For the third time in the past six meetings, Creighton and Nebraska went all the way in the in-state showdown. However, like all previous meetings, the Huskers found a way to come out on top.

In the first top 10 meeting between the two teams, No. 5 Nebraska (6-1) defeated No. 9 Creighton (5-1) 25-19, 25-16, 31-33, 16-25, 15-10 before nearly 9,000 fans at the Devaney Center Tuesday night.

“It was a great game,” coach John Cook said. “That’s exactly what I expected tonight, a five-man game, and Creighton is a great team. They have two special players in Kendra (Wait) and North Sis; those guys are really good and do a great job of leading that team. They play really hard. It’s hard to kill the ball on them. I thought our team handled the fifth game really well for our first fifth game. I thought they played really well in the fifth game, especially when we needed them to.

“As we said, when the big points come, we have to play at our best, and they did that in the fifth game.”

Nebraska outscored Creighton in batting average, .234 to .209. Bergen Reilly led a balanced attack with a career-high 57 assists and 13 digs.

Harper Murray led Nebraska with 16 kills, 14 digs, four blocks and an ace, while Lindsay Krause added 15 kills, five blocks and an ace, though both pins were under .200. Facing Merritt Beason, she had her best performance of the season with 14 kills on .306 hitting and six digs.

Perhaps the biggest difference for the Huskers was the play of the middle blockers, particularly Andi Jackson. The sophomore had 15 kills on 29 swings (both career highs), batted .379 and recorded eight blocks. Rebekah Allick added nine kills on .333 hitting and three blocks.

“Our middles have to make a big impact, and that’s going to help everybody,” Cook said. “Bergen’s not afraid to set them, so I wanted her to set Andi every ball she could tonight, because I thought Andi did some really nice things.”

Lexi Rodriguez led the defense with 21 digs, while Laney Choboy added 12.

Creighton star Norah Sis, the Papillion-La Vista product who missed last season’s meet at the Devaney Center due to injury, led Creighton with a match-high 24 kills on .292 hitting, 11 digs and four blocks. Creighton’s other outside forward, Ava Martin, added 17 kills and 17 digs.

“I thought they played great,” Rodriguez said. “You have to give them credit and they’re a good team. I know they’re going to have an incredible season and anytime we play each other it’s always a battle. But that team is definitely special this year, so I’m excited to see what they do this year.”

After trading points early in the first set, Creighton went on a 9-2 run to build a 13-6 lead with strong serving and floor defense. Creighton put some pressure on the Huskers as the set progressed, but the lead never dropped below four.

Nebraska recorded 21 digs and four blocks in the first set to keep the Bluejays to .100 hitting. Jackson led the way for Nebraska with four kills on seven error-free swings as the Huskers hit .250 overall.

Creighton used a 4-0 run early in set two to take its first lead of the night, but the Huskers responded with an 8-3 stretch to regain control at 12-8 and broke open the match with a 5-0 run for an 18-11 lead. The Huskers also won six of the final seven rallies to carry the momentum into halftime.

“That was definitely the best we’ve ever played,” Cook said. “And I just thought Creighton played great, but we just made three or four more plays than them in those first two games to get a little bit of a gap. I thought we served pretty well and I thought our blocking made a lot of balls. … Blocking and defense takes a lot of energy and I thought that was the difference in the first two games.”

Nebraska held Creighton to .032 in the set, as the two middles, Jackson and Allick, each scored four kills.

“We kept talking to her, and Bergen is a very vocal setter, which I really appreciate and I know Rebekah appreciates that,” Jackson said of the middles’ success in Game Two. “We had girls on the bench telling us what was open, obviously our coaches always let us know. And then even Rebekah and I were talking to each other like, ‘Hey, if you go for this, this shot could be open.'”

The third set was a close one at first with eight ties and three lead changes, but the Huskers took a late lead with a 5-0 run that included four kills and a block for a 20-16 lead. Nebraska looked poised for a sweep, but Sis had other plans and led the charge to tie it at 23-all.

From that point on, each team had four chances to end the set, but to no avail. On their fifth attempt, the Bluejays finally broke through and extended the match, with Sis and Martin scoring back-to-back kills to win the longest rally in series history.

Sis dominated the set with 11 kills on 21 flawless swings, while Martin provided extra firepower at the end. The third set featured 22 digs per team, including 10 by Rodriguez himself. Towards the end of the set, Creighton ran out of subs, resulting in 5-foot-3 Laney Choboy playing in the front row.

“I think the biggest lesson was seeing how we could fight even when we were faced with a little bit of adversity,” Rodriguez said. “The lineup wasn’t exactly what we expected and I thought it was pretty cool to see our team come together and just find a way to keep scoring points. I know we didn’t win the set, but we definitely fought through it.”

Creighton kept its momentum going in the fourth set, scoring five straight points to double the Huskers’ lead to 16-8. Sis finished her first three shots to set the tone, and when Nebraska shut her out for the rest of the set, Martin took over.

Creighton continued to outscore Nebraska .306 to -.024 for the remainder of the game, while the Huskers managed to score just seven points in the game.

Nebraska got the match going again in the fifth set, but ended the first 13 rallies eight times, increasing its lead to 9-4.

“After that fourth set, it would have been really easy for us to just hang our heads and see what would happen, but there was just so much intent behind everyone’s attention to detail,” Rodriguez said. “I had no doubt that we were going to win that fifth set. I felt so much confidence from everyone on the court, so that was a really cool feeling.”

Creighton cut the lead to three, but Nebraska won three of the last four rallies with kills from three different players to complete the victory. The Huskers hit .444 with incredible balance, as six different players recorded multiple kills.

Creighton was the first of four top-15 teams Nebraska played in the final two weeks of non-conference play, and Cook said his team played its best to exceed expectations.

“They’ve been waiting for a game like this, and there’s a lot more to come,” Cook said.