The past, present and future of Nebraska volleyball converged on Terry Pettit Court during the program’s Alumni Match on Saturday night.
The current squad took down the collection of former Huskers 3-1 in front of a sold-out Devaney Center crowd, with all 17 players seeing the court once again.
“I thought it was great, and pretty much everything we had hoped for,” Dani Busboom Kelly said. “The alum were excited to play, they played great, and then we got tested and kind of felt some pressure, which was amazing going into next week. We got to see a lot of different players too, step up in that pressure, and I think it really helped us figure out who we’re going to start and what realistic changes we can make.
“I think it made me a lot more comfortable going into next weekend, so big thank you to the alums for showing up and playing great.”
The Huskers took the match 25-21, 25-14, 17-25, 25-22 behind strong offensive showings from Harper Murray (12 kills on .476 hitting) and Andi Jackson (11 kills on .389 hitting). Bergen Reilly started three sets and played in all four, totaling 37 assists, eight digs and two blocks. Laney Choboy played the first two sets at libero and finished with five digs and an ace while Olivia Mauch donned the black jersey for the last two sets and recorded a team-best nine digs.
Busboom Kelly said the usual suspects impressed her in the face of the aforementioned pressure, highlighting three juniors.
“I thought Harper played great and was a huge voice,” Busboom Kelly said. “I thought Bergen had an awesome match, and you can really just feel the team steadied when she was in there. I thought Laney, sometimes her play is not super, super smooth, but her presence just helps us a ton.”
Other standouts included Virginia Adriano, who started the first two sets at opposite hitter and finished with six kills on 10 errorless swings and two blocks, and Manaia Ogbechie, who started the last two sets and totaled six kills on nine attacks and three blocks.
On the other side of the net, Ally Batenhorst (13 kills on .242 hitting) and Lindsay Krause (12 kills on .474 hitting) led the alumni, while assistant coach Kelly Natter got the chance to show her players what she’s capable of, amassing 46 assists and six digs.
“In practice, we’ll chirp each other because sometimes Kelly will step in, and we always heckle her a little bit on the other side of the net, just because she’s our coach now, and you do — not necessarily forget, but she was such a great player here, and now she’s a coach, so you just get used to seeing her in her coach form, not her player form,” Jackson said. “So getting to play against her and actually see her in her element, she was doing really well. I was really impressed with her. She was flowing and running a great offense, so she was great.”
Before the match, Nebraska recycled old player intro videos for the alumni, and the Devaney Center crowd gave them each a warm welcome. Busboom Kelly said she felt immense pride watching it play out — and even said she was going to train so she can play in next year’s match.
“It was great,” Busboom Kelly said. “I got a little bit teary-eyed just seeing all those alums come back and I know they were excited to get the standing ovations and get that feeling back. Some of them haven’t played in years, and that was really fun to see them out here. Some of them I recruited really hard and didn’t get to finish out their careers as their assistant, so it was just really great to get to connect with them again.
“I think it’s really important for our players to get that feeling too, that when you leave, this place is still really special and once a Husker, always a Husker. They saw that truer than ever tonight.”
The first set saw 13 ties as the Alumni jumped ahead early. Both teams hit for a high clip, but the current Huskers settled in late and surged ahead, taking their first lead at 20-19 and closing the match on a 7-2 run overall.
On game point, Choboy made a diving dig that led to a Taylor Landfair winner, closing out the first frame in style. The Huskers hit .467 with Murray terminating on six of her eight swings. The Alumni hit .375.
The second set saw three ties and two lead changes, all in the first nine points. After that, it was all 2025 Nebraska as the Huskers used a 7-0 run with Murray at the service line to take control.
With the Huskers up 15-8 midway through the set, Busboom Kelly began substituting liberally, sending in most of the reserves over the back half of the set. Despite the rotation, the Huskers didn’t miss a beat, cruising to the 11-point win.
Nebraska hit .440 while holding the Alumni Team to .071, a big defensive improvement from the first set. Jackson led the way with four kills on five attacks.
Busboom Kelly continued the youth movement in set three, but the Alumni locked in and fought back, flipping the script to extend the watch with a dominant showing. They opened the set with a 4-0 run and stretched the lead as high as 10, out-hitting the younger Huskers .350 to .065.
Busboom Kelly went to a mix of starters and reserves to start the fourth set. The Alumni continued to roll, jumping out to an 8-2 lead. After the Huskers pulled within one, the veterans fired off a 5-0 run to stretch it back out.
However, Jackson sparked a comeback from that point, not at the net but from the service line. She served back-to-back aces during a 7-1 Husker run to tie it at 15-all then another during a 4-1 finish to the match.
“I think it’s every middle’s goal to serve, so it’s really exciting to be in this position,” Jackson said. “I’ve worked really hard on it, and this summer, I really have worked on new techniques, Coach Brennan [Hagar] and I, we just tried a few different things, and I think what I’m doing right now is most consistent for me. So just keep working at that, and then hopefully continue to grow from there.”
Allie Sczech closed out the match with a solo stuff on Husker legend Larson. Murray led the way with five more kills after sitting the whole third set. The current squad hit .250 and led the veterans to .135.
The alumni match took some work to put together, but those that returned to compete hope to see it become a fixture of Nebraska’s preseason.
“I think they should do this every year,” Batenhorst said. “It was super cool and it brings everyone together again. Just seeing former teammates, you just get to experience what it’s like to be a Husker again, and after years of playing pro, it’s really cool to be able to come back and push the current Huskers and just relive it.”
“I don’t think Nebraska can get enough volleyball, so I feel like this will repeat itself, hopefully, many, many years,” Gina Mancuso-Prososki added.
