Nebraska volleyball had itself a week with two sweeps of Top 5 opponents.
It started with a win against No. 2 Stanford on Wednesday and ended with an impressive 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 victory against No. 4 Louisville on Sunday in Louisville, Kentucky.
Playing one of the most challenging nonconference schedules in school history 鈥 five matches against ranked teams 鈥 No. 5 Nebraska finished 10-1 in nonconference play.
On Friday, Nebraska begins 10 weeks of Big Ten matches against UCLA.
Since a surprising loss against unranked SMU in Week 2, Nebraska has reeled off six straight wins, including four against Top 15 opponents.
And since that loss, assistant coach Kelly Hunter said the players have taken more ownership of the team and are trying to reach the potential expected of a team with five All-Americans.
鈥淲e鈥檝e put a lot of trust in them, and they鈥檝e proven that if we can do that, we鈥檙e going to end up being pretty good,鈥 Hunter said Sunday on the Huskers Radio Network.
For long stretches Sunday, Nebraska dominated with its serve, keeping Louisville from running its offense at full potential. The Huskers finished with a 7-0 advantage in ace serves.
That showing was a major step up from Nebraska's serving earlier this season.
鈥淭he last week especially you鈥檝e seen us, if we鈥檙e missing, it鈥檚 a good miss, and we鈥檙e still aggressive and we鈥檙e getting more aces to back up some of those errors,鈥 Hunter said.
And Sunday's performance came in front of a program-record crowd of 14,126 at the KFC Yum! Center. There were also thousands watching on TV in the first college volleyball regular-season match on ABC.
The sweep came against a Louisville team that was 4-1 record against Top 15 teams. But Nebraska hit .305 while holding Louisville to .133.
Nebraska鈥檚 serving and defense contributed to Louisville's 25 hitting errors. The Huskers led in blocks, 9-4.
The win included an impressive finish as Louisville worked to extend the match. With the third set tied at 16, Nebraska won four straight points and finished off the sweep.
Sophomore outside hitter Harper Murray led the Huskers with 11 kills. Merritt Beason added nine kills, Andi Jackson had six on .545 hitting and Lindsay Krause had five.
Hunter, who coaches Nebraska鈥檚 setters, credited setter Bergen Reilly for running the offense at a higher level each week.
鈥淣ow I feel like Bergen is owning the offense and it鈥檚 her offense and she鈥檚 giving feedback to the hitters, and they鈥檙e doing the same for her,鈥 Hunter said.
Reilly finished with 25 set assists, six digs, four kills and two blocks.
Krause had a career-best four ace serves, one more than her previous best.
The senior from Omaha Skutt was a game-changer in the first set when she served a 7-0 run that gave Nebraska a 16-8 lead. Krause also helped Nebraska have a great start in the second set when she had three straight ace serves for a 5-2 lead.
Anna DeBeer led Louisville (8-2) with 12 kills on .308 hitting. Louisville setter Elle Glock from Wahoo had 16 set assists in Louisville's two-setter rotation.