Before No. 1 Nebraska volleyball embarks on its 11-day nationwide tour to open the 2026 season, fans will get an opportunity to see the Huskers in Lincoln on Sunday as the program takes its annual Red-White Scrimmage to a bigger stage on Sunday.
After two weeks of intense competition on the practice courts, the Huskers are ready to bring that work to light.
“We’re excited,” Harper Murray said. “I think Red-White’s a fun time for us to show off what we’ve been working on, and we’ve obviously had a lot of practices, and we have more coming up in the next few weeks, so we’re excited. We still have a lot to work on, but that’s kind of the point of Red-White, to get all those kinks out and see what we can work on as a team and what we know about each other.”
With little roster turnover and three spring matches with the full roster already under their belts, there isn’t much mystery surrounding the program heading into Sunday’s scrimmage. Even so, the match will offer a welcome changeup to the four-week grind of preseason practices.
“We’ve been working really hard, and been trying some new things, but it is a veteran group,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “We were together this spring, so going into two-a-days, there wasn’t anybody new, so they’re ready to play in front of people and with something on the line. Even just putting on your jersey, makes it feel a little bit different, even though it’s a glorified practice, but we’re definitely ready.”
Murray said she’s a fan of where the scrimmage falls on the calendar, as it will give the team a couple more weeks to iron out whatever wrinkles show up in the team’s first contest in front of fans since the spring.
Adding to the intrigue of the match is the location. With renovations continuing inside the Devaney Center, the scrimmage will take place at Pinnacle Bank Arena, giving even more fans the opportunity to see the Huskers in person than otherwise would inside John Cook Arena.
“I think we’re excited to play in PBA … I think it’ll give us a different look, and we all like playing in PBA,” Murray said. “I think we talked about it a few times, we wish we played in there more, especially our freshman and sophomore year. So it’ll be really fun, and obviously, Red-White in PBA isn’t something that we’ve normally done. So I think it’ll be fun.”
The lower bowl is nearly completely sold out, with many upper bowl tickets sold as well. Sunday’s scrimmage will likely out-draw most of Nebraska’s regular season matches.
“I think going to PBA and having everybody that can come is really cool,” freshman Gabby DiVita said. “The fans here are something that you don’t get anywhere else, and that was a huge reason why I wanted to come here, because people care so much for women’s volleyball. I think it’s super-duper special, and I’ve said it so many times before, there’s no place like Nebraska.”
Most of the Huskers have already played inside Pinnacle Bank Arena thanks to the AVCA First Serve last season, but for Nebraska’s three freshmen — outside hitters DiVita and Jayden Robinson and middle blocker Keoni Williams — Sunday will be a new experience, one that Williams said she’s really looking forward to.
“I’m just really excited just to get in that atmosphere and really feel the Husker fans surround around me on the court … Honestly, I’m just hoping that I go out there and just have no regrets, just unapologetically be myself and have fun with my teammates,” Williams said. “Really just taking the moment and just the experience because that’s something that not every person gets to have …
“I know the fans are going to be amazing and it’s going to, obviously, be good competition because we’re going to be going after it, but it’s definitely going to be something that I’m just going to have to just walk into and just be thankful and just let it happen.”
The freshmen have made a good early impression on their teammates, but it’s a pair of sophomores that have the attention of the upperclassmen. Andi Jackson and Murray highlighted Teraya Sigler and Manaia Ogbechie as players they’re excited to see in action, with Murray saying they have made a similar freshman-to-sophomore leap that the current seniors made a few years ago.
“They’re so good,” Jackson said. “Right now in our gym, they look like veteran players. They’re really holding their own in their position, and their volleyball IQ is just so good, and you can tell that they’ve really put in the work, so I think that’ll translate.”
Sigler started 32 matches as a freshman, but that was primarily in a three-rotation defensive specialist role. If the spring was any indication, she looks ready to step back into a featured offensive role as a six-rotation outside hitter, the position top-ranked recruit in the 2025 class has played most of her life. Ogbechie started three matches and played in 16 as the team’s third middle-blocker last season and hit a blistering .529. With Taylor Landfair and Rebekah Allick moving on, Sigler and Ogbechie appear to be the likely top candidates for expanded roles in 2026.
Seeing how Sigler and Ogbechie rise to the occasion is one of Busboom Kelly’s goals for Sunday.
“I want to be able to — I guess I’ve heard this already — put on a show for the fans,” Busboom Kelly said. “I think it’s unique being at Pinnacle Bank Arena, and it’ll be fun. I’m going to see some of those players I heard Andi and Harper talking about that made huge strides show that in front of a crowd, and while they’re wearing the jersey. But I want to enjoy it, come out of it healthy and just feel more invigorated for actual matches.”
First serve on Sunday is set for 3 p.m. CT. The match will be televised locally on Nebraska Public Media and streamed on Big Ten Plus.
