Fifteen matches into the 2026 season, the offseason point of emphasis for No. 1 Nebraska volleyball has paid off in a big way.
After a 33-1 2025 campaign that saw the Huskers lead the country in both offensive and defensive hitting percentage, Coach Dani Busboom Kelly challenged her team in a different phase of the game. She wanted the Huskers to become the best serving team in the country.
Through nonconference play and the first two weeks of Big Ten competition, Nebraska ranks first in the league and is tied for eighth nationally in aces with 2.06 per set. The top 10 features only three power conference programs in Kansas (sixth at 2.13 per set), Nebraska and Minnesota (10th at 2.05 per set), and Nebraska’s ace-to-error rate is the highest among the three by far, meaning Nebraska has gotten the return on its offseason investment without experiencing a sharp rise in errors.
Busboom Kelly said she’s grateful for the direct proof of concept.
“As a coach, it’s pretty huge, because then it’s like, ‘We told you if we did this, this would happen,’ so your players are like, ‘OK, you were right,’” she said. “It’s nice when they can admit that, but I do think that they are leaning into it too, so it’s like, ‘We’re going to do this, we’re going to be the best serving team in the country.’ They don’t necessarily love practicing serving as much as we are, but they understand why, and they’re really focused when we do it.
“It’s pretty funny because now they’re like, ‘Well, we don’t want to skip serving either,’ where early it was like, ‘Oh, if we could take out one thing, what would it be? Serving?’ I think everybody’s kind of leaned into that identity.”
The biggest increase in aces over last year has come from Laney Choboy (19 aces, 0.40 per set) and Andi Jackson (17 aces, 0.41 per set). However, more than a third of the latter’s total came in one match last week as the 6-foot-3 middle blocker tied the program’s rally scoring era record for aces in a three-set match with six in Nebraska’s win at Maryland. That included one run that saw her drop three aces in a four-point stretch.
“I was feeling really good, but I was also feeling like, ‘OK, you got an ace; now, you’ve got to get the next one in,’ because I’m not going to lie, I feel like whenever I get an ace, then it’s a guaranteed error,” Jackson said. “I felt like I had a lot of confidence behind the service line, and when I served it first, I served the wrong zone three times in a row, and then Brennan called a timeout and told me that I served the wrong zone, at my grown age. But it was working, so he was like, ‘Actually, continue; it’s working.’
Laney Choboy (6) serves against Ohio State on. Photo by Christian Naujokaitis
“I just had a lot of confidence, and I think that is a huge credit to Dani and how much we serve in practice. I know we talk about it a lot, but we want to pressure teams from the service line, and it really is a game changer.
Jackson took her inspiration from Choboy, who has been Nebraska’s most consistent server in terms of putting together extended runs. The Huskers trailed the Terrapins 7-6 in the third set when Jackson stepped to the line, and they won the next five rallies to take control of the match for good.
“I think we were really close, and we’ve seen it with Laney a lot, when we’re super close to teams and Laney goes behind the service line and she can just go on a run and really puts pressure on teams, whether it’s aces or putting them out of system. We want to be able to continue to do that and build off of that, so I think it’s really nice when you have confidence behind the service line. I haven’t experienced that a lot, but I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable with it, so it’s a good feeling, and I think the team can attest to that as well with how much we’ve worked on it.”
Jackson entered the serving rotation for the first time last season as a junior, totaling 16 aces and 34 errors. Fourteen matches into her senior season, she’s already matched her career total for aces heading into this season and has done so with only 24 errors. She’s 10th in the Big Ten in aces per set but is striving for more.
“It’s definitely rewarding, but there’s still so much room for improvement,” Jackson said. “I know that I can still be more consistent. This past weekend, I got some aces with a float serve, but I would like to see some more consistency with my hybrid serve, just because it is a tougher serve. I don’t want to lose that, I want to keep working on it, and so there’s just still so much more room for improvement, and I don’t want to get complacent. Same for my blocking; I think the numbers are reflecting how much work I’m putting in and how much I’ve been working on it, but there’s just still a lot that I can improve on.”
