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. Up next is a look at the middle blockers.
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Roster:
>> No. 5 Rebekah Allick, Junior (2023: 1.76 KPS, .329 hitting, 1.50 BPS)
>> No. 15 Andi Jackson, Sophomore (2023: 2.01 KPS, .399 hitting, 1.09 BPS)
>> No. 11 Leyla Blackwell, Senior (2023: 2.25 KPS, .329 hitting, 1.24 BPS)
Nebraska returns both starting middles from last year and also hit big in the transfer portal, landing a highly experienced and productive addition in former San Diego Torero Leyla Blackwell. Like at outside hitter, where the Huskers have three players with significant starting experience and only two starting spots, depth will be a big strength for the Huskers in the middle this season.
Bekka Allick is back for her third season, though it will be her first as Rebekah. The Waverly product spoke in the spring about the offseason of reflection that led to her desire to go by her full first name, but the passion she exhibits on the court remains unchanged.
Allick was one of the best blockers in the country last season, finishing second in the Big Ten and seventh nationally in stuffs per set at 1.50, the second-highest program average in the rally scoring era. She took her blocking game to another level down the stretch of the 2023 season, averaging 3.0 blocks per set in her last six matches and hitting double figures in total blocks three times during the stretch. She notched a career-high 12 blocks in the regional final against Arkansas and followed that up with 10 in the national semifinals against Pittsburgh.
The next step for Allick lies on the offensive end, where her effectiveness remained fairly stagnant from what she showed as a freshman. She recorded double-digit kills three times and hit .500 or better nine times.
Conversely, Andi Jackson made a big splash offensively as a freshman, averaging 2.25 kills per set on nearly .400 hitting. Her explosive athleticism made her an instant impact player for the Huskers as she finished second in the Big Ten and 19th nationally in hitting percentage. She hit .500 or better 14 times and notched double-digit kills four times on her way to All-Big Ten Second Team, Big Ten All-Freshman Team and AVCA All-Region Team honors.
Cook has identified blocking consistency as the next step for her as she heads into her sophomore year.
This summer, Jackson and fellow sophomore Bergen Reilly competed for the United States at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship, leading Team USA to the gold medal.
“I watched some of the matches,” Cook said. “She’s now in her second year of college volleyball, and she’s catching up and starting to figure out how athletic she is and to use that to her advantage. So she’s just becoming a better volleyball player and has more experience now. Instead of doubting that she can play, she knows she can play and be a great player. And so we’re seeing it out there. She does some pretty impressive stuff.”
Reilly used a different word to describe what she saw from her teammate with Team USA.
“I saw a lot of good things,” Reilly said. “She was scary. I was scared she was going to hurt somebody on the other side of the net. But, I think all the other middles learned a lot from her and I think it just gave us time to work on our connection too. And so I think that it’s helped coming into this season too. I think our connection has been really strong so far, and she’s going to be dangerous this season.”
Jackson called her USA experience a huge confidence booster, particularly because of the opportunity to be a team leader on a young squad after looking up to others throughout her freshman year at Nebraska.
“I think one thing that I’ve noticed in myself that has changed significantly is how smart I am,” Jackson said. “I think taking some time off helped my volleyball IQ a little bit. I’ve noticed that I can make smarter shots and the game, not that it’s slowed down, but it feels slower. I think when you come in as a freshman at such a high level, it feels very fast, and you feel a little bit sporadic on the court, but I think I know what I’m doing now, and I’m more comfortable with things, so I feel like I have better decision-making skills.”
A San Diego native, 6-foot-4 Leyla Blackwell returns to the Big Ten after three standout seasons for her hometown team. She spent her first year at Indiana where she played in 18 matches and led the Hoosiers in blocking average (0.94 per set). The 6-foot-4 middle blocker earned All-WCC First team honors in each of the past three seasons, averaging better than 2.2 kills and 1.2 blocks as a two-way force in the WCC in 2023.
“We love her,” Jackson said of Blackwell. “She is a great addition to this team. I have nothing but good things to say about her. She has an amazing attitude, a super positive outlook on things and she is so well spoken. That is one of the things that I noticed about her instantly is she knows how to bring a group together, and she just instantly was a part of our team. She makes it so easy and she’s a great person to be around.”
Like Taylor Landfair, Blackwell is still in the process of learning all of Nebraska’s drills and adjusting to everything that comes with being a Husker, but she credited her fellow middle blockers for making the transition as easy as possible.
“I’ve been following Andi and Rebekah around like a puppy for three weeks, and they’ve been so helpful, and I feel like I’m finally getting my footing now … It’s been so much fun,” Blackwell said. “I love our middles group. I think we work really hard, but we also like to really encourage each other, help each other out. We work a lot with Jaylen [Reyes], and he makes training really fun and really fast. I just can’t say enough about how great they’ve been in welcoming me and helping me, just kind of showing me the ropes and all of that. It’s been amazing.”
Blackwell has stepped in for the departed Maggie Mendelson, who the Huskers will see across the net when they face Penn State in the final week of the regular season.
