NEB VB Preview: vs. No. 25 Penn State, Ohio State
PREVIEW
• The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team finishes the regular season with a pair of home matches at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center this weekend.
• Nebraska hosts No. 25 Penn State on Black Friday at 5:30 p.m. in a Nebraska Volleyball Blackout. The Huskers will wear black uniforms and play on the black court. Fans are asked to wear black on Friday and stick around after the match for a Big Ten Championship celebration.
• The Big Red finishes the regular season on Senior Night against Ohio State at 8 p.m. on Saturday. After the match, the Huskers will honor their four seniors: Rebekah Allick, Maisie Boesiger, Taylor Landfair and Allie Sczech.
• Both matches this weekend will be televised on Big Ten Network and streamed on FoxSports.com. Larry Punteney will handle play-by-play duties for both matches, while Emily Ehman will be the analyst on Friday and Nancy Metcalf on Saturday.
• Huskers Radio Network will broadcast all the action on their volleyball affiliate stations, on Huskers.com and on the Huskers App. John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will be on the call.
ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska clinched the outright Big Ten title after its win at No. 17 Indiana on Saturday.
• Nebraska has won 37 conference titles all-time, including six in the Big Ten (2011, 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024, 2025).
• The Huskers have won three straight conference titles for the first time since 2004-08.
• Dani Busboom Kelly became the first volleyball coach in Big Ten history to win the conference title in the first year as head coach at the school. John Cook won a Big Ten title at Nebraska in his first year in the conference in 2011, but it was his 12th season as head coach at Nebraska at the time.
• Nebraska is 28-0 on the season and looking to complete an unbeaten regular season for the third time in school history (1994 and 2000).
• Nebraska has had win streaks of 25 or more matches in three straight seasons: 27 in 2023, 25 in 2024 and now 28 in 2025.
• The Huskers are looking to complete their first-ever undefeated Big Ten season since joining the conference in 2011.
• Nebraska’s last unbeaten conference season was 20-0 in the Big 12 in 2004.
• Since the move to a 20-match Big Ten schedule in 1991, seven teams have gone 20-0. The last team to do it was Penn State in 2009. Wisconsin went 15-0 in Big Ten play in the shortened season played in the spring of 2021.
• Among current Power 4 schools, the now-retired Mick Haley is the only coach to have an undefeated conference season at two different Power 4 schools (Texas and USC). Busboom Kelly went 18-0 in ACC play at Louisville in 2021 and is aiming to go 20-0 in the Big Ten in her first year at Nebraska in 2025.
• Nebraska has hit over .400 six times this season. The only other Husker teams in the rally-scoring era to go over .400 more than five times in a season are 2005 (eight times), 2002 and 2006 (six times).
• Nebraska is 80-0 this season in sets when reaching the red zone (20 points) first.
• NU’s offense ranks first nationally with a .349 hitting percentage. The Huskers haven’t hit better than .300 in a season since 2007 (.327). The school record for hitting percentage in a season is .331 in 1986. The school record in the rally scoring era is .327 in 2007.
• The Huskers rank first nationally in opponent hitting percentage at .127. NU led the nation in opponent hitting percentage in 2022 and 2023 and was sixth in 2024.
• The gap between Nebraska’s hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage is .222, by far the best in the nation. The next closest is American (.161) and Pittsburgh (.143).
• Nebraska ranks first in the Big Ten and third nationally in kills per set at 14.71.
• The Huskers are second in the Big Ten and seventh nationally in assists per set at 13.47.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten and 16th nationally with 2.73 blocks per set.
• Over the last five seasons (2021-25), Dani Busboom Kelly has a 148-15 record for a .908 winning percentage, which is the best by any Division I head coach in that span.
• Nebraska swept 15 matches in a row and won 48 sets in a row from late September through mid-November. Both were the longest such streaks since the 2007 team swept 17 matches in a row and won 53 sets in a row.
• Nebraska played 24 sets in the month of October and went 24-0. In only two sets did an opponent reach 20 points (at Purdue - 23 in set one, and at Michigan State - 20 in set three).
• Nebraska’s non-conference schedule included matches against three top-10 teams and five ranked teams. The Huskers went 3-0 against top-10 teams and 5-0 against ranked teams. Overall, NU is 10-0 against ranked teams this season.
ROTATION RUNDOWN
• Junior setter Bergen Reilly paces the balanced Husker attack with 10.38 assists per set, and she also contributes 2.68 digs per set.
• Reilly ranks No. 3 in school history in career assists in the rally scoring era with 3,506.
• Reilly has been named Big Ten Setter of the Week four times this season and 13 times in her career.
• Reilly’s career assists per set average of 10.69 ranks No. 3 among active Division I players and No. 2 in school history in the rally scoring era.
• Outside hitter Harper Murray is having a sensational junior season. She leads the team with 3.56 kills per set and is hitting a career-best .301. Murray averages 2.21 digs per set and has a team-high 27 aces.
• Murray has 1,112 career kills, which ranks 23rd in school history. She needs 38 more to move into the top 20 all-time at NU.
• Murray is seventh in school history in the rally-scoring era in career aces with 102.