Nebraska’s improvement from the service line is also impacting other areas as the Huskers also rank first in the Big Ten in fewest reception errors (0.83 per set). Teraya Sigler, one of the team’s primary passers, said it can get “pretty frustrating” some days having to deal with servers like Jackson in practice.
“Obviously, with just experimenting with serve, and we serve so much that sometimes there are days that I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t seem to get into a flow,’” Sigler said. “I’m being pushed, but also on the flip, I am getting better, and that in times when we play Penn State, we play teams that all have the better servers, it’s like, ‘OK, I’m back in the gym, I’m back against my own team; how can I simplify everything? How can I go back to my training that I’ve been in these positions before?’
“I think our passers are just doing such a great job of just fighting the ball up, and I think the best part about it is that we don’t let runs happen. It’s just how can we side out as quickly as possibly can? How can we put everyone in good positions, like our middles, our setters. Bergen [Reilly] is so offensive, and so is Campbell [Flynn], so they’re able to bring offense to us as well.”
Jackson’s big serving match against the Terrapins was just part of another outstanding pair of performances that led to her second straight Big Ten Player of the Week award. She averaged 3.83 kills per set on .526 hitting and 2.0 blocks per set to lead the Huskers to sweeps at Penn State and Maryland.
Jackson is just the third Husker to repeat as Big Ten Player of the week, joining Kelsey Robinson in 2013 (she won it three straight weeks) and Madi Kubik in 2021.
“It means a lot, but I couldn’t have done it without my team,” Jackson said. “They have been playing so incredible, and they’ve been supporting me, both on and off the court, and I’m super grateful for that. They’ve just set me up in really good positions to go up and kill the ball, and they’ve really instilled confidence in me, blocking- and serving-wise. I can’t take the credit for it, it’s literally all to them, because I couldn’t do it without them, and the coaches too. They’ve just instilled so much confidence in me and have really helped me grow a lot this season, both as a person and a player, so I’m very grateful for all of them.”
Andi Jackson (15) spikes the ball between Missouri outside hitter Paige Felder (15) and middle blocker Lauren Larkin (12). Photo by John S. Peterson.
While Jackson is quick to deflect credit to her teammates, the other Huskers will shine a light on the work Jackson has put in to produce at the level she has this season and throughout her career.
“I just think it’s a testament to how hard of a worker that she is, and that she’s such a team player,” Sigler said. “She says it all the time that she’s not just a middle blocker, but she’s a passer and she’s a defender, and she’s an asset to our team behind the service line, doing all the things to help us in so many different ways. I think it just shows how hard she works for us, and I think it’s just so cool to support her because she’s not just a good volleyball player; she’s an amazing person. So how could you not support her?”
Jackson put up 11 kills on .625 hitting plus a season-high seven blocks (including one solo) against the Nittany Lions then followed that up with an even more well-rounded performance against the Terrapins, tallying 12 kills on .455 hitting, five blocks and four digs in addition to the six aces.
“She’s been phenomenal and just really taking control offensively, which we know she can do, but really leaning into defense and blocking and helping the team in other ways,” Busboom Kelly said. “It’s pretty amazing for a middle to be able to do so many things to contribute to winning.”
Jackson led the country in hitting last season at .467. Nearing the midway point this year, she’s at .497, good for third in the country. Once again, however, Jackson is giving all the credit to her teammates, saying she hasn’t done much differently than in the past from an attacking standpoint.
“Our passers are passing amazing, and our setters are just phenomenal, so they make my job pretty easy,” Jackson said. “I go up and I try to have space and vision and put the ball in a good spot. Our team is just making my job pretty easy, and they’re putting they’re setting me up in really good positions. So, I can’t take any credit for it. Our passers are doing a phenomenal job, and they’re just constantly fighting the ball up, and we’re playing some really hard servers. Penn State, they’ve got some nasty serves, and our passers were just fighting the ball up and really setting our team up in good positions.”
Nebraska will look to carry that strong passing into what might be the Huskers’ toughest week of the regular season. They’ll travel to No. 15 Indiana on Thursday before returning home to host No. 7 Wisconsin on Saturday.
