For the first time in a decade, No. 2 Nebraska lost 3-0 to an unranked team. The SMU Mustangs outplayed the Huskers in every phase Tuesday night.

The Mustangs, who played their season opener in Hawaii last weekend, defeated Nebraska 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 before a record crowd at Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

“SMU played a great game tonight,” coach John Cook said during his postgame interview on the Huskers Radio Network. “Everything went their way. We got hit in the face and we just let them keep hitting us. So I’m pretty disappointed with how we responded tonight. But honestly, this all started Saturday night. We were talking about frustration, and they didn’t fix it tonight. We had a great practice on Monday, but man, we didn’t play tonight. That was pretty disappointing.”

The Huskers’ troubles began at the service line, where they managed just one ace — by Andi Jackson, the first of her career — while missing 11 times. SMU also committed 10 errors, but they came up with seven aces and some tough serves that kept Nebraska out of system for much of the night. This comes after passing played a key role in Nebraska’s 3-1 win over TCU on Saturday, as the Huskers didn’t allow an ace in that game.

“You know serving is just you and the ball, so we’re working on it,” Cook said. “We’re serving great. We’re serving great until tonight. Not only were we serving cupcakes, but we were missing a bunch of them, and we weren’t hitting the zones that we needed to hit. I’ll be honest with you, it started with Merritt (Beason), started with Lexi (Rodriguez). Those guys were missing their serves early on, and when you have two first-team All-Americans making mistakes like that, what do you think that does to anybody? So those guys have to step up and lead the way.”

Beason had two service errors and one service-reception error. Rodriguez, perhaps the nation’s best passer, had one service error and two reception errors.

Lindsay Krause was Nebraska’s most effective pin, posting a .250 hitting average with five kills, and she didn’t even start the match when Cook gave Taylor Landfair her first start as a Husker. However, after the Minnesota transfer had two kills and two errors on seven attempts in the first set, Cook went back to Krause in game two. Merritt Beason started fast before the errors began to pile up, finishing with nine kills on .107 hitting. Harper Murray managed just six kills on .045 hitting.

Andi Jackson was the only Huskers forward to have a good night, finishing with eight kills on 12 clear swings, but the Huskers played the entire second set without giving the midfielders a chance to attack.

Bergen Reilly had her fourth straight double-double with 31 assists and 11 digs, but the Huskers hit a season-low .171 while allowing the Mustangs a season-high .242.

“Very uncharacteristic,” Cook said. “We’re hitting .200 right now, probably, this year, and that’s disappointing. They’re going to have to step it up. Part of it is, I think we think we’re Nebraska, we’re going to roll out here and smoke teams. And this team played very inspired tonight. They played great. They won all the long rallies, let’s put it that way. So that’s attitude and effort.”

The first set featured 12 ties and six lead changes in the first 24 rallies before Nebraska created a small amount of separation with a 4-0 run. The Huskers extended their lead to five before SMU countered with a 6-0 run to take the lead and close it out from there.

The Mustangs won nine of the last 12 rallies, with five points resulting from Nebraska errors (four offensive, one serving).

“We just weren’t in sync and we weren’t communicating with the setter, so we were in a rhythm,” Cook said. “We tipped way too many balls. I stand there and tell them, ‘Guys, you’ve got to hit the ball.’ I don’t know. Like I said, we had a great practice last night, so I felt really good coming into tonight. But we should have won the first game. We gave SMU a lot of hope.”

After a tense first set, the Huskers trailed the entire second set and never got over the bar. Trailing 20-19, Nebraska missed a serve and then an attack, giving the Mustangs too much room to win.

The third set featured 12 ties and three lead changes, but once again SMU hit Nebraska with a big run and the Huskers had no answer. Leading 14-13, Nebraska missed another serve, sparking an 11-2 run that gave the Mustangs a match point. The Huskers extended the match with a few more rallies before Naya Shime’s ninth kill ended it for the Mustangs.

Nebraska has just one day to grieve the loss and seek answers before returning to the court at the Devaney Center on Thursday for the start of the Husker Invitational. Nebraska plays The Citadel at 6 p.m. CT, or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game between fellow tournament participants Denver and Montana State.