Rough beyond beautiful.

By the Huskers’ own admission, No. 2 Nebraska didn’t play its best volleyball Thursday night in a 25-12, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19 win over No. 16 Minnesota. Still, NU recorded a 22nd straight win and claimed Minnesota’s $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy (normally a football trophy) for the first time since 2018.

With the defeat, Minnesota (16-9, 9-6 B1G) won the second set. It was the first set the Huskers (25-1, 15-0 B1G) dropped since Oct. 26 against Michigan.

“They (Minnesota) know how to win ugly,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “That’s why I… told them it was going to be a brawl tonight. And that was true.’

Both teams hit under .200, with Nebraska leading the way at .199. Husker middle blocker Andi Jackson said the mentality is to be team-first, even if the offense isn’t firing on all cylinders.

“We hit .199, which isn’t great… Sometimes there will be games where the stats might not be great, but if we come together in those moments and just be team first, it will reflect on the field,” says Jackson. said.

For most of the evening and in the final stats the teams were extremely close. Nebraska led in kills (54-51), digs (82-77), assists (54-49) and blocks (12-7). The Golden Gophers had more attacks (169-166), attack errors (29-21) and service errors (12-5).

Part of the lower hitting percentage for the Husker was due to setter Bergen Reilly being the first to touch the ball as she racked up 20 digs.

“We weren’t that good out of the system there tonight,” Cook said. “She did a great job and she covered the tips really well.”

Reilly added a career-high six kills, 40 assists, an ace and four blocks, including a solo feat that left her teammates in awe. Overall a good day after being named a semifinalist for the AVCA Division I National Player of the Year.

“Oh my god…I couldn’t stop talking about it on the net,” Jackson commented. “The next part started and I thought, oh Bergen, that was so good.”

In her first match against her former team, Taylor Landfair started fast with five kills in the first set. She finished with 12, her third straight match with more than 10 kills. Harper Murray had a team-high 13 kills and a career-high 19 digs.

Lexi Rodriguez continues her climb up the charts in her quest for the No. 1 spot in Nebraska volleyball history for digs. She added 16 to her total.

Minnesota’s Julia Hanson didn’t go down without a fight as she took 58 punches and finished with 20 kills and 10 digs to pace the Golden Gophers.

Nebraska stays home Saturday to host the Indiana Hoosiers. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 PM CST first service on the Big Ten Network.

Box score

Set 1: Nebraska scored the first three points of the set and never looked back. Two kills by Murray made it 6-1, and Landfair posted three kills, with Allick adding one to lift the Huskers to a 13-6 lead. Jackson hit a kill and recorded a block with Murray to put NU up 18-9, and a 6-0 run provided the NU set point. Landfair closed the dominant first set with a kill to win 25-12. Nebraska hit .367 and held Minnesota to .029. The Huskers sided with 84.6 percent.

Set 2: Beason and Murray each had two early kills to put Nebraska up 8-6. But Minnesota answered with a 4-0 run to take a 10-8 lead. Murray earned a sideout for Nebraska with a back row kill, and Mauch served an ace to tie the set at 10-10. But the Golden Gophers answered with a 3-0 spurt to regain a 13-10 lead. After a timeout, Beason and Allick had a block, and Murray finished her sixth kill to bring the score back to 13-12, and another kill by Murray evened the score at 14-14. Minnesota again had an answer with back-to-back blocks to take a 16-14 lead, and the Gophers went up 22-17 after a 5-1 run. Minnesota won 25-22 and held the Huskers to a .098 hitting percentage.

Set 3: Nebraska led 6-4 after a block by Jackson and Murray, and kills by Landfair and Jackson. Two more Landfair kills and one from Allick put NU ahead 11-8, but Minnesota climbed back to tie the score at 12-12. A kill by Landfair, followed by an Allick/Reilly kill and an Allick kill made it 18-14. Minnesota got within two points at 18-16, but Reilly dumped a kill and a Minnesota attack error made it 20-18. Allick answered with a kill, and Murray finished a lengthy rally for a 22-20 lead. Jackson made it 23-20 with a kill, and the Huskers took advantage of two Minnesota service errors to win 25-22.

Set 4: A 6-0 run, powered by three Landfair kills and three Gopher errors, put the Big Red up 13-4. Nebraska continued to dominate, taking a 20-11 lead after two more Minnesota errors. The Gophers brought the score within four at 21-17 after a 4-0 run, but an ace by Reilly and kill by Beason put NU on match point and an Allick kill closed the set, 25-19, and the match, 3 -1.

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