Dani Busboom Kelly has led No. 1 Nebraska volleyball through two spring exhibitions, the Red-White Scrimmage and the Alumni Match already, but on Friday, she makes her true debut as the Huskers’ head coach at the AVCA First Serve Showcase.
Nebraska will open the 2025 season against No. 3 Pittsburgh at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday, leading off three days of double-headers featuring top-20 teams in Lincoln.
“It feels like we’ve had a lot of dress rehearsals, so it’s finally the real thing,” Busboom Kelly said. “Our team feels like we’re ready and I just hope what we’re feeling in practice translates to the match tomorrow.”
Ahead of the opener, Nebraska announced its team captains for the season: senior middle blocker Rebekah Allick, junior setter Bergen Reilly and junior middle blocker Andi Jackson.
“It’ll be something that I get to look back on at my time here in Nebraska and say, ‘wow, it’s pretty cool that I was honored with the title,’” said Allick, a Lincoln native. “But as of right now, here in the present moment, it doesn’t really change many things just because we already have so many leaders.”
The depth in leadership on the team goes hand in hand with the depth of talent, which is reflected in the additional captain title compared to previous years.
“We have a big team this year, and I felt like we have a lot of leaders,” Busboom Kelly said. “It would have been really easy to have five captains based on what this team might need. But we just thought three was appropriate for the size of the team.”
Busboom Kelly has trumpeted the team’s depth throughout the season, and that’s something she hopes will be a big part of the team’s identity and something that features prominently on opposing teams’ scouting reports for Nebraska.
“First and foremost, they’re going to have to prep for a lot of players, because we’re really deep,” Busboom Kelly said. “They might, even later in the season, know who the starters are, but they’re going to have to prep for two, three, four other attackers. Then I want us to be known as a great defensive team and a really gritty team, and a team that, again, is really, really tough to kill balls against.”
While Busboom Kelly plans to use a deep rotation, with 17 players on the roster, redshirting some of them is a consideration. However, Busboom Kelly said it’s too early to name any names at this point.
“We’ll address that several times throughout the year,” Busboom Kelly said. “I think you can go into the first match with a plan, and that can always change, but we’re going to have those conversations when they’re appropriate with players and make sure that between the player and coaches that we’re all on the same page. You go into a season with a plan, and sometimes that changes, and most of time you make it the whole way through.”
Nebraska’s first opponent is a familiar one for Busboom Kelly, who battled against the Panthers for years in the ACC as Louisville’s head coach. While assistant Jaylen Reyes is in charge of putting together scouting reports, the head coach said she’s had plenty of input for this one.
“They’re probably sick of me talking about Pitt and the way they play,” Busboom Kelly said. “I’ve been beating it into these guys just that we have to be ready for a great serving team. We have to be ready for a team that’s super gritty, a team that makes it very, very difficult to kill balls. So we’ve done some drills this week to hopefully get us in that mindset.”
Pitt was one of the top serving teams in the country last season, ranking 12th nationally in aces per set (2.92), and the Panthers return their top weapon in 2024 AVCA National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock. She was fifth in the country in total aces (71) and tied for third in per-set average (0.62) as a sophomore last season.
“I think they’re going to be even tougher this year,” Busboom Kelly said. “They have a couple more jump servers, and typically, their servers don’t get worse, they get better with age, and so the ones that are returning are going to be even better. We have some great practice players, and then we’re a great serving team ourselves, so we are seeing good serves every day, which will help us prepare.”
In addition to her lethal serve, Babcock was one of the top attackers in the country last season, averaging 4.72 kills per set on .323 hitting. She’ll be at the top of the scouting report for every team that faces Pitt this season, and Allick said the key to making things difficult for her at the net is blocking discipline.
“Everyone wants the big, flashy block, but at the end of the day, if you just do your job, naturally, the ball will find you, because she can only hit so far, right?” Allick said. “And so if you can take care of your space, naturally, your defense will fill around it. The hardest part is just being disciplined, not trying to do too much.”
Coach Dan Fisher also returns his starting middle blockers in senior Bre Kelley (1.88 kills per set on .497 hitting and 1.49 blocks per set) and sophomore Ryla Jones (1.12 kills per set on .393 hitting and 1.04 blocks per set). The Panthers lost one of the best setters in the country to graduation in Rachel Fairbanks and one of the best outside hitters in the country in Torrey Stafford to the transfer portal, but with Babcock back they’ll be in the mix for a deep NCAA Tournament run once again.
Things don’t get any easier on Sunday when the Huskers return to Pinnacle Bank Arena to take on No. 6 Stanford, another familiar opponent for Busboom Kelly. The Cardinal lost their All-American setter Kami Miner and two-time pac-12 Libero of the Year Elena Oglivie to graduation but returned their top three point-scorers in senior outside hitter Elia Rubin (3.93 kills per set on .283 hitting and 2.53 digs per set), sophomore outside Ipar Kurt (3.28 kills per set on .294 hitting) and junior opposite Jordyn Harvey (2.73 kills per set on .290 hitting).
For Nebraska volleyball, a successful season always ends with matches in a big arena. This season, they’ll get to start that way as well in their first match at Pinnacle Bank Arena with a capacity above 15,000.
“I think a lot of us were saying it felt like we’re in December already; it really feels like a Final Four environment, which is cool, and obviously we know the fans are going to bring it, so that’ll make it even better,” Reilly said. “So it’ll be really exciting, and I’m excited to get to be the first ones to play volleyball here … We’ve all watched a lot of other sporting events here, and there’ve been a lot of other really cool games that have happened here, so we’re excited to be one of them.”
Busboom Kelly said she’s excited to learn more about the personality of her team as the Huskers take on high-level competition and potential face some adversity for the first time.
“Of course, we named captains, but I don’t think those are the end all, be all leaders on the floor,” Busboom Kelly said. “Who’s going to step up in big moments? … The quicker we learn that, the more we can work on it and get ready for the challenges ahead. But lineup wise, I think we’ll learn a lot this weekend, but I don’t think anything will be set in stone after this weekend.”
First serve on Friday is set for 6 p.m. on FOX, with No. 16 Florida and Stanford to follow. Sunday’s contest against the cardinal will start at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN, following the Gators and Panthers.
The Railyard will also host events all weekend long during the AVCA First Serve Block Party. The Showcase will feature a pep rally and red carpet walk for the participating teams starting at 3:45 p.m. on Friday. Nebraska is scheduled to arrive at the main gate around 4:20 p.m.
