SEATTLE—Amanda Gates had eight kills, including the match clincher, and hit .615 for the night as the fourth-seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers swept Michigan in three sets Friday night to reach the NCAA volleyball West Regional finals.
The scores were 25-13, 25-15, 25-18.
The Cornhuskers (30-2) will play Saturday night for the regional championship and a spot in the Final Four. They’ll face Washington, the winner of Friday’s other West semifinal between the fifth-seeded Huskies and 12th-seeded Utah.
Unseeded Michigan, which got to the regionals by winning a pair of five-setters last weekend, including an upset of No. 13 Saint Louis, ended its season at 26-9.
“Our game plan going in was to serve them very aggressively, and we felt we could break down their pressure,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “I thought our team did a super job with the plan. That was an impressive performance.”
Jordan Larson led the Cornhuskers with nine kills, and Tara Muller had eight. Sydney Anderson racked up 29 assists and a team-leading 11 digs.
“We always know we have good serves and good first contact,” Larson said. “When you have that, it’s hard to break us down.”
Nebraska was down 3-2 early in the first set, ran off four consecutive points and never trailed again. The Cornhuskers hit .323 for the set, while Michigan wound up at .000 with eight kills and eight errors.
Likewise in the second set, Nebraska fell into an early 6-3 hole, strung together six points in a row for a 9-6 lead, and Michigan never got closer than two points the rest of the way.
The Cornhuskers never trailed in the third set, which was tied just once at 5-5. Nebraska scored eight of the next nine points for a 13-6 lead and stayed in command.
“It was just another step toward our goal,” Nebraska’s Kayla Banwarth said. “We all have a common goal, and we know what it’s going to take to get there.”
Michigan was led by the nine kills of Alex Hunt. Julian Paz had eight.
Nebraska hit .347 for the match, including .438 in the third set. Michigan hit just .100 for the match.
