PROVO, Utah — Another sluggish start, another slugger’s finish.

The No. 7 Nebraska volleyball team dropped its opening set against Brigham Young Friday night before pulling out a 21-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-15 win at the BYU Invitational.

The Huskers improved to 3-1 on the season, wearing down the Cougars and quieting a rowdy crowd of 2,096 during BYU’s home opener.

During set one, Nebraska gave away points on five errors to help BYU jump out to a 10-6 lead.

“After the first game, we settled down and really did some nice things,” said Nebraska coach John Cook. “We got off to a rough start, and we’re still making too many errors. But we started executing and started playing Nebraska volleyball.”

Cook liked the way Nebraska served Friday as his team recorded five aces with only six serving errors. He also raved about the play of senior libero Kayla Banwarth, who had 20 digs, six assists and an ace.

Freshman Morgan Broekhuis enjoyed her best match so far in a Nebraska uniform, finishing with 13 kills on .310 hitting to go with four blocks. The 6-foot-5 right-side hitter returned to the court after sitting out NU’s previous match to rest a minor foot injury.

Setter Sydney Anderson, returning to her home state, had a pair of aces and 25 assists to help Nebraska hit .232. Brooke Delano had eight kills and six blocks, while Tara Mueller and Hannah Werth added nine kills apiece.

The Huskers continue play at BYU’s tournament with a pair of matches Saturday, first against Cal Poly at 1 p.m., then against Idaho State at 6 p.m.

Prior to the NU-BYU contest, Idaho State turned in a surprising 26-28, 25-23, 25-22, 25-23 victory over Cal Poly.

“It’s a real challenge,” Cook said about the Huskers having to play three matches in a span of 24 hours. “We’re going to have to play some more players tomorrow and use some of our depth, so that’s an opportunity.”

In other matches Friday night, No. 5 Illinois notched an impressive road sweep, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18, over second-ranked Texas in Austin. The Illini — who will be Nebraska’s opponent on Sept. 11 at the Devaney Center — snapped the Longhorns’ 25-match home winning streak.

Texas hadn’t been swept in Austin since 2003, when Notre Dame beat the Longhorns 3-0 at Gregory Gym.

Nebraska (3-1).....................21 25 25 25

BYU (1-3)....................25 18 17 15

Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 0-2-0, Wilberger 4-0-3, Delano 8-0-6, Broekhuis 13-0-4, Mueller 9-1-3, Werth 9-0-1, Banwarth 0-1-0, Licht 8-0-3, Cook 1-1-0.

BYU (kills-aces-blocks): Measom 5-0-2, Rogers 2-0-1, Carpenter 13-0-3, Warner 8-0-2, Snow 8-0-1, Afalava 5-0-2, LeCheminant 2-0-3, Soon 0-0-0, Hartsock 0-0-0, Clark 0-0-0, Jardine 1-0-0.

Set assists: Nebraska 49 (Anderson 25, Cook 16, Banwarth 6); BYU 41 (Rogers 34). A: 2,096.

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