LINCOLN, Neb. – OU has never won in Lincoln, now after 30 tries.

The Sooners lost to the fifth-ranked Huskers in four hard-fought sets Saturday at the Nebraska Coliseum [22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-25].

Nebraska owns the NCAA record for consecutive sell-outs in all women’s college sports with 128.

“Playing Nebraska here, everybody freezes a little bit instead of just going and playing,” OU coach Santiago Restrepo said.

Although the Sooners nearly beat Nebraska in Norman Sept. 30, the Huskers have won the last 25 matches.

Before a home crowd of 4,166, Nebraska opened the match with a 3-1 run. The Sooners quickly tied at 4-4 and hung on to grab a 9-8 lead. The Huskers attacked OU’s front line and built a 19-12 lead.

“We were just trying to focus so much and not make errors and do everything so right, but we’d get frustrated with ourselves and make an error,” said María Fernanda, OU freshman libero. “So it’s not the crowd, it’s not the team [we’re playing], it’s just ourselves. We put a lot of pressure on us.”

The Sooners settled down a bit and cut the lead to two by 23-21, but Nebraska closed the set 25-22.

OU led for much of the second set, but never more than two points. The Sooners started to find a rhythm on offense, using stronger attacks and forcing Nebraska errors.

Nebraska stole the lead at 16-15 and took over the set to win 25-22.

OU sophomore Suzy Boulavsky had 14 kills in the first two sets to lead the Sooners offensively.

The Sooners have struggled after the break in matches this season, but they overcame that obstacle Saturday.

“They have the mentality of never giving up and working every single point, and it showed tonight,” Restrepo said.

OU built a 12-9 lead by surviving in long rallies and seizing opportunities for easy scores. The Huskers found their footing again and closed in defensively on the Sooners’ favorite attack spots, particularly limiting Boulavsky.

Late errors by the Huskers allowed OU to fight back in the set and turn a 21-20 lead into a 25-22 set victory.

“We are learning that we are able to hang with these teams,” Boulavsky said.

The Sooners forced 12 Nebraska errors and held the Huskers to a -.053 attack percentage in the third set to force a fourth set.

“We’re still a young team. We’re known for our fight,” Boulavsky said. “We dig ourselves in holes, but we normally get out of it. I’ve never played with a team with so much fight. If we’re down, it’s not over—we’ll come back.”

Despite OU’s surge of energy in the third, Nebraska easily cruised to a 25-15 victory in the final set. Nebraska (15-5, 8-3) outplayed the Sooners’ defense that was ranked first in the conference in digs per set before Saturday. The Huskers led digs 62-54, blocks 13-9 and service aces 7-3.

Three Huskers finished with double-digit kills, led by Hannah Werth’s 19.

Boulavsky, the only Sooner to finish with double-digit kills, finished with 19 and a team-high .320 attack percentage. Junior Sarah Freudenrich had six kills and five block assists. Senior Bridget Laplante and junior Francie Ekwerekwu added five kills and one block solo each.

Brianne Barker, sophomore setter, had 33 assists and 10 digs for her 15th double-double of the season. She also had one service ace.

Fernanda led the Sooners defensively with 14 digs and added two service aces.

OU finished its five-game stretch against ranked opponents with two victories.

“We’re playing a lot better volleyball in this half of the season compared to the beginning,” Restrepo said. “We’re playing a lot better as a team and finding cohesiveness.”

Oklahoma (13-7, 6-5) will return to Norman for a pair of home games this week. The Sooners host Colorado 7 p.m. Wednesday.