Dani Busboom Kelly will show off her first Nebraska volleyball team as the Huskers’ head coach in a Red-White Scrimmage on Aug. 9 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The exhibition match is a 2:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+. The Huskers’ annual Fan Day is before the […]
Dani Busboom Kelly will show off her first Nebraska volleyball team as the Huskers’ head coach in a Red-White Scrimmage on Aug. 9 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The exhibition match is a 2:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.
The Huskers’ annual Fan Day is before the match from 9-11 a.m. CT on Aug. 9 at Devaney.
Busboom Kelly said she treats the Red-White Scrimmage like a “glorified practice” and the Alumni match on Aug. 16 as a “dress rehearsal”. Nebraska started practicing on July 31 and is playing a match nine days later.
The first-ever head coach has 17 players on her 2025 roster, featuring seven major contributors returning. But she also added eight new players.
Here are the storylines to watch during the first look at Nebraska’s 2025 team.
Newcomers
Nebraska has six freshmen, an opposite hitter transfer from Baylor (Allie Sczech) and added an Italian opposite hitter (Virginia Adriano). Each Husker will get plenty of playing time during the Red-White.
Sczech, Adriano, and freshmen middle blockers Kenna Cogill and Manaia Ogbechie arrived in May. The other four freshmen participated in the spring practices and matches. Outside hitter Teraya Sigler, setter Campbell Flynn, opposite Ryan Hunter and DS Keri Leimbach proved why they belong at Nebraska.
All eight newcomers blend in well with this Nebraska team. From watching practice, it’s hard to tell who is a rookie or new to Nebraska. But they hope to stand out for good reasons on Saturday.
A faster, different offense
Busboom Kelly runs a faster offense at Nebraska volleyball than in years past under John Cook.
“It’s been a fun process,” junior setter Bergen Reilly said. “Getting it down was a little challenging at the beginning, because I hadn’t set like that in a while. But it’s really fun when you do see those connections start to form with the hitters. It is really fast, and even if our block knows it’s coming, it’s hard to stop. So it’s been really fun to work on the connection and work on different plays that we’ll be running. I’m excited for everyone to get to see it.”
Another layer to the Husker offense is its three left-handed opposite hitters. Reilly has never had a lefty right-pin hitter on her team, so setting lefties has been new for the junior. A left-handed opposite adds a new challenge to teams. They are far and few between. The ball crosses the net at a different point, so it’s a big adjustment for opponents.
Flynn, a freshman setter, has pushed Reilly in practices despite her age. They compete a lot during practice, each running one side of the court. Reilly said she has loved watching Flynn grow in her few months at Nebraska.
Position battles to watch
The Huskers have several position battles to laser in on Saturday. The top position battles are libero, opposite hitter and the second outside hitter position.
Junior Laney Choboy and sophomore Olivia Mauch compete to be Nebraska’s libero after four incredible seasons from Lexi Rodriguez. Both are experienced, consistent and reliable.
Sczech, Adriano and Hunter are in the race for the opposite hitter starting job. Sczech and Adriano have the edge with their experience. Sczech started three seasons for Baylor. Adriano played two professional seasons in Italy. But Hunter caught fire in Nebraska volleyball’s spring match against Kansas.
Junior outside hitter Harper Murray has her starting job locked down. But who else will play on the left pin? Senior Taylor Landfair flashed at times in 2024 but was inconsistent. A new head coach has helped her greatly, she said. Sigler is a beast, winning four Arizona state titles, two club national championships, and two gold medals in high school. Redshirt freshman Skyler Pierce is competing as well.
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Serve and pass
The most important aspect of volleyball is serving and passing. At this level, teams that can serve and pass better than their opponent are hard to beat.
Nebraska has a great back row of passers with Mauch, Choboy, Murray and Reilly. Defensive specialists Maisie Boesiger and Leimbach are solid passers as well. We saw everyone serve and pass in the back row during the spring, including Andi Jackson and Rebekah Allick. If Busboom Kelly keeps her middles in to serve, they must make some great digs to go on a run.
As for serving, the Huskers got better and better through the 2024 season. NU’s ace leader, Murray, is back and has a lethal jump serve she is itching to use. Merritt Beason graduated with 30 aces, which was second to Murray’s 39 aces. Reilly and Mauch had 21 aces each.
Nebraska lost 83 of their 155 aces in 2024 with four seniors moving on.
Keep an eye on ball movement and placement in Saturday’s scrimmage. Mistakes are bound to happen, but Nebraska volleyball wants to limit serving into the net.
Category: General Sports
