No. 1 Nebraska volleyball remains perfect in Big Ten play with eight consecutive sweeps heading into week five.
The Huskers (18-0, 8-0) boast the top offense in the country and the second-ranked defense according to hitting percentage, and that dominance played a part in the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee naming them the overall No. 1 seed in its midseason top-16 reveal, ahead of No. 2 Texas.
Nebraska has swept nine straight opponents, including Arizona to close out nonconference play, and the Huskers hit better than .300 in each of those matches. A big part in that offensive success is junior middle blocker Andi Jackson, who is leading the Big Ten in hitting at .574 through eight matches. She’s hit .400 or better in every match and is averaging 2.67 kills per set.
Jackson earned first-team AVCA All-America honors as a sophomore last season, averaging 2.62 kills per set on .439 hitting, the fourth-best mark in program history. By the lofty standards she established for herself, the 6-foot-3 middle got off to a somewhat slow start this season, averaging 2.0 kills per set on .256 hitting through her first five matches.
Her play started to pick up over the back half of conference play, bumping her overall nonconference numbers up to 2.39 kills per set on .327 hitting, but since Big Ten play began, she’s playing above and beyond even an All-America level.
“It’s just kudos to my team for being so patient with me,” Jackson said. “I know I had a slower start this season, but I take that for what it is … I think coming off of last season, I had a really, really good ending, and at the beginning, I did put too much pressure on myself, and felt like I had to go and prove to everyone the player that I was coming off of last season. And then I had some time working with our sports psych and talking to the coaches, and just really leaning on my friends and family, my teammates included.
“I just had to go and, it sounds cheesy, but play like Andi. I’ve been really, really holding on to that and trying to lean into that more, and I think that that has really helped, and I feel much more free on the court. I’m not feeling as much pressure from the outside noise. I’m just sticking with my team and really just leaning into doing what I know how to do.”
Feeling that pressure to perform, Jackson said she lost sight of the reason she plays the game, and her performance suffered as a result.
“I had to take it back to the basics, and remember that I love volleyball because I get to be on a team, and I love this team that I’m on, and I love getting to represent Nebraska, and it’s so much bigger than myself, and not necessarily that I was being selfish, but I just felt like I had to be someone that I wasn’t when I was on the court. I had to remind myself that when I’m playing like Andi, I’m just playing free. I’m not worried about my mistakes, I’m not worried about the stats, I’m just going out there and I’m having fun with my teammates and I’m playing volleyball because I get to, not because I have to.”
As well as she’s playing on offense, it wasn’t Jackson’s hitting that landed her on last week’s Big Ten honors list. The conference named her Defensive Player of the Week after she averaged 1.67 blocks per set in Nebraska’s sweeps at Michigan State and Michigan. It’s the second such award of her career and first of the season. Of course, she also averaged 2.17 kills per set on .706 hitting, but Coach Dani Busboom Kelly is pleased with the improvement Jackson has made defensively at the net. She’s up to 1.21 blocks per set in conference play this season.
Andi Jackson (15) and Teraya Sigler (11) block the ball against the Maryland Terrapins in the second set during a college volleyball match on Saturday, September 27, 2025, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo by John S. Peterson.
“I feel like she’s really starting to see the value in scoring points with her block,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “We all know that she can kill slides and kill balls behind the setter and in front of the setter, but how many points can she score and how can she affect the game from a blocking standpoint? What’s great about our middle group is they’re all improving, and they’re all playing great, and they are probably our strongest group with each other, as far as pushing each other and celebrating each other.”
Busboom Kelly said the presence of freshmen Manaia Ogbechie and Kenna Cogill, both great blockers, has helped Jackson to elevate her own game as she’s both competed against them and learned from watching them in the practice gym.
“Her blocking, naturally, has gotten so much better, and I’ve been super, super impressed with the move she’s made. Even the balls she doesn’t block, she just looks so physical and more confident and more like ‘I’m going to get this block’ attitude.”
Jackson said she has a blocking goal she tries to reach every day in practice, and if she doesn’t hit it, she and some of her teammates stay behind for extra work with assistant Brennan Hagar. Jackson said that work has paid off as she feels she’s improved her blocking significantly.
Elsewhere on defense, Busboom Kelly switched up her lineup again last week, giving Laney Choboy the start at libero in both matches while Olivia Mauch moved back into the defensive specialist role.
“The goal was to continue to allow the players on our team to use their strengths and to showcase their strengths, and I feel like Laney has done a good job becoming more consistent with her passing numbers, and so we wanted to give her a shot to make some of those electric defensive plays,” Busboom Kelly said. “Going up against teams that were left-side hitter heavy, it just made sense. But Liv is playing great too. It’s tough. They’re both so good, so talented. How can we keep them comfortable in any position they’re in and against any opponent? I feel like we accomplished that goal. Just making the adjustment was pretty seamless, and both of them continued to play really well.”
The Huskers are back at home for week five after playing five of their last six away from Lincoln. They’ll welcome Northwestern and Michigan State to the Devaney Center to close out the first half of Big Ten play.
“We love home games,” Choboy said. “Our fans are amazing, so I think we’re really excited to be back. Away trips are great too, because our fans travel, but there’s nothing like being home at Devaney.”
The Wildcats (13-7, 3-5 Big Ten) will visit Lincoln on Friday after an up-and-down week four featuring a five-set win against Michigan and a 3-0 loss to Illinois, both in Evanston. They were without their leading attacker, senior outside hitter Rylen Reid (3.25 kills per set on .247 hitting), who Coach Tim Nollan called “day-to-day.”
Northwestern is 11th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage at .247 and 10th in opponent hitting at .218. The Wildcats serve aggressively (fourth in the Big Ten at 1.7 aces per set) but struggle blocking (17th at 2.08 per set). They run a 6-2 offense with senior Lauren Carter (5.8 assists per set) and junior Sienna Noordermeer (4.55) splitting the setting duties.
The Huskers just saw Michigan State a week ago, sweeping the Spartans at the Breslin Center last Friday. The last time Michigan State’s starting setter, redshirt freshman Malayah Long, played at the Devaney Center was the 2023 Class A state championship as she capped her career at Lincoln Southwest with a title. Long is averaging 10.09 assist per set for the Spartans after transferring in from Marquette following a coaching change.
First serve on Friday is set for 6 p.m. CT on Nebraska Public Media locally (and Big Ten Plus for those outside the state). Saturday’s match is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start on Big Ten Network. Larry Punteney and John Cook will call both matches.
