No. 1 Nebraska volleyball is rolling right along this season, completing the nonconference slate 11-0 and starting Big Ten play 2-0. The Huskers rank second nationally in attack percentage (.319) and first in opponent hitting (.078).
However, they’ve only faced four teams ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll at the time (with Creighton since falling out of the top 25) with only a Texas team still trying to find itself relative to preseason expectations ranked in the top 10.
Without an opportunity to challenge themselves against other elite teams, Coach Dani Busboom Kelly has had to rely on other methods to gauge the team’s progress this season.
“Statistically is the most obvious piece that we look at, and are we improving there?” Busboom Kelly said. “But I also think the mindset and the way they play is an indication. People on the outside might not know that, but we get to see them and feel their moods and vibes throughout the week, every week, and we’re with them every single day, so you can kind of tell when somebody’s feeling confident and when they’re not, and I feel like this team is getting more and more confident, which is really exciting.
“Then statistically, we’re getting better and better, which is also huge.”
In addition to ranking highly in overall offense and defense, the Huskers have improved significantly in scoring points off their serve and block. Nebraska has only dropped three sets all season, but even so, the players see plenty of room for improvement moving forward.
“I think it’s just holding ourselves to the Nebraska volleyball standard every day, and just because we won a game doesn’t mean we played our best,” Bergen Reilly said. “I think Dani’s talked about it too, but I think there’s a lot more upside to this team than there maybe has been in other years, which is very exciting knowing that we haven’t really even hit close to our ceiling yet. We can’t necessarily just get caught up in the wins and the media and everyone saying we’re No. 1.
“We know that coming in every day, there’s a lot of things we can get better at, and I think it just really makes us hungry and excited to go and chase that ceiling.”
Nebraska will look to continue on an upward trajectory as the schedule picks up moving forward. Four of the Huskers’ next four opponents are currently ranked in the top 20, starting with No. 16 Penn State (9-3, 1-1) on Thursday.
The Nittany Lions finished 19-13 a season ago, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament but falling in the second round. Though Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley returned her best player, Busboom Kelly said Penn State is a completely different team and will provide a formidable challenge.
“Just the fact they have one of the best players in the country, a very, very experienced transfer setter,” Busboom Kelly said. “They’ve got a lot of pins, left sides that have shown they can produce, and so we’re prepping for multiple players. We don’t really know who’s going to play because they’ve all shown they can get it done. And then just I think the playing at Penn State is always tough, and the environment and the student section can be pretty rowdy.”
Bergen Reilly (2) lifts the Big Ten Championship trophy over head, celebrating the Huskers’ undefeated season after the volleyball match against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Penn State went 8-2 in nonconference play with four-set losses to No. 3 Kentucky and No. 11 Tennessee and a 3-0 win over No. 13 Stanford. The Nittany Lions split their first two Big Ten matches, winning 3-1 at Michigan before falling in four at Michigan State, who is just outside the top 25 after an 11-1 start to the season.
“They’re a great team,” Reilly said. “They have a lot of hitters that you can’t really put one tendency on, so you have to just be ready to defend anything, and it’ll be a good challenge for us. I think we’re all pretty excited.”
Penn State has six outside hitters on the roster, and all six have seen action this season. Texas transfer, former Husker and Waverly (Neb.) High School alumna Whitney Lauenstein is leading the group in her final collegiate season, averaging 2.97 kills per set on .187 hitting. Haley Burgdorf, a 6-foot freshman, has started all 12 matches but is only averaging 1.26 kills per set on .204 hitting. Finley Krystkowiak, a 6-foot-4 freshman, has averaged 1.71 kills per set on .078 hitting across 24 sets, while junior Emmi Selmman has matched her with 1.71 kills per set on .259 hitting in 17 sets across seven matches.
Former Husker Caroline Jurevicius, a starter on Penn State’s 2024 national championship team, has only played in seven matches and 12 sets this season, averaging 1.08 kills per game on .267 hitting off the bench.
Whereas the Nittany Lions have seen plenty of uncertainty on the left, the team’s biggest constant is on the right with senior opposite hitter Kennedy Martin. Her numbers are well behind the blistering pace she set during her first season in University Park, but she’s still fourth in the Big Ten averaging 4.00 kills per set on .298 hitting.
“She’s really tall, she has a really big arm and she just she knows the game really well,” Reilly said of the 6-foot-6 Martin. “She has a really high IQ. She knows kind of when a shot’s open, and she can see the court really well. We just have to make sure that all six of us are ready to defend, but they have a lot of other great hitters, so you can’t necessarily just key in on one person and then let the other others all just go off.”
During the offseason, Penn State paired Martin with her former setter at Florida in Alexis Stucky. The 6-foot-2 senior earned third-team AVCA All-America honors as a freshman with the Gators and was a second-team All-SEC pick last year after averaging 10.31 assists and 2.42 digs per set. She’s putting up 9.53 assists and 2.18 digs per set so far this season.
Penn State ranks 15th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage at .246 and has allowed the third-most aces at 1.40 per set, two stats that are likely connected and could provide an opportunity for the Huskers to dictate pace of play from the service line once again.
While Thursday will be the first time the two teams face off this season, it will be the third time they’ve seen each other. Penn State also competed at the Spikes Under the Lights exhibition tournament at AT&T Stadium that Nebraska won back on Aug. 27 and faced Kentucky at Wrigley Field on Sept. 6. The Nittany Lions and Wildcats completed their Big Tean/SEC Challenge match, unlike the Huskers and Missouri, but court conditions were not ideal for them either, making it difficult for the Huskers to learn much about their conference rival.
“That was hard because it was an outdoor game, and I don’t know if people were jumping very hard in that game,” Busboom Kelly said. “You saw a lot of hesitation, so I don’t think any of us are looking at that game and watching it as a scout. Kennedy Martin’s one of the most physical players in the country. We all know Whitney Lauenstein, her physicality. The setter, Stucky, she’s not small, so they’re definitely athletic and physical.”
Thursday will be Nebraska’s first (full) road match since Sept. 4 at DePaul, following nine straight at home, and Busboom Kelly said visiting Rec Hall, typically one of the most difficult places to play in the conference, holds a “ton of value.”
“It prepares us for when it’s all on the line in December, and you have to overcome some adversity and have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Busboom Kelly said. “It’s not going to be comfortable playing there; it never is. So we’ve got to figure out how to be great, even when we might not be feeling the best or feeling the crowd in a way that’s helping us, and you’ve got to find a way to let it help you and not hurt you.”
First serve on Thursday is set for 6 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network, with Jason Knapp and Emily Ehman on the call. The Huskers will then continue on to Maryland to face the Terrapins (10-3, 0-2 Big Ten) at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
