LINCOLN, Neb. - The Nebraska volleyball team began its 2023 season with its annual Red-White intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday night in front of 8,035 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Red team won the tightly contested match, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 27-25). 

Points in the match were even at 96-96, and White nearly took it to a fifth set after charging back from a 19-6 deficit in set four to force a deuce game. 

Harper Murray and Merritt Beason each had 13 kills to lead Red. They also had 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Ally Batenhorst had eight kills and 10 digs.

For White, Lindsay Krause led the attack with 16 kills and added eight digs. She also had four service aces and four blocks. Hayden Kubik added 13 kills and nine digs, and Caroline Jurevicius finished with five kills and four blocks and a pair of aces. 

The three middle blockers rotated teams. Bekka Allick finished with 10 kills and seven blocks. Andi Jackson had 10 kills and six blocks with a .438 hitting percentage. And Maggie Mendelson contributed six kills and four blocks. 

Bergen Reilly set the Red team with 36 assists, 16 digs and four service aces. Kennedi Orr had 29 assists for White with eight digs and four kills. 

Lexi Rodriguez, the Red libero, had 18 digs. Laney Choboy had 19 digs for White, while Maisie Boesiger had 13. 

White outhit Red, .171 to .141, and had an 11.5 to 7.0 advantage in blocks. 

Set 1: Red gained separation from a 9-9 tie with a 4-0 spurt off of a block by Batenhorst and Mendelson and back-to-back kills by Batenhorst before one by Mendelson. White fought back to tie it 15-15 with a kill by Orr and a block by the junior setter with Allick. Back-to-back kills by Krause put White in front, 18-17, but Red came back with three points in a row, including a kill by Beason that made it 20-18. A block by Beason and Jackson pushed the lead to three, 23-20, and Beason earned set point at 24-21 with a kill. Krause connected and Kubik rolled a kill to the floor to cut it to 24-23, but Jackson finished the set with a kill and a 25-23 win. Red hit .273 while White hit .190. 

Set 2: White rallied from down 5-2 to go up 11-7. Krause had two kills and two ace serves, while Jurevicius and Kubik recorded kills. Murray and Jackson terminated kills before a solo block by Murray drew Red within 11-10. A block by Jackson and Reilly and another kill by the freshman Jackson tied it 12-12. Reilly served an ace to put Red up 13-12, and kills by Batenhorst and Beason made it 17-14. White pulled within one point, but Murray and Reilly posted kills to extend Red's lead to 22-18. After a timeout, White went on a 5-0 run to go up 23-22. Krause and Kubik had kills, and Red committed three straight attacking errors. But three straight errors by White gave Red the set, 25-23. Red outhit White .125 to .054 in the set. 

Set 3: The score was tied 8-8, but White went on an 8-3 run to take a 16-11 lead. Jurevicius had a kill and a block, and Krause had a pair of kills. Jackson contributed two blocks and a kill as White went up 17-12. Kubik put down back-to-back kills for a 19-14 White lead, and White claimed set point at 24-18 on Krause's fourth ace of the night. White claimed the 25-19 win. 

Set 4: Kills by Jackson and Beason and an ace by Rodriguez put Red up 5-0 to start the set. Jackson and Murray teamed up for a block as Red built its lead to 9-2. Red pulled away to a 13-point lead at 19-6. But White went on a 9-0 run to get within 19-15. Allick led the way with two kills and three blocks, and Jurevicius had a kill and two blocks. After Mendelson earned Red a sideout, Krause posted her 14th and 15th kills to cut it to 20-18, but Jackson answered and Red pushed the lead to 22-18. White would not go away, however, as Krause connected again and Jurevicius served an ace to get within 22-20. Allick added another kill as White cut the lead down to one, 23-22. After a timeout, Murray won a battle at the net to earn match point, but Hayden Kubik struck for back-to-back-to-back kills to put White up 25-24, the last of which came after Choboy dove to save an attack from Reilly. After a White attack just landed out of bounds, Reilly served an ace for a 26-25 match point and followed with another ace for the winning point, 27-25. 

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Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media following Saturday’s scrimmage. Rhule addressed his expectations of the team after today’s scrimmage as well as the leadership opportunities during season.

“We played really strong on defense again today,” Rhule said. “Some of the issues the offense had in terms of procedure logistics went away. I thought it was a step in the right direction. There’s still more work to do on the offense and defense, but I like where we're at right now.”

Rhule discusses the improvement quarterback Jeff Sims has made this fall camp regarding his previous turnover rate.

“When the Big 10 Network came, they talked about him having the highest rate in college football for turnovers,” he said. “I would have never suspected that. I went back and watched them. There were a lot of times when you’d probably say it’s not his fault. We want to win the turnover battle, but we also want to win the explosive play battle. We want to be explosive, and I think Jeff is learning that. I think he’s playing good football and he’s done a nice job.”

He also discussed this year’s leadership opportunities and what that will look like during the season.

“We won't do captains,” Rhule said. “We will be doing game captains and when we get to bowl season, then we’ll vote on permanent captains. There will be guys that emerge as the season goes on. We have our single digits, and we have our unity council that the guys will vote for who will be on that. There will be different opportunities for guys to serve in different ways.” 

The Huskers will return to the practice field on Tuesday as they prep for the season opener on Thursday, Aug. 31 at Minnesota.