Huskers have not beaten the Cardinal since 2008
Two titans of college volleyball faced off at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Tuesday night.
With a combined 14 national titles and several of those coming against each other over the years, the history and rivalry was on full display for the more than 8,300 in attendance to see No. 9 Stanford upend No. 2 Nebraska in four sets: 27-25, 25-22, 19-25, 27-25.
The Huskers had their opportunity to take the first set. NU led 21-18 then 23-21, but the Cardinal played clean enough to take the momentum that carried them through the second.
Late in the third, Kennedi Orr replaced a hurt Nicklin Hames. At that point, coach John Cook kept Orr on the floor for a 5-1 offense, instead of the 6-2 run the rest of the night.
That decision paid off as Orr got in on a block and helped Nebraska run off five of the last six points to take the set.
Set four was another wild one.
Trailing 24-23, Lindsay Krause ran off back-to-back kills. But Stanford used a cheeky tip shot to tie things up again.
Back-to-back Cardinal kills gave the visitors the match 3-1.
Nebraska hit just .166 for the match, which is only better than the .120 notched against Pepperdine. Stanford hit the best of any Husker opponent on the season at .211.
For as close as the match was, it could have been much worse for Nebraska. Stanford committed a season-high 23 service errors, keeping the Huskers in sets despite sloppy play.
Nebraska had 14 service errors themselves.
Hames didn't play in the final set but led the team with 19 assists. Anni Evans handed out 12 and Orr eight.
Madi Kubik had a team-high 13 kills on .231 hitting. Whitney Launstein notched 11, but hit just .083.
Beckk Allick and Kaitlyn Hord tied for the match-high with five blocks each.
The Huskers have now dropped five straight to the Cardinal, with the last victory coming back in 2008.
Nebraska has a few days off to both get healthy and fix the mistakes before heading to No. 13 Kentucky Sunday.
