For the last four years, Lexi Rodriguez was the rock of the Nebraska volleyball program. The four-year starter and three-year captain owned the libero position from day one and put together a highly decorated, record-setting career in Lincoln.
Now she’s playing in the pros, and finding her successor is one of the top offseason objectives for Dani Busboom Kelly as she heads into her first season as Nebraska’s head coach. Fortunately, she likes her options — senior Maisie Boesiger, junior Laney Choboy, sophomore Olivia Mauch and freshman Keri Leimbach.
“All four of them have done a great job,” Busboom Kelly said prior to Nebraska’s exhibition win against Kansas. “I think they’re having great springs, and they’re all very different, which is unique. When we set up our six-on-six teams, it’s been fun to kind of put them in maybe tougher situations, whether it be putting Olivia with the quieter team where she has to step up and be a vocal leader, and Laney maybe with more of the loud voices and see how they kind of all blend together.
“But all four of them have been very, very good, and you can pick out days where they’ve all been really impressive.”
Busboom Kelly herself spent her final season at Nebraska at libero after starting at setter, helping the Huskers win a national championship in 2006. Since then, the view of the position has changed dramatically — and Rodriguez played a part in that as she carried forth the libero legacy in Lincoln.
“I think it’s changed quite a bit,” Busboom Kelly said. “It was still kind of new in 2006 a little bit. Liberos weren’t even playing pro back then. It was really hard. And now, you go to a LOVB game and you see Lexi Rodriguez getting the loudest ovation of anybody, any team. So I think it’s become a pretty big deal to be a great libero.”
Busboom Kelly highlighted two key traits she believes a libero must possess: the ability to pass the ball at a high level and a lot of confidence. Each of them showed glimpses of meeting those requirements in Nebraska’s 4-0 win against the Jayhawks on Saturday.
Busboom Kelly gave all four defensive specialists a chance to see the court in multiple sets, with Choboy and Mauch rotating at the libero spot from set to set. The Huskers tried a different combination in each set, and Busboom Kelly said she liked what she saw from the “littles” throughout the match.
“I did tell them in the locker room as a group, the first thing I said was I was just super impressed by those four and the way they handled the changes,” Busboom Kelly said after the match. “I thought Maisie and Keri did an awesome job in their roles, and Laney and Liv — going in and out of being libero is not easy, and their stats might not be amazing when we look at them tomorrow morning, but I thought their play was very, very good, and I’m super proud of them. It’s one of the deepest groups of liberos I’ve ever coached.”
Choboy led Nebraska with 18 digs in three sets (two as libero, one as defensive specialist), adding two assists, one ace and one service error. Mauch recorded 12 digs, six assists and one ace, though she was also credited uncharacteristically with two reception errors. She also played in three sets, two as a libero and one as a defensive specialist.
Boesiger had two digs in two sets as a defensive specialist. Leimbach played in two sets, one as a defensive specialist and one as a serving specialist, notching one dig and one ace. The freshman impressed John Cook, who served as color commentator for the Big Ten Network broadcast of the match.
“In the practices that I’ve watched, I’ve been very impressed with her,” Cook said. “When you watch them in high school, they all look good. But when she got in with this group, she’s been very impressive.”
Olivia Mauch (10) dives to dig the ball with Andi Jackson against the Kansas Jayhawks. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Mauch produced one of the highlights of the night in the fourth set, dropping a back-set dime cross-court to Harper Murray, who terminated over a triple block.
“I’m going to tell you right now, Nebraska has gone to another level with their liberos on setting out of system,” Cook said after the play. “That might be the most impressive thing for me.”
Cook said who wins the libero jersey is one of the offseason storylines he’s most looking forward to following.
“They’re up to the task,” Cook said. “I was talking to Dani about how is she going to make that decision … She had a really interesting answer. She said they’re all so even, they’re all passing-wise very good, serving. It’s going to come down to personality; what does the team need? They’re all very different personalities. So I thought that was a very interesting answer. I would never look at it that way, but that’s Dani and her instincts. She was a high-level player, and those are important things. What player is going to help that team feel comfortable and confident and be the best fit?”
From a personality standpoint, the two main contenders for the job — Choboy and Mauch — are almost complete opposites, which makes Busboom Kelly’s response all the more interesting.
“They both go about it their own way,” Harper Murray said. “I think Liv is a little bit more like Lexi as a person, a little bit more quiet and reserved, but they both have their own way about it, and it’s special, no matter how they’re going to do it.”
While an NCAA rule change allows teams to dress two players in the libero jersey and rotate them during the match, Busboom Kelly said she would prefer to have the consistency of one person filling the libero jersey. Fortunately for Nebraska, whoever ends up winning the competition will have had the best mentor one could hope for.
“I think Lexi is the type of person that’s going to leave her mark, and that’s exactly what she did, and I know that they all want to continue her legacy and continue to make us and our teammates and our fans and Lexi proud,” Murray said. “I know that they took a lot away from her, and I’m sure they’re going to find their own special way to show that. We obviously miss Lexi a lot, but it’s now their turn to fill her shoes, and they’ve done a great job of that.”
