• Photo Showcase: Nebraska 3, Dayton 1
• Box Score: Nebraska 3, Dayton 1
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LINCOLN — John Cook didn’t know whether his team suffered from nerves in its first home match, and he wasn’t sure if his players might’ve been distracted by seeing a former teammate on the other side of the court.
The coach was only certain of one glaring fact: This volleyball team should be playing better by now.
No. 7 Nebraska again showed glimpses of its potential Thursday night as it opened the Players Challenge tournament with a 24-26, 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 win against 20th-ranked Dayton. But the crowd of 4,108 for the Huskers’ 136th consecutive NU Coliseum sellout also saw how far Cook’s team still has to go.
“We’re just not a real confident team yet,” Cook said after Nebraska improved to 6-1 on the season. “It’s a mystery to me, because we’ve got a lot of experience and can play at a really high level.”
Cook didn’t enjoy watching Nebraska waste a big lead in losing set one. And the final boxscore didn’t make him feel any better as the Huskers finished with 23 attack errors, got blocked 12 times and gave away nine points on off-target serves. Plus, NU dropped an opening set for the third time this season.
Nebraska built a 20-12 lead in the opener, but the Huskers couldn’t seal the deal as Dayton came alive for a 10-2 run. The Huskers rebounded in set two to even the match 1-all, but they again struggled in trying to close out the Flyers. Dayton fought off NU’s first three chances at set point, and the Huskers didn’t win until a Flyers service error.
Nebraska took sets three and four in less dramatic fashion, but the Huskers didn’t completely iron out the serving and passing issues that plagued them earlier in the match.
“I think we’re still trying to figure out the team a little bit,” said setter Lauren Cook, who had 28 assists and helped NU hit .245 during her home debut as a Huskers. “That will come, and this shows us what we have to work on.”
In a gesture that earned a long, rousing ovation, sophomore Hannah Werth sprinted across the court during team introductions and gave her souvenir miniature volleyball to former Nebraska setter Jessica Yanz.
Yanz, who came out of retirement this spring and received an NCAA waiver to play at Dayton, had three kills, 35 assists and 17 digs in her return to Lincoln.
“That was really special, just to see Jess before the match,” said NU senior Tara Mueller, who had 13 digs and 13 kills on a season-high .289 hitting. “It definitely got us fired up, and we knew she was fired up to play us. She’s a great player, and she definitely worked me in the corner (with surprise setter attacks) a couple of times.”
Brooke Delano and Lindsey Licht each added 13 kills for the Huskers, with Delano swinging at a scorching .706 clip. Delano also had six blocks to go with the seven stuffs by Jordan Wilberger. Werth had 11 kills and 14 digs, and NU libero Kayla Banwarth came up with 24 digs in another strong effort.
Freshman Morgan Broekhuis struggled in her first regular-season Coliseum appearance, managing only four kills and seven attack errors on minus-.167 hitting through the first two sets. During the third set, sophomore Gina Mancuso, who finished with two kills on seven attacks, replaced Broekhuis on the right side.
The Huskers continue the tournament play with a 7 p.m. match Friday against Western Michigan. Also at the Coliseum Friday, No. 3 Illinois takes on Western Michigan at 11 a.m., and then Dayton at 4:30 p.m.
“We’re going to learn what we have to do better, because these are all good teams,” John Cook said. “We need to learn some lessons from tonight, or somebody’s going to beat us. I’m expecting that we’re going to do better tomorrow night.”
Dayton (5-2)...................26 20 16 17
Nebraska (6-1) .......................24 25 25 25
Dayton (kills-aces-blocks): Yanz 3-0-2, Krabacher 12-1-3, Novacek 7-0-4, Marten 4-0-5, Fletemier 4-0-8, Cowdrey 13-1-1, Vargas 0-0-0, Broerman 0-0-0, Campbell 1-0-1, Morey 0-0-0, Gaerke 1-0-0.
Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 0-1-0, Wilberger 5-0-7, Delano 13-0-6, Broekhuis 4-0-0, Mueller 13-1-2, Werth 11-1-2, Banwarth 0-0-0, Licht 13-0-3, Mancuso 2-0-1, Cook 0-1-0.
Set assists: Nebraska 58 (Anderson 26, Cook 28, Banwarth 3); Dayton 41 (Yanz 35). A--4,108.
Contact the writer:
444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com
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