Volleyball | Nebraska rallies by UW in 5 sets

Big Red used a huge rally to stun the Washington volleyball team and advance to the NCAA Final Four.

Fourth-seeded Nebraska recovered from a shaky start to win the final three sets in an NCAA regional final Saturday night at Edmundson Pavilion, defeating the fifth-seeded Huskies 3-2 by scores of 14-25, 23-25, 25-17, 26-24, 15-13.

"It's a tough thing to deal with right now," coach Jim McLaughlin said, "and it will probably be tough for a while. I told the team in the locker room that the sting wears off a little bit. We played well at times, but Nebraska did what they had to do."

Nebraska (31-2) heads to a Final Four in nearby Omaha, Neb., where the Cornhuskers won the 2006 national title in front of a home state crowd of 17,000. On Thursday the Cornhuskers face top-seeded Penn State (36-0).

It was a night of gut-twisting momentum swings that had apparently swung in Washington's favor in the fifth set. The Huskies roared out to a 6-1 lead and were up 9-3 when Nebraska coach John Cook called his second timeout of the set.

Nebraska went on a 9-0 run after the second time out, with two-time All-American Jordan Larson punching in five kills and recording two block-assists during that stretch.

The Huskies came back with a 4-1 streak to tie it at 13, keyed by kills from Jill Collymore, a late-match sub for Becky Perry, and the on-fire Airial Salvo. But an attack by Kindra Carlson went wide and Larson put the exclamation mark on Nebraska's comeback with a laser-beam ace that left Washington flat-footed.

Nebraska outside hitter Tara Mueller (24 kills, 16 digs) was named the regional's most outstanding player. Larson had 21 kills and 18 digs; 6-foot-5 Lindsey Licht had 10 kills.

Salvo led Washington with 15 kills, followed by 13 from Perry and 12 from Jessica Swarbrick, UW's lone senior.

Washington (27-5) seemed to have the match under control early, hitting efficiently while Nebraska could not stop hitting balls out. UW committed just five errors in the first two sets while the Cornhuskers recorded 23.

Washington's offensive effectiveness declined steadily after intermission while Nebraska suddenly got much improved play out of its middle hitters, particularly Jordan Wilberger, a redshirt freshman who stepped into the starting lineup only weeks ago following an injury to starter Kori Cooper.

What changed after the second time out?

"They served tough, and we just didn't control the ball like we usually do," McLaughlin said. "A little bit of it was them, and a little bit of it was us."

Playing on its home court Saturday, Penn State swept No. 8 seed California 25-21, 25-21, 25-17.

It's a tough reward for claiming the Seattle Regional. The winner will face a team that is on a path to being recognized as perhaps the best college volleyball team of all time.

The Nittany Lions are aiming to make history in Omaha. Not only have they won every match this season, they have won every set, which makes them 108-0 in 36 straight sweeps.

That itself is an NCAA record, breaking a streak of 103 sets (formerly known as games) by Florida in 2003.

No team has completed a season without losing a set.

USC in 2003, at 35-0, was the last Division I team to go undefeated.