A new season starts now for the Nebraska volleyball team. As the Huskers have said multiple times now, records reset and everyone starts from 0-0 in the NCAA Tournament.
However, Nebraska has made it through 30 matches without a loss by following the same process, so why fix what isn’t broken?
“It’s an interesting team, because I don’t feel like we have to be humbled or anything,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “I feel like this team is very humble, especially for the amount of success we’ve had. I don’t feel like they need to be pumped up. I just think our messaging is going to be pretty consistent to what it’s been the whole year. We’re going to play a lot of great teams. We’ve got to continue to trust what we’ve been doing that’s made us great.”
Busboom Kelly acknowledged the postseason by its win-or-go-home nature carries with it a heightened level of stress. To help combat that, Busboom Kelly has made it a tradition over the past few years of giving her team an extra day off from practice on Monday.
“I think this gets to be a long week where you’re practicing, but you’re just so excited for the first game, and it feels like you’re waiting and waiting and waiting,” Busboom Kelly said. “I always felt like Monday is a good day where you can get things organized in your personal life, and then you can be a little more focused for the rest of the week leading up to the match. And we also haven’t had any back-to-back days off this year, so I thought it would be a good week for it. I think those always end up paying off, and we’ve had a pretty brutal travel season, so I think it was just a combination of all that.”
Bergen Reilly said that after a morning lift Monday, the team used the day off to get pedicures together. Rebekah Allick said she went line dancing at Pla-Moore Ballroom on Sunday.
“I think that was really just fulfilling for a lot of us and recharged us and got us ready for this new season, kind of, that we talk about, where everyone’s 0-0,” Reilly said. “So that’s the main thing, and just finding little things throughout your day, whether it’s people going and getting a coffee or whatever it is, just finding anything to kind of keep you going at this point, because it can get hard.”
With the fun and relaxation out of the way, however, the team got back to business in practice on Tuesday. While Busboom Kelly’s message has remained the same, the team noticed an increased emphasis on fundamentals. Allick also said Wednesday’s practice was a bit of a struggle.
“I felt like yesterday was really good for us, just reminding us of the basics and how the execution of fundamentals allows us to have really fun plays and play at a high level,” Allick said. “That’s something that’s different, I’ve noticed, and I see being a shift moving forward, like, OK, let’s make sure we take care of the basics.”
Busboom Kelly was happy to hear her players weren’t satisfied with how Wednesday went and agreed the team didn’t reach the lofty standard it has set this season, but she also said the team worked through the struggles and ended on a high note. She praised her team’s ability to manage emotions throughout a long season.
“It’s been huge,” Busboom Kelly said. “That goes back to leadership. I think Bekka has grown a ton. Just from an outsider’s perspective, watching her the last three years, keeping her emotions super even keeled. I think that the whole junior class has done a great job. I’ve been saying it too, when we hit the lows, it wasn’t for very long, and the highs were what they were. We’ve just been very, very consistent with the play and our mentality.”
This is Allick’s fourth and final postseason with Nebraska volleyball. Her teams have reached the Sweet 16, the championship match and the Final Four the past three seasons. With one last chance to capture that elusive national championship, Allick said preparing for the tournament this year has felt different.
“I think I talked about this, our team with complacency, I just feel like, even when we do hit lulls, we’re very quick to realize what’s at stake,” Allick said. “I just feel a lot more confident with this group moving forward. We could play anybody and we’re going to see them as a threat. We don’t plan to coast against LIU, so that excites me.”
Long Island, Nebraska’s first-round opponent, visited Lincoln for the first round of the NCAA Tournament two years ago, but the entire coaching staff and roster have flipped since then. It will be a whole new team experiencing the Devaney Center for the first time.
The Sharks went 20-8 this season including 15-1 in Northeastern Conference play, winning the NEC Tournament to claim the conferences auto-bid. They’re hitting .255 and allowing opponents to hit .185 this season. Long Island serves aggressively, averaging 2.06 aces per set with a positive ace-to-error ratio.
Junior Sara van Gisteren, a 6-foot-3 pin from Netherlands, leads the attack with 3.92 kills per set on .232 hitting and 52 aces. Junior Yasmeen Muhammad, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, is third in the country in hitting percentage at .531 while contributing 2.23 kills per set. Senior setter Karly Klaer averaged just over 10 assists per set and is also a threat to score herself with 1.23 kills per set and 41 aces. Sophomore libero Miabella Musignac, a Puerto Rico native, leads the defense at 4.01 digs per set.
The first match of the day inside John Cook Arena will feature eighth-seeded San Diego and Kansas State.
The Wildcats (17-9) feature three starters hailing from Nebraska high schools, the most prominent being Lincoln Southwest alumna Shaylee Myers. The 6-foot senior pin hitter is averaging 4.76 kills per set on .244 hitting. Papillion-La Vista South grad Ava LeGrand is the team’s starting setter, averaging 10.15 assists and 3.2 digs per set with a team-high 29 aces. Senior middle blocker Brenna Schmidt, a 6-foot-6 Elmwood-Murdock product, is the team’s top blocker, averaging 1.03 stuffs per set.
San Diego with 25-4 during the regular season, including a perfect 18-0 mark during West Coast Conference play to earn the league’s auto-bid. The Toreros are hitting .271 and holding opponents to .171.
San Diego has two pins averaging north of three kills per set. Nemo Beach, a 5-foot-11 junior, leads the way at 3.99 kills per set on .261 hitting while 6-foot sophomore Isabel Clark is at 3.22 kills per set on .211 hitting. Sophomore setter Kylie Munday is just under 10 assists per set while leading the team with 47 aces.
With the path laid out before them, the expectation seems to be “championship or bust” for the undefeated overall No. 1 seed, and the huskers are embracing that mindset — while still enjoying every step of the journey.
“Do I feel that that’s the mindset? Yes, I do,” Busboom Kelly said. “On the other hand, Bekka’s been saying this a lot, which coming from her, I think, means a little bit more, that she doesn’t want any joy to be taken away from this group if the outcome isn’t what we all want it to be. I think that’s a great mentality to have going into the tournament, that we want to really soak up these next — hopefully — three weeks together, and you don’t want to wish them away or be stressed about them. We just really want to enjoy it and continue to max each other out.”
The Wildcats and Toreros will face off at 4:30 p.m. CT on Friday, with Nebraska and Long Island beginning 30 minutes after the first match’s conclusion. All first- and second-round matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
