Volleyball: Nebraska narrowly defeats Iowa

The train went off the tracks early, and Nebraska spent the rest of the match trying to get it back on. It wasn’t pretty. I doubt this game felt like the win that it was for Nebraska. There were painful mistakes. Net violations are painful. Two in a row is sloppy. Eight in the whole match is something to talk about at practice.

Passing was far from accurate which led to a poorly run offense without the purpose that it needs. Iowa played to win, hitting heavy balls on the attack and going after players on serve.

A win for Nebraska, but one that doesn’t leave anyone with much confidence. I won’t talk about set distribution because it could not have been the game plan to have such poor passing, which makes you do or set only what you can. The Huskers didn’t execute the game plan. They simply scraped together enough points.

A bright spot was Kenzie Knuckles, who was breathtaking and amazing at multiple points during this match. She was a gamer tonight. Jazz Sweet hit .417 with 18 kills. She was successful because of her positioning and shots but also because Iowa focused on blocking Nebraska’s middles. This left Sweet with just one blocker, a situation she capitalized on.

Next for Nebraska is a huge road trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin next weekend. These matches will decide the B10 champion.