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. We conclude with the setters.
Previous Previews: Defensive Specialists | Middle Blockers | Opposite Hitters | Outside Hitters
Roster
>> Bergen Reilly: Junior, 6’1”, Sioux Falls, S.D.
>> Campbell Flynn: Freshman, 6’3”, Oakland, Mich.
Breakdown
Two and a half years ago, Bergen Reilly arrived in Lincoln ready to compete for the starting setter job from day one. With back-to-back Big Ten Setter of the Year seasons under her belt, she’s facing competition from another talented young setter looking to follow the same path.
Campbell Flynn, the 2024 Gatorade National Player of the Year, has gotten plenty of reps in practice to show the coaching staff and her teammates what she’s capable of.
“They’re both studs,” Dani Busboom Kelly said after the Red-White Scrimmage. “I’ve been staying it all year, I truly believe we have the best setter group in the country.”
Bergen Reilly watches the serve from Penn St during the 2024 Final Four on Dec. 19 in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo by John S. Peterson.
After a stellar freshman campaign, Reilly stepped her game up even more as a sophomore with slight improvements in key areas. She was second in the Big Ten (and 10th nationally) at 11.08 assists per set while also contributing 2.85 digs per set, notching 17 double-doubles. She also chipped in 81 kills with a .383 clip, 62 blocks and 21 aces.
Reilly led the Huskers to their highest hitting percentage since 2016 at .284, second in the Big Ten. She made conference history by winning Big Ten Setter of the Year in both her freshman and sophomore seasons and made program history by winning Big Ten Setter of the Week five times in a single season. She earned second-team AVCA All-America and first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year.
Looking ahead to 2025, Reilly was one of five unanimous picks on the preseason All-Big Ten team. She also stepped up her leadership during the offseason as her teammates voted her sole summer captain, and she’ll be a team captain alongside Rebekah Allick and Andi Jackson throughout the season as well.
“Bergen’s probably our highest-IQ Player,” Busboom Kelly said. “She makes winning plays, whether that’s digs blocks, out-of-system sets. She makes tough plays look easy, and that’s a talent of hers, and just really impressive to see her continue to do that and get better at it year after year. I remember playing against her when I was at Louisville last year and saying, ‘Man, she digs everything,’ and she’s an elite defender, and you can’t really say that about too many setters, so her all all-around game is just so good.”
As for Flynn, the Michigan native was the top-ranked setter in the 2025 class according to PrepDig.com. The 6-foot-3 lefty brings versatility to the position with her size and aggressiveness as an attacker. She enrolled early at Nebraska and went through the beach and indoor training seasons to get ready to compete for immediate playing time.
“She’s talented beyond her years, and she doesn’t look like a freshman,” Reilly said. “She’s pushed me a lot. We compete every single day, and it’s always me against her, because you’re obviously not going to have both setters on the same team. We push each other every day, but we’re also each other’s biggest supporters, and we know that being a setter at Nebraska is a hard job, and so having someone in your corner 24/7 is just super helpful. I obviously had that with Kenna [Orr], and now I get to have that relationship with Campbell too.
Campbell Flynn (4) sets the ball against the Kansas Jayhawks during an exhibition on April 26. Photo by John S. Peterson.
“So it’s been really fun to watch her grow defensively, blocking wise, and even her setting has just gotten so much better since she got here, so she’s pushing me, and it’s been really fun, and it’s fun to watch myself grow from it too.”
Busboom Kelly has given the freshman every opportunity to compete with the junior, and Busboom Kelly praised the way Reilly has handled that dynamic, setting the tone for the rest of the team.
“Bergen’s a fantastic leader,” Busboom Kelly said. “No matter who came in as a setter with her would have a great experience with an upperclassman like Bergen. I’ve seen Campbell get a little more confident, and they’ll have more conversations together, instead of Bergen kind of telling Campbell what this drill is or what to do, so they’ve really started to push each other, and you can tell they’re really supportive as a group. We talk about that with all of our positions, which is going to be key for us this year is seeing themselves as the best setters in the country, the best liberos, the best right sides, whatever it might be, instead of we have the best right side …
“That’s how I think Bergen and Campbell are starting to see themselves, as two of the best setters in the country. We don’t know who’s going to be the starter yet, but as a group, there’s nobody in the country that has as good of setters as we do; I definitely believe that.”
