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Despite being without defensive specialist Kenzie Knuckles, Nebraska and Oregon went to five sets in the Sweet Sixteen with the Ducks ultimately advancing to the Elite Eight.

That was Nebraska’s earliest exit in the NCAA Tournament in 11 years.

But on Thursday night in Eugene, No. 2 Nebraska got revenge, sweeping No. 12 Oregon, 25-12, 26-24, 25-18.

GENERAL THOUGHTS 

Due to an injury to senior defensive specialist Daley McClellan, Oregon had to roll out a 6-2 for the first time this season. And Nebraska, despite likely not knowing about the development until game time, wasn’t fazed.

That’s pretty darn impressive. 

Additionally, Nebraska is undefeated in matches this season against ranked teams and is 24-5 in sets in those matches.

And they did it in front of a record-setting crowd for Oregon. There were 8,566 people in attendance for Thursday’s match.

WHAT I LOVED

Outsides

Harper Murray, the sophomore phenom, recorded her fourth double-double of the season against Oregon — notching a match-high 14 kills on 29 swings for a hitting percentage of .414 with 10 digs.

Not only that, she added an ace and two assists.

Murray is having such a dominant and phenomenal season. She’s well on her way to another All-American award. Maybe even first-team.

But it wasn’t just her having an electric night.

All-American Taylor Landfair, who has started in the last eight straight matches for Nebraska, was efficient against Oregon as well.

The Minnesota transfer notched 13 kills — tying her output from last week against Wisconsin for her season-high — on 27 swings for a .407 hitting percentage.

When both outside hitters are unstoppable, Nebraska is impossible to beat.

Bergen Reilly

Coming into Thursday night, Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly had 49 kills — most of which were dump sets. Her season high? Four, most recently against Northwestern last week.

Against Oregon, she successfully terminated three dumps.

In addition to her aggression at the net, Reilly added 33 assists, nine digs and an ace.

First-set dominance

Nebraska came out on fire offensively against Oregon — hitting an outstanding .476 in the first set, thanks to efficient efforts from both Landfair and Murray.

Landfair had five kills on seven swings for .714, while Murray had four kills on five attempts for .800.

Meanwhile, Oregon had seven kills and eight attack errors in the first frame to hit minus-.031 in the first set.

WHAT I LIKED

Milestone for Lexi

With her 14 digs on Thursday night, All-American libero Lexi Rodriguez surpassed Kayla Banwarth in career digs to sit at No. 2 all-time in program history.

Rodriguez came into the Oregon match tied with Banwarth.

As of now, Rodriguez has 1,720 career digs — which is 170 behind the program leader, Justine Wong-Orantes (1,890).

Considering Rodriguez averages 3.66 digs per set — or just under 11 digs per 3-set match, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Rodriguez could surpass Wong-Orantes.

But it isn’t a given.

Nebraska has eight regular season matches left. That would be roughly 88 more digs if all matches are sweeps.

If Nebraska makes a run to the national championship match, that’s six additional matches. That, presuming the averages, would give Rodriguez roughly 66 more digs if all matches are sweeps.

That would be 154 digs. She needs 170 to tie and 171 to pass Wong-Orantes.

And that’s very conservative math.

WHAT I WAS LET DOWN BY

Excess challenges

Nebraska’s John Cook was three of three on challenges against Oregon.

Which, that’s great for John, but… why did he need to challenge so many points? A rough night for the officials.