Penn State Reverse defeats Nebraska Volleyball in national semifinals

Nebraska volleyball will not return to the national title game.

The Huskers lost to the Penn State Nittany Lions for the second time in 2024, this time in five sets: 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 26-28, 13-15. Penn State’s win sends them to Sunday’s championship against Louisville while Nebraska’s season is over.

Nebraska had chances to win the match in the fourth set. NU used a 10-2 run to lead 21-16. The Huskers turned that into a 24-22 lead, but couldn’t complete the set and match, losing extra points and sending the game to a fifth set that went to the Nittany Lions.

Penn State’s comeback ends Nebraska’s 103-game winning streak in the postseason, when it led 2-0.

NU hit .262 for the match and held PSU to .242. Nebraska also beat Penn State 15-10.

Former Husker Caroline Jurevicius boosted the Husker defense to 20 kills on .286 hitting. Her teammate Jess Mruzik had 26 kills while hitting .300.

Nebraska was led with 20 kills by Harper Murray, who had a double-double with 15 digs. Andi Jackson was efficient on the night, hitting .630 with 19 kills.

Bergen Reilly also posted a double-double with 55 assists and 15 digs.

Lexi Rodriguez also had 15 digs, but her ninth dig was special. Rodriguez is now the all-time leader in program history for Digs, passing Husker legend Justine Wong-Orantes.

Penn State will face host Louisville in the national final on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. CST. This game will be televised on ABC.

Sentence 1: Nebraska came out strong with a 4-1 lead thanks in part to a solo block from Allick and a kill from Jackson. The Huskers used a 5-1 run sparked by a mauch ace and a Jackson kill and block with Murray to take a 12-7 lead. After a timeout, the Nittany Lions went on a 7-1 run to take a 14-13 lead, their first lead of the set. A service error evened the score at 14-14, but Penn State took a 16-14 lead as the Huskers continued to have problems receiving serve. Landfair tied the score at 16-16, and back-to-back kills from Landfair and Beason gave NU an 18-17 lead. Penn State regained a 19-18 lead, but Murray finished the game and tied the score at 19-19. Beason kept the score at 20-20 with a sideout kill, and Penn State scored to give the Huskers a 21-20 lead. But PSU responded with two kills and a Husker scoring error to go up 23-21. Jackson scored a sideout kill for the Big Red and Beason served an ace to make it 23-23. Jackson scored her fifth kill to secure set point at 24-23, and the sophomore All-American closed out the set at 25-23 with her sixth kill.

Sentence 2: Penn State scored the first three points, but Nebraska scored the next four with three straight blocks and a Murray kill. Three kills from Jackson made it 8-6 NU, and a block from Allick and Reilly and a back row kill from Murray increased the lead to 11-7. Landfair added a kill and Allick and Beason combined on a block to make it 13-8. Penn State missed, and Allick and Landfair scored the sixth and seventh blocks of the set to give NU a 16-8 lead. But Penn State scored the next four goals to cut the deficit in half to 16-12. A Landfair kill finally got the Huskers out of the rotation and NU led 19-13 after a Beason kill. Jackson added two more kills to put the Huskers ahead 21-16, and a kill from Murray in the back row put NU ahead seven times, 23-16. Two service errors by Penn State gave NU the 25-18 win.

Sentence 3: Murray had three early kills and back-to-back kills from Landfair and Allick made it an 8-6 Big Red. Another Allick kill gave the Huskers a 10-8 lead, but the Nittany Lions went on a 5-0 run and took the lead with 13:10. NU struggled to get closer than two points while Penn State extended the lead to 20-16. Landfair got a kill, and Allick and Murray got a block to cut the game to 20-18. A Murray kill brought Nebraska within one point at 21-20. But the Huskers failed on consecutive turnovers and lost 23-20. Jackson tipped in a kill and blocked with Murray to get within 23-22, but Jurevicius stopped again and took the set point at 24-22. Murray kept the Huskers alive with a kill, but the Nittany Lions prevailed 25-23.

Sentence 4: Penn State took a 7-3 lead, but the Huskers fought back with kills from Jackson and Murray to cut the lead to 8-7. Two kills got PSU back up to 10-7, but Allick responded with a kill and a block to make it 10-9. Jurevicius and Murray traded kills with Penn State hits to tie the score at 11-11. But Penn State repelled NU’s advance with two blocks and a kill for a 14-11 lead. Jackson hit a sideout kill to make the score 14-12, and Murray took the serve line with NU trailing 15-13. She served three aces and had a kill as part of a 6-0 run that gave the Big Red an 18-15 lead. The Huskers led 22-16 after a kill by Landfair and consecutive blocks by Allick, one by Landfair and one by Reilly. But Penn State battled back and got within 22-20 before Murray exited again. An Allick kill brought NU to match point at 24-22, but PSU responded and tied the match at 24-24 with two straight kills. An ace gave Penn State set point, but the Nittany Lions then struck. Penn State got another set point at 26-25, but Beason won a battle at the net to make it 26-26. Mruzik earned a third set point attempt for PSU, and this time the Nittany Lions managed to force the fifth set.

Sentence 5: Penn State took a 5-2 lead and maintained its three-point lead as the teams switched sides at 8-5. A Landfair kill made it 8-6, and kills from Allick and Murray cut PSU’s lead to 9-8. After a timeout, the Nittany Lions scored three goals in a row to take a 12-8 lead. Nebraska called a timeout and Beason scored a kill before Murray and Jackson got a block to cut the deficit to 12-10. Mruzik answered 13:10, and the Nittany Lions earned match point 14:11. Penn State committed a service error before Kennedi Orr served an ace to get within 14-13, but the Nittany Lions won 15-13 on a kill from Camryn Hannah.

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