A different kind of professional volleyball has come to Omaha as season five of the Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball Championship will launch on Friday night at Liberty First Credit Union Arena in Ralston.
Athletes Unlimited is a four-week competition featuring a weekly draft for new teams and an individual scoring system to determine a champion, putting a different spin on a sport that has seen its popularity skyrocket in recent years. Fourty-four athletes will participate, with team captains determined based on performance during the previous week.
“I think it’s a great product,” Vice President of Volleyball for AU Cassidy Lichtman told Hurrdat Sports. “I think our talent has gotten better every single year. It’s really exciting competition. So many times in sports you have some games that don’t matter. You see load management in the NBA, that kind of thing. And here it’s like playoff volleyball from the very first point. It’s super competitive, and the players are having a great time, so I think that kind of energy and feeling resonates with the fans.”
Players accumulate points for a variety of individual and team-based statistics and accomplishments, with the points carrying over throughout the four weeks of competition. Athletes can earn points for team wins, positive plays and MVP nods as determined by a vote from players and fans. The player who has earned the most points at the end will be crowned champion.
Each team captain has a coach to collaborate with, but they have ultimate authority to determine lineups, in-match decisions and practice plans.
“It is very player driven,” said Brooke Nuneviller, who is heading into her third season with AU. “I think it’s the most collaborative league that you could play in, whether you’re talking to a coach or staff members, I think they really just want to make players super, super comfortable, and they want to make sure that we have a voice, which is unlike something that you’ll see.”
The first two seasons of AU Volleyball took place in Dallas, Texas, before shifting to Mesa, Arizona, for seasons three and four. This season, the first leg of the championship will take place in Omaha Friday through Oct. 13.
“I think from the beginning of the league, we really emphasized broadcast, and so almost set up kind of a TV studio that we played in, and that worked great for us,” Lichtman said. “But after last season, our CEO said, ‘We want to put fans in the stands, where do you want to go?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve got one top answer: it’s Omaha.’ We were super excited to kind of find this venue and that it was available, and the fan base here is just different. It’s real volleyball fans.”
Season five will feature two locations, with the league shifting to Madison, Wisconsin, for weeks three and four. Lichtman said both locations are volleyball hotbeds.
“I think also, when we play four or five weeks in one location, it’s a lot of matches in a short period of time, so we’re trying to split it up a little bit,” Lichtman said. “We really want to be an event, like the U.S. Open coming to town, and this is your two weeks to come watch some of the best players in the world.”
Adding to the intrigue is at least 14 of the 44 athletes have ties to Nebraska in some way. The field includes two former Huskers in Justine Wong-Orantes and Kayla Caffey, two former Bluejays in Jaali Winters and Elise Goetzinger, nine others who have played or will play for the Omaha Supernovas of Major League Volleyball and an additional two who played for LOVB Nebraska (previously LOVB Omaha) of League One Volleyball.
Wong-Orantes is heading into her first season with AU, but she’s excited to finally get the chance to compete in the league.
“First of all, the level of talent this year is through the roof,” the former Husker libero said. “I’ve always heard of Athletes Unlimited, but unfortunately, either I was overseas, or I was with the national team, and so it kind of overlapped with the Athletes Unlimited season. So with me taking a break this summer, I was like, this is perfect. I need some extra reps before I go into the LOVB season, and with the level of competition, it was a no-brainer for me.”
After spending the first season of LOVB with the Omaha team, Wong-Orantes will play for LOVB Houston in year two. For now, however, she’s grateful to be back in Omaha for the next couple of weeks.
“It’s always fun to come back,” Wong-Orantes said. “I always tell everyone that has an opportunity to come play in Omaha, you have to experience it for yourself, because the fan base and just the community that supports volleyball is unmatched. It’s always fun to come back to Omaha and also get a chance to play in the Liberty again, since we were here for the LOVB season.”
Winters is also a first-year participant in AU. The native of Ankeny, Iowa, graduated from Creighton in 2018 and played professionally overseas until joining LOVB Omaha last season. She’s set to play in Omaha for LOVB Nebraska again next season in addition to these next two weeks with AU.
