Nebraska Volleyball. Still thriving.

The Huskers, the top overall seed in the field, advanced in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament on Thursday night and did so (once again) in near-dominant fashion.

The Huskers (33-1) pulled off another sweep to take down fellow No. 1 seed Pittsburgh (29-5) in their Final Four match (25-20, 25-23, 25-17) at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Nebraska will now wait to find out if it plays No. 1 seed Wisconsin (30-3) or No. 2 seed Texas (26-4), with the Badgers and Longhorns now underway in Semifinal 2 on ESPN.

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There’s a reason Harper Murray was ranked as the No. 1 overall recruit in last year’s cycle. She certainly had ups and downs throughout her first year of college volleyball and struggled to stay consistent, including the tail end of the year.

At other times, Murray showcased why she deserved that ranking. Thursday night was one of those nights.

On a night when star and top leader Merritt Beason was not at her best, someone needed to step up, and it was the true freshman Murray leading the way for the Huskers with a game-high 13 kills in addition to five digs and two blocks.

Murray came to ball against the Panthers. She fueled Nebraska’s offensive attack, including some massively clutch plays in Set 2.

Murray struggled a bit throughout the month of November, but she ended on a high note with 15 kills (to six errors) and eight digs on the road against Wisconsin and followed up with perhaps her best all-around match the very next day in a beautiful performance against Minnesota (13 kills to just five errors, 17 digs and four blocks).

Though she wasn’t terrific over the first three games of this year’s tournament, Murray has certainly come through in a massive way in the last two. She finished with 15 kills, 12 digs and three blocks in the Elite Eight win over Arkansas and now has 28 kills to 12 errors, 17 digs and five blocks over the last two matches. That’s a similar statline to her two-game run to end the regular season against the Badgers and Gophers: 28 kills (11 errors), 28 digs and five blocks.

Seemingly every time John Cook pulls out the challenge card, he’s winning it. At the very least, every time the Husker coach elects to challenge an official’s ruling, it’s a close call (literally).

Well, Cook’s hot run this season of successful challenges continued on Thursday night. He won three consecutive challenges across the first two sets, helping lead to a 2-0 set lead for Nebraska.

Cook, of course, deflected all the credit for those challenges during Wednesday’s pre-Final Four press conference.

“It's Jaylen,” Cook said of Nebraska assistant coach Jaylen Reyes. “Jaylen is back there. The guy's got a hawk-eye system in his brain and eyes. He sees everything. So I just listen to them.

“And the one player I trust is Merritt. Merritt's always right. I always look to Merritt. Jaylen and Merritt are the ones who get the credit. I just pick up the green card.”

Fittingly, the Huskers’ victory ended on a challenge. It was a bit of a reverse, however, as it was Pitt challenging Nebraska’s match point.

Cook challenged a crucial point in the Sweet 16 match against Arkansas, and the TV broadcasting crew was unanimous and steadfast in its opinion that the Huskers would win the challenge. The officiating crew, however, gave the point to the Razorbacks.

In the Final Four matchup Thursday, the broadcast was once again unanimously in the corner of one side (this time in favor of the Huskers’ opponent) but once again the officiating crew shocked all of us with its ruling. It benefited Nebraska this time around.

It was fitting that the match ended in a replay review. It was also fitting that, officially, it ended on an error by the Panthers. Pitt finished with 22 errors (compared to 15 Husker errors), and Nebraska held the Panthers to just a .137 hitting percentage. And, ultimately, it was fitting that it all ended in a Nebraska win via sweep. It was the Huskers’ fourth sweep in their five-match NCAA Tournament run.

Nebraska took over at the nets against Pitt, outblocking the Panthers 15-8, led by Bekka Allick with 10 total blocks (three solo) and Beason contributed five total blocks as well.

Beason, again, was not her usual sharp, dominant self as she finished with just eight kills and had seven errors. The Florida transfer, however, found other ways to affect the game by recording four aces and four digs, plus those five blocks.

Nebraska’s block party began in earnest in the first set as the Huskers racked up eight of those 15 blocks en route to a 25-20 set victory.

Nebraska jumped out to a 15-13 lead aided by the Panthers committing eight errors (to eight kills), which soon turned to a 19-15 lead and ultimately the 25-20 margin as Pitt finished with 13 kills, 13 errors and just two blocks compared to the Huskers’ nine kills, four errors and eight blocks.

Pitt pulled to within a 17-15 deficit a bit past the midway point of the second set, which was its closest deficit since trailing 7-5 early in Set 2. Naturally, the next play was an error to hurt Pitt’s chances – its sixth service error of the night, which came one play after an ace – but responded soon after with a 3-0 run to pull within two points once again (Nebraska 21, Pitt 19).

Murray then rattled off the Huskers’ next three points for a 24-20 lead. Pitt battled though, forcing Nebraska into set point five times before, fittingly once again, another Panthers error ended the threat in a 25-23 Nebraska set victory.

The height of the Panthers’ errors came later in Set 3. Nebraska held a 16-10 lead after getting the ball back to set up a Beason serve. The Panthers, however, lined up in an illegal formation ahead of the service and were whistled for their second-to-last error of the night.

That was part of Beason’s personal 3-0 run of three consecutive aces to give Nebraska a commanding 19-10 lead, and the Huskers finished with a rather dominant 25-17 set victory that ended on Pitt’s 22nd-and-final error of the match.