No. 2 Nebraska Ends Jackson State's Tournament Run
Courtesy of Jackson State University Sports Information
Photo courtesy of Corn Fed Sports.com
LINCOLN, Neb. - Jackson State's first foray into the NCAA Volleyball Tournament was short-lived as host Nebraska defeated the Lady Tigers in straight sets (25-10, 25-16, 25-13) Thursday night at NU Coliseum. The loss brought an end to JSU's 25-match win streak and ended its season at 29-10.
Junior outside hitter Christine Edwards had a game-high 15 kills, LaToya Clark had 20 assists and Daedra Carline and Angelica Kelley combined for 16 digs. But the Lady Tigers hit just .022 with just 23 kills against 21 errors while allowing Nebraska to hit. 431 en route to their first loss since Sept. 20 against Nicholls State.
Jackson State entered the Honolulu, Hawaii regional after a dominant run to the Southwestern Athletic Conference title but struggled early against Nebraska (25-4), the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament. The Lady Tigers led 3-2 in the first set
before the Huskers scored eight straight points - including six straight on JSU attack errors - to take over the opening stanza. In all, JSU had nine errors and hit -.107 while the Huskers added 12 kills and hit .500. Edwards had four of the Lady Tigers' six kills in the first set.
The second set looked similar to the first one. JSU again jumped out to an early advantage behind Edwards three kills. But a 6-3 lead quickly turned into a 10-6 deficit. The Lady Tigers stayed close for a while and after Clark set up Chyna
Coleman for a kill, they trailed just 17-14. But the Huskers dominated the rest of the set with Jackson State's only two points coming off Nebraska service errors.
There was another fast start in the third set but it belonged to Nebraska as it scored the first seven points and never looked back. When the Huskers led by as many as 13 points and hit .520 in the final stanza. Edwards had six kills but the Lady Tigers hit a paltry .031 as a team, much of the success coming late in the set.
