The first two weeks of the 2026 season for No. 1 Nebraska volleyball included six matches (plus an additional 18 points) in five different venues across four different states. Through all that, the Huskers secured a $350,000 cash infusion for the program, a 4-0 start to the season and a handful of attendance and viewership records.
“Very, very long trip, but what a blessing it is to make such an impact on, I’d say the progression of women’s sports,” Manaia Ogbechie said. “It’s been such an amazing trip, even though it was tiring, very, very tiring. We got back super late one of the nights, but it was worth it.”
The tour didn’t end the way the Huskers had hoped, with the Big Ten/SEC Challenge match against Missouri at Wrigley Field Sunday suspended because of unplayable court conditions, but Coach Dani Busboom Kelly managed to get all 16 of her players time on the court as the Huskers navigated the extreme travel schedule without dropping a set.
“I thought our team did an amazing job handling the travel, handling the media obligations, for lack of a better term, being paraded around, and that was by choice,” Busboom Kelly said. “We wanted to do these events, and we were excited to do these events and really, all of them were amazing in their own unique ways. So I’m really proud of just our team, the way we handled it. Everybody involved, nobody ever complained, nobody ever had an attitude.
“It was just great. I do think there is some benefit to that because coming home now feels even more special, and I think our team is prepared in a different way to face these next — we have a lot of games in two weeks, so I think we’re prepared to do that in a little different way than usual.”
The Huskers will now close out the rest of the nonconference at home, with five matches at the Devaney Center and one at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Huskers are home for a month, giving them a chance to settle into a normal routine for the first time this season.
“It was nice in here yesterday to be able to actually practice on more than one court and work on some things,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “It feels like we haven’t gotten in a good practice flow for a while, so that’s huge for us. I know our team was really happy to be here. I thought we had one of our best practices of the year. I think that’s a reason why — just very thankful to be home and really excited to play at home in our venue, in front of our fans, and with very little distraction.”
The head coach said the focus this week on the practice court has been fine-tuning the things they’ve already been working on.
“The serving is huge,” Busboom Kelly said. “You want to have your best serving matches at home; you should. So that’s big for us, and then some of our rotation, our offense, what can we do a little bit differently, how can we throw some wrinkles in there? We haven’t been able to practice that at all, and it’s very hard to do during live play. So we’re working on some of that, that hopefully we can add as the season goes on.”
Thursday will be Nebraska’s home debut this season, and it will also be the first opportunity for fans to see the John Cook Arena renovations inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
“I feel like the gym doesn’t look a whole lot different, but I love that everybody gets a chair-back seat; I know there are a lot of people that are going to be very happy about that,” Busboom Kelly said. “But the locker room, team room, all of that is just unbelievable and a place where everybody can hang out. I think I’m most excited when we have our pregame meal and then team hangs out in the locker room or coaches, we all have a place we can like watch a football game or watch another volleyball game, so there’s some time for some very organic, natural team bonding, and it’s just a beautiful space.”
Renovations on the John Cook Arena the day before the first home match. Photo by John S. Peterson.
The changes, which include upgrades both to the appearance in and around the arena and to the players’ locker room and lounge, have been a big hit with the team. While the Huskers had to spend the spring practicing off site, they were able to return to the Devaney Center for the start of preseason practice as the construction crew put the finishing touches on the project.
“The upgrades have been amazing,” Ogbechie said. “The locker room — I think the video just came out, or the pictures — has been such an amazing change these past couple weeks. Just looking around, Liv and I were just doing this a second ago, we were looking around at Devaney and all the new seats, the lighting, and the speakers. How many speakers? This environment is going to be incredible, and I can’t wait.”
While the Huskers have played in front of countless Nebraska fans already this season despite playing away from home, the team is excited about the opportunity to play in front of the Devaney Center crowd for the first time this year.
“I think we’re all super excited to be home and be able to play in front — I mean, we play in front of Husker fans everywhere we go, but I think just being at home with all the new changes to Devaney, I think it’s going to be super cool,” Olivia Mauch said.
They’ll dive right into it with three matches in three days as New Mexico, No. 20 Baylor and Georgia Tech visit Lincoln for the 2026 Husker Invitational, perhaps a preview of what the Huskers will find near the end of the season with the inaugural Big Ten Tournament.
“It’s a great test run,” Busboom Kelly said. “How do we practice leading up to it? Maybe how are we going to use our bench early on? It really is a great test for the Big Ten Tournament. It’s very unique to have three games in three days, so we’ll use that, and it’ll be good to look back on this week when we’re talking about the Big Ten Tournament and what it takes to win that thing.”
The Huskers draw New Mexico (2-3) first, on Thursday. The Lobos feature a middle blocker hitting nearly .500 in junior Reagan Miller (3.00 kills per set on .468) and an outside hitter averaging a double-double in sophomore Mina Stanojevic (3.23 kills per set on .235 hitting and 3.71 digs per set).
Baylor is 4-1 with the lone loss to No. 10 Florida. The Bears have played two setters so far this season as they seek to get their offense rolling. They’re hitting just .190 through five matches as sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik leads the way (4.17 kills per set on .219 hitting).
Georgia Tech is 7-0 to start the season after beating Oklahoma 3-1 on Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets are just outside the top 25, sitting at 26th, and they rank inside the top 25 nationally in opponent hitting at .138 (Nebraska is first at .066). Senior Heloise Soares runs the offense with 10.67 assists per set while adding 2.33 digs per set. Freshman opposite hitter Alida Bennour leads the attack with 3.33 kills per set on .279 hitting while sophomore Laura Bieleski isn’t far behind at 3.17 kills per set on .301 hitting.
“New Mexico, they’ve got a great head coach, and I think they look really good,” Busboom Kelly said. “Georgia Tech and Baylor both run fast offenses, and I coached against Georgia Tech a lot in the last eight years, so a very gritty, fun team to play. Baylor’s top 20, and they have some great outsides. They’re just all really, really good teams that are going to challenge us in ways we haven’t been challenged yet.”
Busboom Kelly said she doesn’t necessarily have the same kind of set plan she took into last week in terms of using her bench as she wants to give the starters a chance to settle into things at home, but she still plans to take advantage of her depth in some way.
First serve on Thursday is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Plus, following Georgia Tech and Baylor to open the tournament at 4 p.m. The Huskers will face the Bears on Friday at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network. Finally, the Huskers and Yellow Jackets will face off on Saturday at 2 p.m. on Nebraska Public Media to close out the tournament.
John Cook Arena received some renovations for the Nebraska volleyball team this offseason. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/piQHcXOkbF
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) September 9, 2026