• Junior middle blocker Andi Jackson is averaging 2.75 kills per set on .467 hitting with 1.11 blocks per set. Her hitting percentage leads the nation and would rank as the third-best hitting percentage in school history for a season behind Tracy Stalls (.473 in 2007) and Lauren Stivrins (.468 in 2020).
• Jackson has a career hitting percentage of .435, which is the No. 1 mark in school history and the No. 1 mark among active Division I players.
• In conference-only matches, Jackson is hitting .561. The Big Ten record for hitting percentage in conference-only matches is .541 by Arielle Wilson from Penn State in 2008.
• Senior middle blocker Rebekah Allick is having the best offensive season of her career with 2.51 kills per set on .419 hitting with 1.33 blocks per set. Her hitting percentage and blocks per set rank third in the Big Ten.
• Allick ranks No. 5 in career blocks at Nebraska in the rally scoring era with 523, which also ranks No. 4 among active Division I players.
• Senior outside hitter Taylor Landfair provides 2.11 kills per set and is hitting a career-best .322. Landfair is hitting .362 in Big Ten matches.
• Landfair has played in 147 career matches, which is second most by any active Division I player.
• Freshman opposite hitter Virginia Adriano adds 2.25 kills per set. In Big Ten matches, Adriano is hitting .314 with 2.42 kills per set.
• Adriano is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, including this past Monday.
• Freshman Teraya Sigler has started every match in the back row for the Huskers. Sigler is averaging 1.49 digs per set and has 69 kills on the season.
• Laney Choboy (2.76 digs per set) and Olivia Mauch (2.51 digs per set) lead the Husker back row. Choboy earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 10 after a career-high 20 kills against Illinois.
SCOUTING PENN STATE
• No. 25 Penn State (17-11, 11-7 Big Ten) has won three matches in a row over Ohio State, Michigan State and Maryland.
• Kennedy Martin paces the Nittany Lions with 5.43 kills per set, which ranks first among Big Ten players and second nationally.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• Ohio State (6-20, 3-15 Big Ten) plays Friday night at Iowa before finishing its season in Lincoln. The Buckeyes snapped a four-match skid with a 3-1 victory against Michigan State on Sunday on Senior Day.
• Hannah Jones leads OSU with 3.40 kills per set.
SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 29-13 all-time against Penn State. The Huskers blitzed the Nittany Lions at Rec Hall on Oct. 3, 25-6, 25-15, 25-13.
• Nebraska is 20-10 all-time against Ohio State and this will be the first meeting this season. The Huskers beat the Buckeyes in three sets in both 2023 and 2024.
HOME SWEET HOME
• Nebraska has won 58 home matches in a row dating back to Dec. 1, 2022, which is the longest active streak in the nation. It is tied for the sixth-longest streak in NCAA history.
• The Huskers’ home win streak is its longest since moving into the Devaney Center in 2013, and it’s the third-longest home win streak in program history.
• Nebraska’s longest all-time home win streak was 90 matches from 2004-09. Nebraska’s second-longest home win streak is 63 matches from 1999-2002.
• Penn State holds the all-time record of 94 from 2006-10.
• The Huskers went 22-0 at home in 2024, a school record for home wins in a season.
• Nebraska has won 26 consecutive NCAA Tournament matches played in the Devaney Center, a school record.
THREE HUSKERS ARE AVCA POTY SEMIFINALISTS
• Three Huskers are among the remaining 14 players eligible to be named AVCA Player of the Year. Andi Jackson, Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly were all named semifinalists.
• Jackson, a middle blocker, and Reilly, a setter, are the only players at their respective positions still in contention.
• Finalists will be announced on Dec. 15, and the Player of the Year Award will be presented in Kansas City at the AVCA Awards Banquet on Friday, Dec. 19.
BIG RED WINS BIG TEN DISCOVER CHALLENGE
• The Nebraska volleyball team collected the first-ever Big Ten Discover Challenge trophy in the month of October.
• Five selected matches for each Big Ten team played on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in October counted toward the challenge standings.
• Nebraska and Purdue both went 5-0, but the Huskers won the tiebreaker with a perfect 15-0 record in sets.
BUSBOOM KELLY DEBUTS AS NEW HEAD COACH
• Nebraska native Dani Busboom Kelly was named the fourth head coach in program history on Jan. 29, 2025 by Nebraska Director of Athletics Troy Dannen. Busboom Kelly succeeds her former coach and mentor, John Cook, who announced his retirement following the 2024 season after 25 seasons as Nebraska’s head volleyball coach.
• A Husker national champion player and assistant coach, Busboom Kelly spent eight years (2017-24) building Louisville into a national power. The Cardinals reached two NCAA Championship matches, three NCAA Semifinals, five regional finals and won four ACC titles.
• Busboom Kelly compiled a 203-44 (.822) record in her eight seasons at Louisville, including a 120-15 (.889) mark from 2021-24, which was the second-best winning percentage in the country during that span. In 2024, the Cardinals reached the NCAA Championship match for the second time in three seasons.
