Nebraska volleyball sweeps USC; Ally Batenhorst receives warm welcome at Devaney (2025)

The upset wins started right away during the Big Ten volleyball season.

It started with No. 16 Minnesota beating No. 7 Wisconsin earlier this week. And No. 4 Penn State showed how good it is with a 3-0 road win at No. 10 Purdue.

So Nebraska will gladly take a 2-0 start to the league season, with nine more weeks to go on the quest for a Big Ten title.

On Sunday evening, Harper Murray had 12 kills and two ace serves, Merritt Beason added 11 kills and second-ranked Nebraska swept No. 20 USC 25-18, 25-22, 25-16 at the Devaney Sports Center.

Nebraska (12-1) opened the Big Ten season by playing two of the new league teams, defeating both UCLA and USC.

“Any win you get 3-0 in the Big Ten is a relief, and it’s a great effort because these teams are so good and they’re so talented,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “It was a nice job by our team tonight. And our crowd was great tonight. There was a lot of buzz in the air tonight.”

Andi Jackson added seven kills for the Huskers. Setter Bergen Reilly had three.

Nebraska’s five blocks and 47 digs helped limit USC to a season-low .137 hitting percentage. In the final set, USC hit .000.

Nebraska hit .245 for the match.

Sunday was the return of Ally Batenhorst to Lincoln. The outside hitter and former Husker transferred to USC for her final collegiate season. She finished with a match-high 13 kills with an above-average .242 hitting percentage.

Batenhorst, born in Omaha before going to high school in Houston, got a loud and long ovation during the introduction of starting lineups. As the roar carried on, she put her hands over her mouth, overwhelmed by what she was experiencing.

“I was just completely overwhelmed with joy and so much support,” Batenhorst said. “It’s just really good to see everyone. It was just amazing, and Husker Nation is so sweet.”

Several fans had come with homemade signs for Batenhorst, a UNL graduate who started on Nebraska’s Big Ten title team last season and played in two national championship matches during her three seasons with the Huskers.

When the charter airplane with the USC team arrived in Lincoln on Saturday, the digital display at Duncan Aviation had a message to welcome Batenhorst back to Lincoln.

Batenhorst had kills on each of her first two hitting attempts of the match, starting with a nice off-speed shot to the middle of the court. In the first set, she had six of the Trojans’ 11 kills.

“I felt bad for her because trying to go through all of that and then play, but she played great,” Cook said. “Good for her. You can’t prepare for that.”

Batenhorst is one of the Trojans’ most important players. She leads the team with 174 kills and takes about 30% of the hitting attempts.

“It’s a new opportunity, and obviously being part of a new program is fun,” Batenhorst said. “Both programs I was just so grateful to be a part of.”

In taking a quick 14-8 lead to start the match, Nebraska had kills on six of its first eight attempts, including some high-level stuff in transitioning from defense to offense for kills.

In the second set, Murray put on a show, putting down nine kills in that set alone on just 15 attempts.

“I think it definitely helped in the second set for me to get on a roll,” Murray said.

Reilly has gotten a little more offensive in recent matches, skillfully finding the open spot on the court and tipping shots over on the second contact.

In the last four matches, Reilly has 13 kills on 19 attempts. Many teams don’t pay a lot of attention to the setter — Nebraska included — and Reilly is making opponents pay.

“She’s just gotten really good at it,” Cook said. “When setters are doing that, they’re very confident.”

USC had 13 serving errors — several came on off those high-risk, high-reward jump serve attempts — and just one ace.

Nebraska had four aces and eight errors.