From part-time contributor to Big Ten Player of the Week, Manaia Ogbechie’s rise has been rapid with No. 1 Nebraska volleyball.
The sophomore from Santa Rosa Valley, Calif., served as Nebraska’s third middle behind veterans Andi Jackson and Rebekah Allick last season, playing in 27 sets across 16 matches with three starts as a freshman.
Ogbechie showed glimpses of what she’s capable of, averaging 2.30 kills per set on .529 hitting and 1.11 blocks per set in her limited opportunities, but performing night in and night out when opponents game plan against you is a different challenge — one she’s tackled head on this season as a starter opposite Jackson.
During Nebraska’s 7-0 start, Ogbechie has averaged 2.50 kills per set on .471 hitting and 1.35 blocks per set.
Manaia Ogbechie (14) spikes the ball against New Mexico Lobo middle blocker Campbell Hollister (4). Photo by John S. Peterson.
“I haven’t really taken the time and just sat down and thought about it, but I’d say pretty solid,” Ogbechie said of evaluating her own play ahead of Nebraska’s home opener last week. “I feel like I’m doing my job, supporting my teammates, even if it’s just a decoy at times. I feel like driving hard every single time, that’s my part.”
While Ogbechie may have served as something of a decoy early on with single-digit attacks in three of her first four matches, she was a featured option last week, leading Nebraska in kills in all three matches of the Husker Invitational.
“I don’t know what her attack percentage was last year; it was probably like .600 or something,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said after Nebraska’s win over New Mexico. “So I don’t know if we were looking for her to really improve. It’s just let’s get her the ball more, let’s get her the ball where she can continue to be successful. What’s that look like, and how does she fit into our offense consistently?
“She’s super athletic, she’s fast, so she can really hit anything. It’s our job as coaches and setters to get her the ball again, where she can be successful against opponents. The beauty of her is she can change what she does and what she’s great at, so you can kind of go against specific blockers if you want with her.”
Ogbechie sat a new career high with nine kills on .538 hitting and five blocks in three sets against New Mexico. She then one-upped herself with 12 kills on .571 hitting and two blocks in the sweep over Baylor, ranked 18th in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll. She capped the weekend with another 12 kills on .526 hitting and five blocks in a 3-1 win over Georgia Tech.
“She’s just a terminator, and she’s ready to go up and get a kill at any point,” Bergen Reilly said after the Baylor match. “She can move it around. She can hit just about any set … We all saw it last year, even when she would come in periodically. She, pretty much every time, came in and got a kill, so it’s cool to see just the consistency growing this year.”
In all, Ogbechie averaged 3.30 kills per set on .533 hitting and 1.2 blocks to earn Big Ten Player of the Week, the first Husker to win the award since Jackson last November.
“I think Manaia has really stepped into that role as one of the top middles, and I think she’s been amazing at it,” Skyler Pierce said. “I think you can tell throughout every game how confident she’s getting, so it’s really cool to see her grow and her personally kind of come through too.”
Jackson, the 2025 AVCA Middle Blocker of the Year, is averaging 2.21 kills per set on .438 hitting — numbers well below the standard she set a season ago but still ranking her in the top 20 nationally in hitting percentage, where Ogbechie ranks 11th.
“It gives so much confidence to everybody else, just opens up our pins, and it makes the other teams really have to respect our middles,” Busboom Kelly said of the one-two punch. “They’re both so athletic, they can really hit it from anywhere and wherever the setter’s at, which is a huge advantage. When they’re firing, I think it makes our offense super fun and just gives the pins the confidence they need too.”
Ogbechie has hit above .500 in four straight matches and will look to continue that streak on Wednesday when the Huskers welcome No. 20 Creighton to Lincoln. After debuting the renovated Devaney Center last week, Nebraska will venture over to a sold-out Pinnacle Bank Arena for the yearly in-state showdown.
“We will be very fired up for Creighton because they’re a great team,” Busboom Kelly said. “Those games, every year I feel like they go four or five. They are always battles, and then to be in PBA is always really fun for us. And to set an attendance record or have that sold out, it’s a big deal. The way the schedule played out is great. We have tough weekend, day off, and then we get to gear up for a massive match on Wednesday.”
The Bluejays (5-4) have already secured two wins over ranked Big Ten teams, beating Purdue and USC in the State Farm Women’s Volleyball Showcase at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls to open the season.
However, they’ll head into Wednesday’s meeting losers of three of their last four after falling to the Host Owls at the Rice Invitational on Sunday. In that match, the Bluejays dropped the second set 37-35, the second-highest scoring set in program history, then squandered a 23-16 lead in set for by surrendering an 11-2 run to end the match.
“We’re excited for the week, excited to compete against and with the best in the country,” Creighton coach Brian Rosen said. “I feel like these teams have elevated our game so far this season. We’re still fighting for consistency and kind of who we are and what we can be. We’ve shown lots of flashes of greatness, but not enough to finish off some of these sets. That’s probably the biggest disappointment from this weekend of just our ability to finish in moments, because we really played some of our best volleyball this season … Looking forward to a great match with Nebraska tomorrow.”
Creighton Bluejay head coach Brian Rosen and Nebraska Cornhusker head coach Dani Busboom Kelly meet before the teams’ spring exhibition. Photo by John S. Peterson.
The Huskers and Bluejays last met in April for a spring exhibition at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, though Creighton’s team looks significantly different than during that meeting.
Wisconsin transfer Trinity Shadd-Ceres is Creighton’s top attacking option. The All-American long-jumper is averaging a team-leading 3.24 kills per set and 2.21 digs per set, second on the team. Texas transfer Ayden Ames, who originally committed to the Huskers before flipping to the Longhorns, is averaging 2.05 kills per set on .326 hitting and 1.05 blocks per set at middle blocker.
Creighton has alternated between a 5-1 and a 6-2, rotating through all three setters while searching for consistency. Kansas transfer Katie Dalton opened as the starter, then split time with freshman Rayna Christianson. Ivy Leuck, a senior transfer from Omaha, made her first Bluejay start against Rice on Sunday, splitting time with Christianson in a 6-2. As a team, Creighton is hitting .177 while allowing opponents to hit .194.
“What we need to do as a coaching staff is figure out how do we get them at their best the longest, and so that’s something that we’ve been meeting quite often since this weekend and really all season to figure out,” Rosen said. “That’s why we’ve toyed with lineups and worked on some different things. I don’t know if we’ve played the same lineup twice yet. We’ll see what the lineup looks like tomorrow.
“It’s just continuing to figure out what are the pieces that we need to put in place to keep us great for the longest period of time, and that’s what we’re really searching to find right now.”
Wednesday match will feature five native Nebraskans between the two rosters. Defensive specialists Keri Leimbach (Lincoln Lutheran) and Olivia Mauch (Bennington) represent the state in red, while Leuck (Skutt Catholic), opposite Ashlyn Paymal (Omaha Westside) and middle blocker Nora Wurtz (Douglas County West) do so for the Bluejays.
“I think it’s really cool, honestly,” Leimbach said. “Whenever Creighton and Nebraska play, it’s always a really good game, and it’s just a really good rivalry. I think it just shows how strong volleyball is in Nebraska, and it’s just like really cool to be homegrown and be a part of it.”
First serve on Wednesday is set for 6 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network and the Huskers Radio Network.
