Photo Showcase: Nebraska vs. Illinois
Box Score: Nebraska 3, Illinois 1

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LINCOLN — A first-set loss against top-ranked Illinois proved to be just a minor setback Saturday night for the fourth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team.

The Huskers, with the help of a noisy crowd that kept the emotion ramped up all night, rallied to defeat the Illini 24-26, 25-18, 25-19, 25-11. The victory boosted Nebraska to 17-1 overall and 10-0 in the Big Ten while Illinois fell to 20-1 and 9-1.

"As a team, that was our best match of the season,'' NU coach John Cook said. "It was a great match and a really high level of volleyball.''

Leading the match 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 4,198 at the NU Coliseum, the Huskers took care of business in the fourth set to put away the Illini. Nebraska sprinted to a 5-1 lead and later rattled off seven straight points behind the serving of Lauren Cook to grab a 22-9 stranglehold.

"When Lauren was serving during that stretch, the crowd was ridiculous. Deafening.'' coach Cook said. "I think that definitely took some energy out of Illinois.''

NU finished off the upset on a kill by Morgan Broekhuis and a pair of kills by Hannah Werth. The final kill by Werth for the match was greeted by the loudest roar of the night from the Nebraska faithful.

"They feed off their crowd,'' Illinois coach Kevin Hambly said. "We fought hard, but we didn't play at a level that we needed to.''

The match didn't start well for the Huskers, who saw the Illini rally for the 26-24 first-set win. Cook said Nebraska was fortunate to have even been that close.

"They steamrolled us that first set,'' he said. "If that was a football game, they would have been marching up and down the field.''

The Huskers got back on track in the second set and pulled away for the 25-18 win. Nebraska took advantage of six Illini service errors to gain the momentum.

"Those service errors were the biggest key in that set,'' Hambly said. "It was big for us to win that first set, but then we let it slip away from us.''

NU kept the heat on in the third set with the help of junior Gina Mancuso, who pounded five of her 15 kills. Brooke Delano and Broekhuis added four each as the Huskers won 25-19.

The fourth set belonged to Nebraska, as Illinois again struggled early. Hambly called a timeout with NU leading 8-3 and another with the Huskers holding a 13-6 advantage, but it was no use.

NU held a 15-9 lead when Lauren Cook grabbed the serve. Two kills by Mancuso widened the margin and two Illinois hitting errors helped fuel that seven-point run.

Broekhuis, who finished with a team-high 17 kills, had four in the final set to help the Huskers put it away.

"I think this win shows our team has a warrior-like mentality,'' she said. "It was so much fun out there tonight.''

In addition to Broekhuis and Mancuso, two other Huskers finished in double figures for kills. Werth had 14 and a team-high 17 digs and Delano had 11 kills.

Hayley Thramer added two solo blocks and eight block assists.

"I can't say that anything really surprised me about what they did,'' Hambly said. "They did a good job of executing and we couldn't stop it.''

Nebraska won despite big efforts from Illinois hitters Michelle Bartsch and Colleen Ward. The 6-foot-3 Bartsch had a match-high 22 kills while the 6-2 Ward had 17.

After the match, Cook was asked if the victory made a case for the Huskers to be ranked No. 1. But he wasn't about to get caught up in any ratings talk.

"I'm happy where we're at,'' he said. "We've just got to keep getting better.''

Illinois (20-1, 9-1) 26181911

Nebraska (17-1, 10-0) 24252525

IU (kills-aces-blocks): Ward 17-5-0, Dorn 0-0-0, Bartsch 22-0-0, Luhrsen 2-0-1, Johnson 6-0-0, McMahon 6-0-0. Totals 53-5-1.

NU: Cook 0-1-0, Mancuso 15-2-0, Delano 11-0-0, Broekhuis 17-0-0, Thramer 5-0-2, Werth 14-1-0. Totals 62-4-2.

Set assists: IU 52 (Ward 1, Bartsch 1, Luhrsen 48, Feldman 2). NU 59 (Cook 54, Broekuis 2, Werth 1, Dykstra 1, Hubl 1).

Contact the writer:

402-444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com

twitter.com/MPattersonOWH

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