Volleyball season is here in Nebraska. The Big Ten preseason favorite Huskers will head into the season ranked second nationally in the AVCA Coaches Poll, but first they’ll give the fans an early look at this year’s squad in Saturday’s Red-White Scrimmage.
To get Husker fans ready for the 2024 season, we’re previewing the team, position by position. We wrap things up with the defensive specialists, headlined by arguably the best libero in the country.
Previous previews: Setters | Pin Hitters | Middle Blockers
Roster:
>> No. 8 Lexi Rodriguez, Senior (3.60 DPS, 1.24 APS, 0.12 SAPS)
>> No. 7 Maisie Boesiger, Junior (18 digs, 3 service aces)
>> No. 6 Laney Choboy, Sophomore (1.82 DPS, 0.12 SAPS)
>> No. 10 Olivia Mauch, Freshman
Depth could be the theme of this year’s team, and defensive specialist is no different.
It, of course, starts with Lexi Rodriguez. The Sterling, Illinois, native is back for her fourth season as a Husker, and her third as a team captain. The three-time All-American (including a first-team selection last season) earned her second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023 while making the All-Big Ten First Team for the third straight season. She’s the 14th Husker to earn All-America recognition three times and the fifth Big ten player to earn the conference’s top defensive honor twice.
The 5-foot-5 libero notched a season-high 20 digs in the team’s NCAA Tournament Regional Final win over Arkansas and also recorded a double-double with 13 digs and a career-high 11 assists in the team’s reverse sweep at Penn State.
Rodriguez orchestrated the best defense in the country for the second straight year as Nebraska held its opponents to a .137 hitting percentage, the lowest in the country. She also graded out as the NCAA best returning libero in serve receive, according to Volleymetrics.
“They’re definitely at a different level than they were last year,” Coach John Cook said of his two captains, Rodriguez and Merritt Beason. “We’ve got to see when we play games; that’s in practice. But they have to be in practice because our gym is pretty competitive. They’ve got a confidence about them, and they just know what they need to do.
“I would pay to watch Lexi pass balls. It’d be like watching Ernie Els hit golf balls. When you watch him, he’s so smooth; he makes it look so easy. That’s what Lexi does. Or watching Steph Curry shoot 3s. They just make it look easy. Everybody else, it’s harder than heck, and they she just makes it look so easy. It’s fun to watch.”
While Rodriguez is the unquestioned leader of Nebraska’s defense, Laney Choboy made a big impact in the back row as well as a freshman. Choboy was a late addition to Nebraska’s 2023 recruiting class after decommitting from Minnesota following the Golden Gophers’ coaching change and earned an important role from day one.
Choboy notched double-digit kills six times including a high of 14 in a five-set win against Purdue as well as 13 in the four-set postseason win over the Razorbacks. She plays with an almost reckless abandon at times and displays a fiery personality that captivates both teammates and fans. Though she still has plenty to learn, Choboy would be wearing the libero jersey for most other programs, but with Rodriguez on the team she’ll reprise her role as a valuable defensive sparkplug off the bench.
The roster is loaded with top recruits and proven difference-makers, but the one player who has impressed Cook the most during preseason practice has been walk-on Maisie Boesiger. The converted setter from Norris saw the court in a limited role as a serving sub in her first two years on campus and has reportedly made a leap in her all-around play heading into year three.
“Maisie Boesiger has made leaps and bounds as a player,” Cook said. “Her stats are great. She’s doing an awesome job. And I’m not I’m not kidding you guys … She’s one or two passing every day, she’s serving great, she’s digging great. Last year I put her in when we needed her. Now, she’s in everything and she’s elevating whatever side she’s on. So I’ve just been really impressed with her.”
Rodriguez, Choboy and Boesiger all return after contributing in 2023, and this season Cook has added one of the best libero recruits in the country to the mix as well. Olivia Mauch, the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year in Nebraska, joins the Huskers after a standout career at Bennington High School.
Cook said after the team’s spring match that he was considering redshirting Mauch while he was recruiting her because of the team’s depth at her position, but after seeing her train and play with the team throughout the spring, he believes she’s too good not to play. Last week, he said the two freshmen, Mauch and Skyler Pierce, are playing at the same level as everybody else.
Cook said the four defensive specialists have graded out as the team’s four best passers throughout practice as they’ve been putting up really good numbers. Rodriguez and Mauch have been the team’s top two servers.
Four defensive specialists who can all play in addition to the team’s depth at the pin-hitter positions (including two players in Merritt Beason and Harper Murray who played all six rotations) present a good yet challenging question for Cook and his staff: how does he handle the rotation and use his substitutions?
“It’s an interesting problem, because we have some elite back-row people, we’ve got elite attackers,” Cook said. “You also have to get a rhythm into your team, and so it’s going to be a good developmental story, see how it goes. We haven’t decided, but we spend a lot of energy on it talking about it right now.”
Additionally, an NCAA rule change this season will allow teams to dress and play two liberos in the same match, though Cook said he doesn’t anticipate that tweak meaning much for his program. The Huskers have their libero in Rodriguez and she won’t leave the floor.
