2025 Nebraska Volleyball Position Previews: Outside Hitters

A new era is about to begin for Nebraska volleyball. The top-ranked Huskers will head into the season with a new coach leading the way in Dani Busboom Kelly, but the expectations have not changed.

To get you ready for the 2025 campaign, we’re running through the expanded roster and breaking down all the key players at every position. Up next is a look at the outside hitter group.

Previous Previews: Defensive Specialists | Middle Blockers | Opposite Hitters

 

Roster

>> Harper Murray: Junior, 6’2”, Ann Arbor, Mich.

>> Taylor Landfair: Senior, 6’5”, Plainfield, Ill.

>> Skyler Pierce: Redshirt Freshman, 6’2”, Lenexa, Kan.

>> Teraya Sigler: Freshman, 6’3”, Scottsdale, Ariz.

 

Breakdown

Harper Murray returns to lead a talented group of pin-hitters, each with her own unique strengths.

That Murray was one of two player representatives for Nebraska at Big Ten Media Days in late July is a testament to the work she’s done over the past year to improve herself on and off the court. After a turbulent offseason including immense social media backlash to her 2023 post-championship match comments, DUI and shoplifting incidents, a spring match suspension and more personal struggles, Murray has worked to become an advocate for the importance of mental health and has continued to devote herself to community involvement.

On the court, her numbers improved nearly across the board as the 2023 Big Ten Freshman of the Year put together a second-team AVCA All-America season.

“I think Harper really embodies a lot of what this team is hoping to accomplish, like get through some hard times and rise up and come out even better than you were before,” Dani Busboom Kelly said at Big Ten Media Days. “I just thought she has done the work and is a great spokesperson for our program.”

Murray averaged a team-best 3.40 kills per set on .257 hitting, 2.43 digs per set and a team-best 0.32 aces per set, landing her on the All-Big Ten First Team for the second straight year. She recorded nine double-doubles, including three in the NCAA Tournament.

Murray was a unanimous preseason All-Big Ten pick and is poised to take another step forward under Busboom Kelly in the faster, more creative offense the team’s new head coach brings with her from Louisville.

Taylor Landfair is back for her sixth season of college volleyball and second in Lincoln. She split time with Lindsay Krause a year ago, appearing in 88 sets across 33 matches while contributing 2.49 kills per set on .215 hitting, primarily as a three-rotation player.

At 6-foot-5, Landfair can present a formidable blocking presence, and if she can rediscover the offensive prowess that made her Big Ten Player of the Year and saw her average 4.36 kills per set on .257 hitting, she can be a valuable piece for the Huskers in 2025 as she looks to earn the second starting outside hitter position alongside Murray.

“Taylor is one of our most physical players,” Busboom Kelly said. “She hits a heavy ball when she gets on it. I think she brings a lot of experience. She has that trust factor from her teammates and coaches that she’s been playing for five years and she’s seen a lot and done a lot, so there’s a comfort level there. I think her leadership has taken a new level, and she’s just really playing with a ton of joy and celebrating her teammates. So I’m excited for her for this season, whether she’s a starter, coming off the bench, I think she’ll make a big impact either way.”

While her first season likely didn’t go the way she envisioned when she transferred in from Minnesota, Landfair said she’s focused on learning and developing her game during her final year.

“I don’t think I’ve found my peak yet, so just keep growing, especially with Dani just because she is new, so just learning everything from her, everything that I can, but then also from the other coaches as well,” Landfair said. “And just keep doing this for my teammates, because I am here also for my teammates. So just keep growing, expanding so I can kind of go to the next level and just feel confident.”

Landfair looks to be competing with the two underclassmen in the group for playing time.

Skyler Pierce arrived in Lincoln a year and a half ago as a decorated player out of the Kansas City area, but with Nebraska’s experience at her position, she redshirted her first season. She spent much of the spring cross-training at opposite hitter with freshman Ryan Hunter the only natural opposite on campus at the time and showcased some of what she’s been working on over the past year with six kills on .286 hitting and three blocks during the team’s spring exhibition in Ord.

With the full roster on campus this summer, Pierce spent her time working at outside hitter, where she’s competing for playing time in year two. Busboom Kelly said the redshirt freshman is hitting harder and jumping higher, but more importantly, her ball control has improved.

“That’s a sign of getting in the gym a lot this summer, is taking care of what they can when they’re in the gym by themselves, and that’s usually serve and pass,” Busboom Kelly said.

The final player at the position is the lone newcomer, freshman Teraya Sigler. PrepDig.com’s top-ranked recruit in the 2025 class, Sigler is a dynamic hitter whose back-row ball control sets her apart from other talented pins.

She enrolled early and showed off her talent during the team’s spring exhibitions, with six kills on nine swings against Kansas in her Devaney Center debut and six more kills on 10 attacks in two sets against South Dakota State in Ord.

“She’s brought so much fire, so much everything, honestly, and I feel like it’s really, really cool having her here, just because I kind of get to take her under my wing, and she’s almost like my little sister,” Landfair said. “So it’s been cool watching her grow, helping her with her footwork, whatever she needed help with. But also, she’s also giving back to me.”

Busboom Kelly has more experienced options at outside hitter, but Sigler is working to show her coach she’s ready to make an immediate impact for the Huskers.

During the Alumni Match, Busboom Kelly had Sigler play back row for Landfair in the first set to ease her in and work through some nerves, then gave her the start and let her play all the way around in the last three sets. However, the head coach also said Landfair has played well in the back row in practice and called her one of the best left-side blockers in the country, remarking that it would be hard to have that ability sitting on the bench this season.

After the match, Busboom Kelly chose outside hitter as the hardest position to earn and hold onto a starting spot this season.

“I think all four of them have a different skill set and have different strengths and weaknesses, and I honestly think we’re going to need them all at different times this season, depending on who we’re playing and what time of year it is,” she said.