8:02 pm | December 13, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
MINNEAPOLIS — Nebraska fought back from two sets down to stun Illinois and advance to the final of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament Thursday night.
After losing the first two sets 25-22 and 25-16, the defending champion Cornhuskers rallied for a victory at Target Center with sets of 25-23, 25-20 and 15-11.
The fifth set was tied at 10 and 11 and appeared even again at 12, but a challenge overturned a point in Nebraska’s favor for a 13-11 lead, and the Huskers saw out the victory.
After winning its 12th consecutive match, Nebraska will play No. 1 Stanford on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2) for the national championship.
Tami Alade had 14 blocks, Kathryn Plummer had 12 kills and Stanford beat BYU 25-15, 25-15 and 25-18 in the first semifinal Thursday night to avenge its only loss of the season.
Audriana Fitzmorris added 11 kills and nine blocks and Morgan Hentz had 20 digs for the Cardinal (33-1), which is seeking their eighth title. They advanced to the championship for the 16th time with their 31st consecutive match victory since losing in five sets at BYU in August.
“This was more about a redemption match than us finding ourselves, because we felt like we just didn’t show up the first two sets last time against Florida,” Stanford coach Kevin Hambly said.
BYU (31-2) had a lead in every game in the semifinal.
Plummer, the reigning national player of the year, hit .300 and Fitzmorris .375 as the Cardinal had 34 kills with just seven errors and 33 blocks.
“My block was amazing tonight,” Hentz said. “I was able to set up around them. And they made my job so much easier. I think our whole team did a great job of scrapping. I thought our scrappiness was key.”
BYU had 29 kills and 32 errors. Stanford hit .188 in the first game and got better every game, while the Cougars had more errors in the first two games before hitting .125 in the third.
Roni Jones-Perry, a player of the year candidate with Plummer, had eight kills but 12 errors for BYU.
“They were a really good block, so it was tough,” Jones-Perry said. “They did a really nice job. … It wasn’t our best match offensively, you can see that in the numbers.”
Stanford had a 9-2 run in the second set and closed with a 5-2 run. The Cardinal took charge in the third set with a 6-0 run, the final five points on Plummer’s serve, for an 18-13 lead.
“There were no surprises,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “Stanford is a great team. They serve tough. They have a big block. We weren’t serving tough enough for us to get any touches, get some blocks. … We tried our best, but they took us out of our game.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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