WACO, Texas — Nebraska looked to be in big trouble early, just as it has so often when playing on the road this season.
But in what was supposed to be their toughest away test yet, the Huskers used a big comeback in set one and rolled to a surprising sweep.
Hannah Werth had 13 kills, and Brooke Delano and Kori Cooper added 10 apiece, as the No. 7 Nebraska volleyball team put together an impressive 28-26, 25-17, 25-17 victory Wednesday over 19th-ranked Baylor.
The Huskers, who had lost their past two contests against ranked opponents, overwhelmed the Bears to win their fourth straight match. These young, inexperienced Huskers dominated in a fashion that resembled coach John Cook’s best teams of the past.
“I was just looking for a win tonight — any way we could get it,” Cook said. “But I certainly think in winning that first game the way we did, we sent a big message to Baylor that we were going to compete for every point. We started out shaky, but we calmed down and served really well — we pressured them all night long with our serving.”
Serving has been a big point of emphasis for Cook recently, and the coach has to love the way his team is starting to perform from the line.
During Saturday’s home win over Kansas State, the Huskers had eight aces — four of them by freshman Gina Mancuso — to go with only two serving errors. Mancuso ripped off two more aces Wednesday, helping NU finish with four aces and only four service errors in front of a rowdy crowd of 1,257.
Baylor jumped ahead and stayed up most of the opening set, building leads of 4-0, 15-9 and 18-13. But the Huskers hung tough and battled back to knot it 22-all.
That rally appeared as if it would be wasted when the Bears went ahead 24-22. Baylor, however, missed all three of its chances at set point.
A huge block by Delano made it 24-24, and a kill by Tara Mueller would make it 25-all.
Mancuso’s ace put the Huskers ahead 26-25, and then Baylor scored to deny NU its first chance to take a 1-0 lead.
But Nebraska finally won the opener on a setter dump by Sydney Anderson and a Baylor hitting error. Lindsey Licht had six of her nine kills in the first set.
Building off that momentum-changing victory, the Huskers cruised the rest of the way, notching their first Big 12 road sweep since Sept. 19 at Colorado.
“Baylor’s a great team, and they really came out to show us what they could do in that first game,” said Anderson, who finished with 39 assists and 10 digs. “To pull that one out, that really takes a weight off our shoulders. Coming into this match, we knew there would be ups and downs. But we challenged ourselves to push back when things got tough, and I think we took a step forward.”
The Huskers hit .320 against a Baylor team that was holding opponents to .140 attacking. NU also became just the second team to defeat the Bears on their home court.
Werth attacked at a .379 clip and had 12 digs, while Delano hit .500 and had four blocks. Libero Kayla Banwarth’s 22 digs helped the Huskers outdig Baylor 56-46.
“I keep saying we’re getting better every week, and this was a chance tonight to prove it to ourselves,” Cook said. “I’m just really happy for our team, because we prepared really, really hard for this match. We’ve been having great practices, and it really showed out there tonight.”
Nebraska plays another road match Saturday at Missouri.
Nebraska (13-4, 6-2).................28 25 25
Baylor (17-3, 6-3)................26 17 17
Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 2-0-2, Licht 9-0-5, Delano 10-1-4, Cooper 10-0-2, Mueller 8-1-0, Werth 13-0-1, Banwarth 0-0-0, Wilberger 0-0-0, Mancuso 0-2-0, McNeal 1-0-0.
Baylor (kills-aces-blocks): Byrd 4-0-2, Campbell 5-0-4, Barnes 3-0-0, Breyfogle 6-0-2, Sanders 12-0-2, Christenson 4-0-1, Trice 0-2-0, King 0-1-0, Rice 0-0-0, Ridenour 0-0-1, Zhang 2-0-0.
Set assists: Nebraska 46 (Anderson 39, Banwarth 5); Baylor 36 (Barnes 30). A: 1,257.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.








RSS Feeds