NCAA VOLLEYBALL : Nebraska Ends UCLA’s Season With Sweep

No. 1 Nebraska needed only three games to defeat No. 7 UCLA, 15-9, 15-7, 16-14, Saturday night to advance to next week’s NCAA women’s volleyball Final Four.

Playing before a sellout home crowd in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers were led by Lisa Reitsma’s 17 kills in winning the Central Regional.

“We certainly beat a great program,” Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit said. “I thought we played great tonight. But we can play greater yet.”

UCLA (23-9) scored the first seven points in the second game, but Nebraska scored the next 15.

“That was the turning point in the match,” UCLA Coach Andy Banachowski said. “We played well in the first game and got off to a good start in Game 2. They came back and bit us, though, with 15 straight. That’s been a weakness of ours all season.”

Nebraska (30-1) had three players named to the all-tournament team: Reitsma, Allison Weston (17 kills against UCLA) and Christy Johnson (51 assists and 13 digs).

UCLA was led by Kara Milling and Kim Krull, who combined for 30 kills and both were named to the all-tournament team.

Defending champion Stanford defeated Oral Roberts, 15-4, 15-7, 15-4, to win the Pacific Regional.