LINCOLN, Neb. -- Thanks to Anna Schrad and 13 kills each from Nancy Metcalf and Laura Pilakowski, No. 2 Nebraska remained on course for a second straight national championship.

But because of No. 8 Colorado State's Courtney Cox, Soraya Santos and Becky Sarauer, that road was a little bumpy Friday night.

Santos, Cox and Sarauer each banged out 15 kills, but Schrad countered with 17 of her own to lead Nebraska to a 29-31, 30-21, 30-26, 36-34 win over the Rams.

The Cornhuskers will now take on Florida, a 3-0 winner over Pepperdine, into Saturday's regional final.

"They gave us everything we wanted," Nebraska coach John Cook said. "It's hard for me to believe they're a 15 seed."

Nebraska averaged 4.5 blocks a game this year, but recorded just one in the first game. Cox took advantage of the lapse, hammering home seven kills to stake the Rams to a 31-29 win.

Fortunes began to change for the second-seeded Huskers (30-1) after they built a wall at the net.

Behind eight blocks from the Nebraska front-line defense and 11 kills from Schrad, the Cornhuskers rolled to a 30-21 win the second game.

The Huskers opened the third game with an 8-1 run before the Rams (29-4) made it competitive. Colorado State closed to 28-26 on a Sarauer kill and an error from the Huskers.

Nebraska escaped, however, when Amber Holmquist and Metcalf combined for back-to-back kills.

The fourth game almost wasn't the last of the night. The Rams built a 26-21 lead behind five kills each from Angela Knopf, Sarauer and Santos.

Nebraska answered with defense, recording eight blocks to hold the Rams, while Schrad hit five kills and Metcalf had four to lead Nebraska to the 36-34 win.

"We were one ball bounce away from taking this to a fifth game," Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert said. "Then who knows what would've happened."

Knopf finished with 12 kills for the Rams, while Jenny Kropp chipped in nine kills and 10 blocks for Nebraska.

"We were confident we were going to win," Kropp said. "We just needed to fight it out to the end."

Florida (28-1) got 22 kills from Aury Cruz and eight more from Nicole McCray in beating No. 8 Pepperdine 30-28, 30-25, 30-16.

The Waves (23-4) were led by 12 kills from Stacy Rouwenhorst.

The winner of Saturday night's Nebraska-Florida game advances to the Final Four next weekend in San Diego.