Huskers pull out five-set win
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By TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
Just two weeks ago, the Nebraska volleyball team blasted Texas A&M in Lincoln, allowing the Aggies only 47 points in a three-set rout.
For the Huskers’ sake, a good memory might be a bad thing this season.
“When you take teams 3-0, it’s pretty tough not to think that they’ll just roll over for you,” sophomore Kayla Banwarth said Wednesday. “But we’re quickly learning that’s not what teams are going to do this year.”
The latest lesson came Wednesday, as Texas A&M, the eighth-place team in the Big 12, pushed Nebraska to the limit in the Huskers’ 23-25, 25-17, 25-14, 20-25, 15-13 win in College Station, Texas.
Senior All-American Jordan Larson came through with six of her 17 kills in the fifth set, including the match winner. The Huskers were in danger of a second consecutive road loss after stumbling at Colorado last week.
“Jordan was great. She led this team through the fifth game,” Banwarth said. “There was no losing for us, but we knew we were going to have to fight our butts off for it.”
Indeed, third-ranked Nebraska needed all of its 11 aces and each of its 86 digs to pull out the win in the Huskers’ first five-set marathon of the season.
Larson added 18 digs and a career-high eight blocks, and sophomore Tara Mueller recorded career highs with 19 kills and 16 digs.
Banwarth had a career-high 27 digs and three of NU’s aces.
After a sluggish start, Nebraska (22-1, 13-1) seemed to have regained control before the Aggies won nine of 10 rallies in a key stretch of the fourth set.
Texas A&M (10-14, 5-9) led 6-5 after a Larson hitting error in set five but couldn’t finish off a win that would have rescued the Aggies’ postseason hopes.
“You’re not going to win every match 3-0,” said Nebraska coach John Cook. “We didn’t play our best, but tonight, we did what we had to do to win on the road.”
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