit .303 as a team, finished with 12 blocks, and limited Purdue to a .133 hitting percentage. Nebraska also posted a season-high 64 digs.
The undefeated start did not go unnoticed nationally. During Sunday’s Florida vs.
Texas match, the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball committee released its in-season top-16 rankings, and Nebraska came in at No. 1.
Those rankings help shape the top four seedings for the NCAA Tournament later on. With Nebraska still the only undefeated team in the country, the No. 1 spot fit what the committee has shown so far.
Elsewhere in the Nebraska orbit, Saturday brought a rough night for the football program, while a pair of national stories made headlines. According to KVAL in Oregon, Ducks wideout Evan Stewart, who did not play against Nebraska because of injury, was arrested Saturday night after the win over the Huskers for DUI. Springfield Municipal Jail confirmed to the news organization that Stewart was booked at 7 am and released at 8 am.
In San Antonio, an Air Force member died from injuries he suffered on Saturday while rappelling from the ceiling of the Alamodome as part of a college football pre-game ceremony honoring the Armed Forces and military veterans, authorities said. He was taking part in pre-game ceremonies ahead of UTSA vs Navy.
In Other News...
Oregon Exposed A Nebraska Problem That May Get Worse
Nebraskas offense spent a long afternoon trying to find any kind of rhythm against Oregon and never really did. The Huskers managed 242 yards on 67 snaps, with quarterback Anthony Colandrea doing what he could to keep drives alive, finishing 18 of 33 for 164 yards and a touchdown while adding 38 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Even with that effort, the bigger picture was hard to miss: the run game never got rolling, the passing game lacked separation, and the offense as a whole looked stuck in place.
The issues went beyond one bad outing, too. Nebraskas top running backs were held to 58 yards on 18 carries, the offensive line gave up a sack and five pressures, and four penalties made an already uneven night even messier. Injuries along the line and at running back only added to the concern, while receivers struggled to create the kind of space that can help an offense recover when the ground game is bottled up, leaving a problem that could be even tougher to solve if the same limitations keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Left Wondering After Two Late Replay Moments Swung Everything
For much of the night, Nebraska had a chance to leave with a statement win before Oregon finally nudged in front with 28 seconds left. The finish came with the kind of replay drama that tends to stick with a team long after the final whistle, starting with a touchdown catch by Kwazi Gilmer that was upheld after officials said there was not enough clear evidence to overturn it.
Then came the other moment that had Nebraska wondering what might have been. A potential late fumble by Isaiah Mozee was not reviewed, and the Cornhuskers kept possession as the game tightened in its closing stretch. In a contest decided by the smallest of margins, those two replay decisions became part of the story almost as much as the score itself. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Fans Have One Brutal Debate After Another Late Collapse
Nebraskas recent stretch has left fans stuck in an uncomfortable place: encouraged by how far the program has come, but frustrated by how often close games are slipping away late. The Cornhuskers dropped tight decisions to Indiana and Oregon after holding leads in both, a sequence that has sharpened the conversation around whether the progress under Matt Rhule is real enough to matter when the fourth quarter arrives.
Against Oregon, the offensive issues were impossible to ignore, with nine punts and little production on the ground, even as the defense did enough for three quarters to keep the game within reach. The broader picture still shows a team that has outperformed preseason expectations, but the debate now is whether thats enough when the same late-game breakdown keeps showing up in the toughest moments. [Read more 🡒]