No. 1 Nebraska volleyball officially opened the season with a sweep on Saturday night, downing UNLV 3-0 in the Players Era Volleyball Showcase at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Cornhuskers repelled the Rebels 25-18, 25-15, 25-16 to start year two for Dani Busboom Kelly at the helm.
Nebraska looked sharp on both ends as the veterans led the way. Bergen Reilly opened 2026 with a double-double, totaling 32 assists, 10 digs, five kills (one shy of her career high) on six attacks, three blocks and an ace while setting Nebraska to a .337 hitting percentage.
“Just great decision making, and our ball handling was probably the weakest part of our game tonight, and that’s OK,” Busboom Kelly said. “Bergen did a great job of making some of those poor ball handling errors look fine because she was so physical … I think she’s worked hard this off season too to be more physical, and then the attacking just looks so good, and she can go over and around defenders much easier.”
Harper Murray led everyone with 11 kills on .364 hitting while Andi Jackson and Teraya Sigler chipped in eight kills apiece. Jackson hit .600 while adding five blocks and three aces. Sigler hit .467 with four blocks and Murray said the sophomore is playing with a lot of deserved confidence right now.
“We’ve been challenging her to be great out of system and to be smart in the front row and to be a good blocker,” Busboom Kelly said. “We don’t need her to be a perfect blocker, but we need her to hold her own over there, and so she took a big step tonight and I thought she made great decisions, and she touched a lot of balls blocking. She had a great serving game, so it was just good to see kind of the complete match come together.”
Olivia Mauch started at libero again and matched Reilly with 10 digs while serving two aces as the Huskers held UNLV to .083 hitting. Nebraska’s block played a big part in that as the Huskers out-roofed the Rebels 10 to two in a performance that UNLV coach Malia Shoji called “smothering.
“We’ve talked a lot this year about blocking balls for points,” Busboom Kelly said. “We have a great defense, but I think we can always be a little more aggressive with the way we block. The biggest part of that was Andi, and she’s been pretty public about how she’s worked hard to improve her blocking, so it was great to see that come alive this game, and she had some of the best blocks I’ve ever seen from a college player tonight.”
Official attendance for the first of two matches at T-Mobile Arena Saturday night was 8,878, with approximately 90% of those fans wearing Nebraska attire.
“It was really cool,” Reilly said of the atmosphere at the Players Era Showcase. “We could tell how many Husker fans were going to be here just from walking through the hotel, and so we were all really excited to get to run through [the tunnel], and the smoke was cool, and there was a camera right there … They did a great job. They put on such a great show, and I think even just during the timeouts, they kept the crowd engaged, so it was really awesome to see that.”
Nebraska volleyball’s starting lineup, but make it Vegas. 🏐 pic.twitter.com/4VDpXJG2JY
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) August 30, 2026
First Set
Nebraska used a 6-0 run early to take control, then extended the advantage to seven at 12-5. The Rebels didn’t roll over, however, firing back with five straight to make it a two-point game.
UNLV kept it close for a bit before the Huskers pulled away down the stretch, using a 6-0 run to draw ahead by eight then capitalizing on their third set point opportunity via a Murray kill.
The Huskers hit .414 behind five kills on nine errorless swings from Sigler. Murray chipped in four kills on seven attacks. Reilly dished out 13 assists as Nebraska totaled 16 kills. The Huskers recorded four blocks, with Jackson in on three of them.
Second Set
Nebraska flexed its defensive muscles even harder in game two.
UNLV briefly took its first lead early, but the Huskers responded with a 5-0 run consisting entirely of Rebel errors (the last two via Nebraska blocks) for a 7-3 advantage. The Rebels remained within striking distance for a while again, but the Huskers opened it up down the stretch with a 9-2 run including three kills and an ace from Jackson, who served a 5-0 run for set point before hitting wide.
However, the Huskers closed it out on the next point with their defense as Reilly and Ogbechie combined for Nebraska’s fourth block of the set, which pushed UNLV’s attack into the negative.
The Huskers out-hit the Rebels .280 to minus-.029. UNLV only managed seven kills while Jackson tallied five by herself.
Sophomore defensive specialist and Lincoln native Keri Leimbach made her debut midway through the set, digging a ball that turned into an assist as Reilly slammed it down on two for a kill.
“We’ve talked about our depth and just everybody being ready, and even if you’re not a starter going into the game, you’re going to be a starter, knowing the scout, knowing tendencies, and I think Keri really exemplified that,” Reilly said. “She just came in, she stuck her serve and she was ready to dig that ball. I think anyone on our team is ready to do that right now, and that’s really cool.
“I think we saw it on Thursday too when everyone got in. I think pretty much everyone got a kill at some point, even if they were fresh off the bench after sitting around for a couple hours. So we’ve really prided ourselves on that, on everybody being ready at any time, and Keri just really exemplified that tonight.”
Third Set
UNLV struck first in game three, but it was all Huskers after that.
Nebraska responded with a 5-0 run — including two aces from Mauch — to surge ahead, then continued to pile on. A 3-0 spurt (on kills from Murray, Jackson and Reilly) made it 9-4, then a 6-0 run with Jacson serving pushed the lead to 10 at 15-5.
Nebraska cruised the rest of the way and didn’t lose any momentum as Busboom Kelly subbed liberally.
Ryan Hunter started the set at opposite hitter and recorded her first career kill early on. Skyler Pierce, Kenna Cogill and Keoni Williams all saw the floor as well as Busboom Kelly went 13 deep. Pierce picked up where she left off in Texas with three kills on five swings.
Overall, Nebraska hit .310 and held UNLV to .083 as Murray went off for six kills (including match point) on 11 swings in the frame, nearly matching UNLV’s total kills by herself.
Up Next
The Huskers will get one more day in Vegas as they take on No. 2 Texas in their second Players Era match on Sunday. The Longhorns went 1-1 in the AVCA First Serve last week with a 3-1 loss to No. 12 Arizona State and a 3-2 win against Marquette.
They swept No. 18 TCU (30-28, 25-23, 25-23) in the Players Era nightcap Friday but lost sophomore outside hitter Abby Vander Wal to an apparent knee injury during the first set. Outside hitter Torrey Stafford led the way with 12 kills on .229 hitting while middle blocker Nya Bunton added 10 kills on .643 hitting. Texas hit .169 as a team but held TCU to .124.
First serve between the Huskers and Longhorns on Sunday is set for 3:30 p.m. CT on FOX.
