Huskers Finish Strong to Top No. 17 Creighton

OMAHA, Neb. – Behind career performances from a pair of sophomores, the No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team took over late in Wednesday’s match at No. 17 Creighton to earn a hard-fought 3-2 victory (25-18, 25-13, 25-27, 17-25, 15-9) over the Bluejays in Omaha in front of an NCAA record crowd.

Whitney Lauenstein had a career-high 25 kills to lead the Huskers, while Lindsay Krause totaled a career-high 16 kills. With Nebraska trailing 5-4 in the fifth set, Krause had three kills and a block in the span of five rallies, giving the Huskers an 8-6 lead they would not relinquish. After Creighton pulled to within one at 9-8, Krause delivered another kill to push the lead back to two. A service error gave Creighton the next point but Nebraska scored the final five points of the match, including back-to-back kills from Lauenstein to set up match point. Freshman Hayden Kubik – who also set a career high in kills with six – finished off the Bluejays with a kill.

Lauenstein’s 25 kills were the most by a Husker in a match since Mikaela Foecke in 2018, and Lauenstein hit .385 in the match. Krause had four of her career-high 16 kills in the fifth set. Madi Kubik joined the sophomores in double-figure kills with 14, and she added a double-double with 12 digs. Freshman Bekka Allick had a career-high nine kills as Nebraska produced 78 kills in the match, 17 more than Creighton (61).

The Huskers hit .244, out-blocked the Bluejays 9-7 and won the dig battle 93-89. Kaitlyn Hord led all players with six blocks and five Huskers finished with double-digit digs, led by 18 from Lexi Rodriguez and 17 apiece from setters Nicklin Hames and Anni Evans. With her 17 digs, Hames moved to fourth all-time in school history with (1,421) digs. On Wednesday night she moved past Kenzie Maloney (1,406) and Jordan Larson (1,410). 

Creighton won the battle at the service line as the Bluejays had three aces and only five service errors. Nebraska committed 10 service errors and did not have an ace, marking the Huskers’ first match without a service ace since Nov. 2, 2019 against Penn State.

Nebraska improved to 6-0 with the win, while Creighton fell to 5-2 on the season. Keeley Davis paced three Bluejays in double-figures kills with 19, and she was one of five Creighton players with double-digit digs.

The teams battled in front of an NCAA regular-season record…