No. 1 Nebraska volleyball navigated nonconference play without a blemish, and now the Huskers will head into the Big Ten riding a 10-match winning streak.
The Huskers beat five ranked teams, including three currently in the top five of the AVCA Coaches Poll. They played home, away and at neutral sites (though there seems to be no such thing with the way Nebraska fans tend to show up away from the Devaney Center). Through five weeks, the Huskers are sixth nationally in hitting percentage at .308 and third in opponent hitting percentage at .122 (though they were first before a defensive lapse in their nonconference finale).
“Being able to leave tonight and be 10-0 with a really tough schedule, we don’t want to take that for granted,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said after the Huskers’ sweep of Arizona on Saturday. “It’s really hard to win; we’ve been saying that all year. I don’t care who you are, it’s hard to win. There are so many great teams now and great players all over the country, so I feel like we’re really well prepared.”
The Huskers have been elite from an attacking and defending standpoint, though their public numbers in other areas leave room for improvement. Nebraska is last in the Big Ten in services aces at 0.89, the only team in the conference averaging less than an ace per set. The Huskers are also 11th in reception percentage at 92.8%. The Huskers have allowed 40 aces while only serving 32 of them on their side.
Nebraska uses other stats not publicly available to evaluate serving and passing, however, and Busboom Kelly said the team has been “solid” in those areas.
“Serving has been good; there are some things we’re doing really well serving, there are some things we can get better at,” Busboom Kelly said. “Passing, I feel like when you lose such a great passer like Lexi [Rodriguez], there’s going to be a little bit of a drop off. It’s just figuring out how we can be successful being ourselves, because you’re not going to replace a player like that. We need our players to trust themselves and be comfortable with who they are.
“I feel like overall, our passing has been solid; playing a freshman, and I know Harper [Murray]’s passing has improved from last year, and Laney [Choboy] and Liv [Mauch] are getting better each game.”
In part to stabilize the team’s passing, Busboom Kelly has given Mauch the start at libero in the past three matches while Choboy has continued to see the floor as a defensive specialist. That battle will continue throughout the season.
“Individually, I just want them to play the best they can,” Busboom Kelly said. “They don’t need to be each other. Laney doesn’t have to pass better than Liv, Liv doesn’t have to dig better than Laney; they just need to be themselves, and I think they’re doing a great job. No matter what role they’re in, they’re both rising to the occasion in that role, so it’s been pretty neat to see as a coach, that two elite players can switch roles and still have great mindsets and give to the team and play great.”
Mauch said she tries to bring a “steady calmness” to the floor at libero and wants to be someone the team can rely on to make a play in big moments, and Taylor Landfair was nodding and smiling alongside her during Tuesday’s press availability.
“I think Liv does bring a really calming presence, and I think that she’s always consistent, and she’s a type of player that we can always look to whenever we need a good pass … but also defensively, we just know that she’s down and ready to cover for us or she’s down ready to dig any of these hard type of hits,” Landfair said. “So I think she does bring calmness, but I think that she also brings out a confidence to herself, and I think that honestly helps a lot of us, especially when we were down, just being able to look to her and be like, ‘Hey, we need you in this moment,’ and she’ll be able to deliver.”
Mauch, a Nebraska native out of Bennington High School, said it’s an honor to wear the libero jersey for the Huskers.
“Growing up in Nebraska and watching them, I’ve always looked up to the Nebraska liberos, and I hope that I can be a role model for the little girls who look up to me in whatever position I play,” Mauch said.
Overall this season, Choboy is averaging 2.97 digs per set with a .933 reception percentage on 195 serves. Mauch is averaging 2.61 digs per set with a .951 reception percentage on 82 attempts. Since the switch, Mauch is averaging 3.27 digs per set and has only passed 24 serves as teams opt to target others (Murray, Teraya Sigler and Choboy). Choboy is averaging 2.20 digs per set over the past three and has passed 39 serves, only allowing two aces for a .949 reception percentage, a significant improvement from the first seven matches.
“I think competition is always good, and we’re each other’s biggest competitors, but we’re also each other’s biggest cheerleaders, and I think no matter who’s in that position, we’re both cheering for each other, and we want what’s best for the team,” Mauch said. “I think we both will do whatever is best for the team.”
Landfair will head into her sixth tour around the Big Ten on Wednesday when the Huskers open conference play against at home Michigan. This is the Minnesota transfer’s second season with Nebraska but first under Busboom Kelly.
“I’m just super excited,” Landfair said. “I just feel like every new year just brings something different, especially with the new coaching and this whole new team and everything like that … I think everything is still going to be a grind. It’s going to be really hard, and we’re going to have to win really big matches, and honestly be consistent all the way throughout the season. So I don’t think anything is different, but I think it’s going to be cool being able to experience the Big Ten with Dani.”
Busboom Kelly experienced the Big Ten as an assistant coach with the Huskers before leaving to take the Louisville job, and while there’s been a bit of a learning curve reacclimating herself and learning about the league’s current stars, she feels the sport has grown to the point where her time in the ACC has prepared her for what she’s about to face as the Huskers chase a third-consecutive Big Ten title.
“I think we have to be on a mission to continue to get better and to understand that each game is really important for who we want to be in December,” Busboom Kelly said. “Of course, we want to take it each game at a time, and a goal is to win a Big Ten championship, but that’s also not the ultimate goal for this year, and we want to enjoy this journey and continue to point out things we’re doing well and things we need to get better at to be our best at the end of the year.”
The Wolverines are 10-1 this season and received a few votes in the latest Coaches Poll, though Nebraska will be the first top-25 team the Wolverines face. Their lone loss was in five sets to a Virginia team they swept in a rematch a day later. Michigan is fifth in the country in hitting at .311, one spot ahead of the Huskers.
“They run a 6-2, they run super fast, they have one of the best outsides in the conference, so it feels like this is a team that’s playing very confident, and they get everybody involved offensively,” Busboom Kelly said. “Even though they have [Allison] Jacobs, they really do a good job of setting everybody and they’ve got two hitters, I think, in the top five in hitting percentage at opposite and the middle in the conference, so that’ll be a great challenge for us. I think their coach does a great job, and they play with a lot of joy, and they just love volleyball. That’s the vibe I get even from watching film.”
Jacobs, a 5-foot-11 grad student, is fifth in the Big Ten at 4.32 kills per set on .256 hitting and is tied for fifth with 17 aces. She’s also sporting a .946 reception percentage on 241 attempts, holding up well against heavy service pressure.
“We obviously know she’s been in the top passing stats and hitting stats, so she’s a great player, and we’re just going to have to really prep and be ready to defend her and her serve,” Mauch said. “She has a nasty topspin too.”
Michigan’s starting setter is a native Nebraskan in Skutt Catholic grad Morgan Burke, a junior averaging 6.34 assists per set while splitting time with sophomore Ellie White (4.26 assists per set).
Outside hitter Ella Demetrician is averaging 3.09 kills per set while opposite hitter Lydia Johnson and both starting middles, Serena Nyambio and Jenna Hanes, are all hitting north of .425 while combining for 5.15 kills per set.
Firsts serve on Wednesday is set for 6 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network with Larry Punteney and Mac Podraza on the call.
Nebraska will then wrap up week one of Big Ten play back at the Devaney Center on Saturday against Maryland, with first serve set for 3 p.m. on Nebraska Public Media.
“I think the competition just gets better and better from here on out, and I don’t think we’ve played our best volleyball yet this year,” Mauch said. “So I’m really excited for what we can do, and I think we can make a really big statement starting off here this week.”
