It took until week three of the season, but No. 1 Nebraska volleyball will play its first true home matches of the season at John Cook Arena inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center (with new signage outside the entrances) during the Ameritas Players Challenge.
“Really excited to be back,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “We haven’t really been in here since the spring, when we played Kansas. We had the Alumni Match, which was sort of similar, but no, excited to get back in our routine and just the home court advantage and everything that goes with playing at Devaney.”
The first two weeks presented the Huskers with numerous opportunities to face adversity and learn about themselves with three top-10 opponents in front of massive crowds and a true road match against a quality mid-major team. Things went smoothly against Pittsburgh, Stanford and Lipscomb, but the Huskers had to dig deep to pull out a win against Kentucky after dropping the first two sets.
“I feel like I just learned a lot about how we compete and seeing at different times what different people can bring,” Harper Murray said about the comeback. “I think we all know what we can bring to the table, but it’s kind of showing who’s going to step up in those moments and how people compete and how people react to positive and negative feedback. We got to know each other really well the past few months, so that’s still something to watch out for, but I think it’s just been really fun to see how we compete together against another high-level team like Kentucky.”
Eleven players saw the court against Kentucky as Busboom Kelly turned to her bench and made multiple lineup changes to spark the turnaround. She’s stressed the importance of the team’s depth throughout the preseason, and it showed itself in the comeback as players on the bench were ready to hear their numbers called and those who saw their roles change mid-match handled it well. The comeback was a reflection of the unofficial slogan for this year’s team.
The head coach recently posted #bannernotaname on social media, and she elaborated its meaning on Tuesday.
Couldn’t ask for a better opening weekend! #bannernotaname https://t.co/qpARNZcy5u
— Dani Busboom Kelly (@danib18) August 25, 2025
“We don’t really have a strong theme, I guess, this year, like Nebraska has had in the past,” Busboom Kelly said. “I’m pretty big believer that it’s got to come naturally or I’m not going to force one. But I was telling the team that I feel like this team is built to put a banner on the wall, not a name, and I think sometimes we get obsessed with being an All-American or the individual accolades, instead of the goal is to win a national championship.
“So that’s where it came from, and I think it’s huge for this team, because there will be players that could be All-Americans that they might not get as many sets as they have in the past or maybe we’re switching things up. So there are a lot of things out of our control when it comes to being an All-American. It feels like we’re way more in control of if we can win a National Championship or not.”
Murray said the B side more than holds its own during their practice scrimmages and that the team is lucky to have so many competitive athletes who are willing to wait their turn and contribute when called upon.
“At the end of the day, we’re team first, and that’s something we talk about all the time in our locker room,” Murray said. “We’re team first, and people are ready to make changes, people are ready to go in and do what’s best for the team. So if that’s if that’s getting subbed out and having to be a cheerleader on the bench, that’s what’s going to happen, and everyone’s going to do it with a smile on their face, because we always push team first. Like Dani says all the time, we’re more worried about a banner than an All-American or awards like that, so that’s what we try and focus on.”
The most notable change during the match was Olivia Mauch taking over the libero role from Laney Choboy for the final three sets. Choboy had struggled significantly in serve receive during the first two games, but she passed much better after returning to the right back role as a defensive specialist she played last season.
“Really amazing job by her,” Busboom Kelly said of Choboy. “I think that’s tough, and I feel like we put some players in tough situations where you get the libero jersey taken off, but then you come out and you play great. We don’t win, really any high-level games without both Laney and Liv, and we’re going to continue to need them both playing great all season. I was really, really proud of both of them, because I thought it was a tough situation, and they handled it, mentally, really, really well, and that paid off physically.”
Busboom Kelly said that although Choboy won the battle for the libero jersey in preseason practice, she anticipated Mauch would play libero at some point during the season, whether it be to give Choboy rest, to step in because of injury or for strategic reasons like the Kentucky match. However, that doesn’t mean Mauch is the new starting libero.
“I’m a pretty big believer that you’re not going to lose the starting position based off one performance, and you’re not going to win one based off one performance, so we’ll continue to evaluate those guys,” Busboom Kelly said. “But I also think sometimes a change might happen, and it’s not directly at one of them. Maybe the passing, the matchups weren’t great with the servers, and that’s what’s awesome about having two great liberos is you can mix it up and feel like you’re not going to miss a beat.
“Kentucky was in a groove serving-wise, and felt like that change maybe makes all their servers think about, ‘Where am I going to serve? What zone am I going to hit?’ And I think it caught them a little bit off guard, because their serving got a little worse as longer the game went on.”
Murray said that although it feels a bit strange that the Huskers haven’t played in the Devaney Center yet, the AVCA First Serve was a lot of fun and felt like home matches anyway. Even so, she’s looking forward to getting back into a normal routine.
“I think it’s just exciting to be back in Bob,” Murray said. “We have so many people that come from all over the country to watch us play, and I think we take it for granted sometimes how special it is to play in Bob, because it’s hard to come here as an away team and beat Nebraska volleyball with all of our fans. I think it’s just really exciting, and I think it’s going to give the fans an opportunity to see how deep our roster is, and hopefully give everyone a chance to prove that.”
The 2025 Devaney Center debut will take place on Friday as the Huskers host Wright State in the first match of the Ameritas Players Challenge.
The Raiders are the preseason Horizon League favorite and went 2-1 last week to open their season, falling in straight sets to a Western Kentucky team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll before beating Drake and Loyola Chicago, both 3-2. They went 24-7 last year and finished as Horizon runner-up, qualifying for the NIVC, and they returned six players who started matches last year.
Horizon Setter of the Year Lauren Yacobucchi and fellow first-team All-Horizon member Reilly Zegunis are back, as is 2024 Horizon All-Freshman Team honoree Katie Sowko, who averaged 3.58 kills per set and 2.75 digs per set with five aces last week. Junior outside hitter Mya Ayro is leading the team with 3.85 kills per set while senior middle blocker Taylor Bransfield is averaging 1.8 blocks per set.
The Raiders will return to the Devaney Center early on Saturday to face California before Nebraska closes out the tournament against the Golden Bears on Sunday.
Cal went 15-17 last season but is off to a 2-0 start after beating San Diego State 3-1 and San Francisco 3-0. The Golden Bears recorded 18 aces and 21 blocks in their first seven sets of the 2025 season. Senior outside hitter Payton DeJardin averaged 3.0 kills per set with five aces and senior middle blocker Mikayla Hayden is at 2.57 kills per set on .317 hitting and 1.86 blocks per set.
With the top-10 competition in the rearview mirror, the goal this weekend for the Huskers is to further lock in lineups and roles.
“I feel like there’s a little bit more pressure now to really figure out some things,” Busboom Kelly said. “When you’re going up against those top teams, anything can happen. You know it’s going to be close games. Now it’s like, ‘OK, now we’ve got to start ironing some things out and figuring out lineups and changes we can make and certain rotations, what we can do.’”
First serve on Friday against Wright State is set for 7 p.m. CT on Big Ten Plus. Sunday’s match against California is set for a 1 p.m. start on Big Ten Network.