“It’s kind of surreal to be back in Omaha,” Winters said. “I remember even in college, Kirsten Bernthal Booth was like, ‘You’ll see, Omaha has a way of pulling you back in,’ and I was like, ‘No, there’s no way I’m coming back to Omaha, that’s crazy.’ Professional volleyball wasn’t even a thought, really, that it was going to be in the U.S. at the time. So I feel really lucky that these leagues have popped up at a time where I’m still playing, and I feel really lucky to be at home and just get to play in front of my family and friends.”
Winters said she’s looking forward to the format, which is unlike anything she’s competed in before as a professional.
“It’s super different,” Winters said. “I think it’s really fun for the fans to get to kind of follow their favorite players and cheer them on each week, so I think that aspect is really cool. It’s fun for us to get to switch teams up and play with and against the best players each week, and I think it just keeps things fresh and new and exciting.”
The league’s schedule fell perfectly for Winters, who will enter the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame alongside a stacked class of former Bluejays on Oct. 16. That date falls during the week off between the two sessions of AU Volleyball.
“It’s just really exciting,” Winters said. “It’s a huge honor, and it means a lot to me, and I’m excited to get to go back on campus and just reminisce and be part of the Creighton community for a little bit. It really is super cool, especially to be inducted at the same time as Bruce Rasmussen, so I’m excited to see him. I’ve got a ton of family coming out, and it should just be a fun night of celebrations.”
Nuneviller, an Oregon alumna and outside hitter with the Omaha Supernovas, said the people involved are the reason she keeps coming back.
“They bring in really fantastic players, but also really great people, and I think this year especially, you’ll see just insane, insane athletes and level of competition,” Nuneviller said. “It’s just a really good way to ramp up, get really great reps, see how well you can perform, but then get into the Supernovas season too.”
Nuneviller said she was excited when she learned AU was coming to the city she now calls home.
“There are no other people that I’d rather play in front of,” Nuneviller said. “It’s so much fun here. They love their volleyball. I know they’ll come out and support, which will be really exciting. But also, it’s like a second home to me.”
Nuneviller has also been a go-to source for recommendations for the athletes not as familiar with Omaha looking for anything from nail salons to restaurants.
Among the other big names with local ties are Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía, who won a championship with the Supernovas a couple years ago and has been competing in AU since its inception (capturing the title in 2022) and Morgan Hentz, the former Stanford libero and three-time AU Defensive Player of the Year who will suit up for the Supernovas in 2026. Both were named team captains for week one.
Having so many ties to Omaha with this year’s group of competitors is a big boost for the league looking to attract fans to watch in-person for the first time.
“I think the fans here in Omaha love these players already, and so this is their chance to come watch them in a different environment and watch them take on some of the best players from other teams in those leagues and from around the world,” Lichtman said. “So that makes it a really exciting competition, especially for this local fan base. It’s going to be super competitive, and they can watch their favorite athletes try and climb up the leaderboard.”
Brittany Abercrombie and Madi Kingdon Rishel joined De La Cruz-Mejía and Hentz the week one captains, resulting in the teams below.
the teams have been selected 🔥
who are you rocking with for Week 1? 👀#AUProVB pic.twitter.com/7NlVWFi6wd
— AU Pro Volleyball (@AUProVolleyball) September 30, 2025
“I think it shook out really, really well,” Winters said of her team. “It’s hard, because you can’t have a bad team. Every team is so good, but not only is my team really good, I think we’re also really funny, and I think that will take us far.”
The action starts on Friday, with Team Kingdon Rishel facing Team De La Cruz-Mejía at 5:30 p.m. CT and Team Abercrombie squaring off against Team Hentz at 8 p.m. Week one continues with matches on Sunday and Monday before new captains pick their teams for week two on Tuesday.
Lichtman encouraged volleyball fans to come out to Liberty First Credit Union Arena and see AU Volleyball in person.
“I think if you’re a volleyball fan, you can’t miss this,” Lichtman said. “This is the top players in the world. We’ve got Olympians, national team members, All-Americans, and you get to watch them in kind of different combinations every week and really get to see who the top players are that emerge out of that pack, and you don’t get to see that anywhere else in the world. The fact that we’re here in Omaha, and you get to watch that in your backyard, if you’re a volleyball fan, you’ve got to come see it.”
