Five Huskers earned AVCA All-Region recognition on Tuesday, including senior libero Lexi Rodriguez, who made a bit of history.
Rodriguez, senior opposite hitter Merritt Beason, sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson, sophomore setter Bergen Reilly and sophomore outside hitter Harper Murray accounted for five of the 14 spots on the AVCA West All-Region Team. Rodriguez is the Region Player of the Year, the first libero to win the award. The AVCA began naming Region Player of the Year in 2017.
Players named to the AVCA All-Region teams are eligible for All-America honors, which the AVCA will announce on Dec. 18.
The West Region includes Division I schools in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Creighton also placed five players on the team — senior setter Kendra Wait, senior outside hitter Norah Sis, senior libero Maddy Bilinovic, senior middle blocker Elise Goetzinger and junior outside hitter Ava Martin. Creighton’s Kirsten Bernthal Booth is the AVCA West Region Coach of the Year after guiding the Bluejays to a 29-2 regular season, Big East regular season and tournament titles, a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a Sweet 16 berth. Booth secured her 500th career win last weekend.
BYU setter Alex Bower is the West Region Freshman of the Year.
Rodriguez is Nebraska’s third Region Player of the Year, joining Kelly Hunter and Beason. She was a unanimous All-Big Ten selection and is the first Big Ten Libero of the Year recipient after the conference renamed its Defensive Player of the Year award heading into this season. She previously won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2021 and 2023 and is aiming to join Sarah Pavan and Kadie Rolfzen as Nebraska’s only four-time All-Americans.
Rodriguez is averaging 3.81 digs per set as a senior and is perennially one of the best passers in the country. She led Nebraska to the lowest opponent hitting percentage in the Big Ten for the fourth straight year and is 47 digs shy of Justine Wong-Orantes’ program record for a career.
Beason earned her third All-Region Team selection overall and second as a Husker. She was the region player of the year last season after leading the Huskers in points. This season, Beason averaged 2.94 kills per set on .248 hitting and 0.94 blocks per set while serving 27 aces.
Jackson built on her spectacular freshman season by improving both her attack volume and efficiency. The unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection averaged 2.57 kills per set on .435 hitting (eighth in the nation) and 1.15 blocks per set. She recorded double-digit kills 10 times including a high of 15 in five sets against Creighton.
Reilly, who won Big Ten Setter of the Year in each of her first two seasons at Nebraska, led the Big Ten in assists per set during the regular season for the second straight year while orchestrating the second-best offense in the Big Ten by hitting percentage (narrowly behind Wisconsin). She’s currently 10th nationally at 11.1 assists per set. She stepped up her defense (2.9 digs per set) and attacking (0.72 kills per set on .422 hitting) this season while also contributing 53 blocks and 20 aces. She recorded 15 double-doubles and posted career-highs in assists (60 in five sets against Purdue) and digs (20 in four sets against Minnesota).
Murray, the 2023 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, led the Huskers in kills and points as a sophomore, averaging 3.29 kills per set on .261 hitting and 2.3 digs per set, all improvements from her freshman year. She led the team with 32 aces and added 51 blocks. Murray recorded eight double-doubles while posting strong passing numbers for her position.
The trio of sophomores all earned AVCA all-region honors last year as well.