• Busboom Kelly was the starting libero on Nebraska’s 2006 national championship team, and she was an assistant coach when the Huskers won the 2015 national championship in Omaha. She took the helm at Louisville late in 2016 after being named AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year in her final season as a Husker assistant, and she guided the Cardinals to heights the program had never experienced.
HUSKERS WELCOME EIGHT NEWCOMERS
• Eight of the 17 players on the 2025 roster are newcomers.
• Senior opposite hitter Allie Sczech is the lone transfer the Huskers brought in for 2025. Sczech was a two-time All-Big 12 Second Team performer at Baylor, averaging 2.44 kills per set with a .273 hitting percentage in 2024. Sczech posted a career-high 21 kills and hit .463 in Baylor’s NCAA Tournament second round defeat to Dayton last year. She totaled 754 kills in three seasons at Baylor.
• In addition to Sczech, seven freshmen have joined the fold. Campbell Flynn (6-3, Setter), Ryan Hunter (6-2, Opposite Hitter), Keri Leimbach (5-4, Libero) and Teraya Sigler (6-3, Outside Hitter) all enrolled at Nebraska in January. Virginia Adriano (6-5, Opposite Hitter), Kenna Cogill (6-4, Middle Blocker) and Manaia Ogbechie (6-3, Middle Blocker) joined the Huskers in June.
REGENTS APPROVE NAMING OF JOHN COOK ARENA
• The home of Nebraska Volleyball will now officially bear the name of one of the legendary coaches in the history of the sport, as the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the naming of John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
• Cook retired in January following a remarkable 25-year run as the Huskers’ head coach. He guided the Huskers to four national championships, 12 NCAA Semifinal appearances and 14 conference championships. Cook achieved a career record of 883-176 (.834), the fifth-best winning percentage all-time for a Division I volleyball coach. His record of 722-103 at Nebraska was the best winning percentage (.875) for any DI program from 2000-24.
• In addition to the naming of John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, the project also includes a bronze statue honoring Cook on the north side of the Devaney Sports Center. Nationally recognized sculpture artist and Nebraska native George Lundeen was commissioned to produce the life-size tribute to Cook and his career.
• The court inside John Cook Arena will continue to hold the name of Terry Pettit Court to recognize Cook’s predecessor and fellow Hall of Famer. Additionally, the full athletics complex will continue to be named the Bob Devaney Sports Center in honor of Nebraska Hall of Fame football coach and long-time athletic director Bob Devaney.
HUSKERS SET FOR 23 TV BROADCASTS
• Nebraska volleyball airs on television 23 times this season. The Huskers have 18 national TV appearances on Big Ten Network, FOX, FS1, ABC and ESPN.
• Additionally, Nebraska Public Media was granted the rights to televise the Red-White Scrimmage (Aug. 9), the Alumni Match (Aug. 16), and three regular-season home matches: Grand Canyon (Sept. 13), Maryland (Sept. 27) and Northwestern (Oct. 24).
• All matches that are televised on Nebraska Public Media are also streamed on B1G+. All home matches and Big Ten road matches not selected for TV are streamed on B1G+.
• NU’s match at Lipscomb is available on ESPN+.
FOUR HUSKERS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN
• Four student-athletes from the Nebraska volleyball team were named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team after a vote by the league’s 18 head coaches.
• Juniors Andi Jackson, Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly were three of just five unanimous selections to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team. They were joined on the 20-player team by senior Rebekah Allick.
• The coaches picked Nebraska as the top team in the preseason poll. The Huskers won their fifth Big Ten title in 2024 with a 19-1 conference record to share the crown with Penn State. Nebraska finished the season at 33-3 and reached the NCAA Semifinals. Penn State, Wisconsin, Minnesota and UCLA rounded out the top five.
• Jackson, a junior middle blocker, had a breakout year in 2024, earning AVCA All-America First Team and unanimous All-Big Ten First Team honors. Jackson averaged 2.62 kills per set with a .439 hitting percentage, which ranked sixth in the nation and fourth in school history. She also put up 1.18 blocks per set.
• Murray, a junior outside hitter, was an AVCA Second Team All-American last year after earning third-team honors as a freshman. Murray led the Huskers in 2024 with 3.40 kills per set and a team-high 39 service aces. She is a two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection. Murray was selected to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team last season and was the NCAA Lincoln Regional Most Outstanding Player.
• Reilly, a junior setter, is the first player in Big Ten history to win Big Ten Setter of the Year as both a freshman and sophomore, and she is coming off her second straight AVCA All-America Second Team honor. Reilly averaged 11.08 assists per set in 2024 while leading the Huskers to a .284 hitting percentage, their best since 2016.
• Allick, a senior middle blocker, recorded 1.82 kills per set in 2024 with a career-best .357 hitting percentage. She had a team-high 1.43 blocks per set, which ranked third among Big Ten players and 14th nationally. Allick ranks sixth in school history with 415 career blocks entering the 2025 season. She was an All-Big Ten Second Team selection in 2022 and 2023.
Landfair, Sczech Selected in MLV Draft
• Nebraska volleyball seniors Taylor Landfair and Allie Sczech were selected in the 2025 Major League Volleyball Draft on Nov. 24.
• Landfair was the No. 28 overall pick by the Indy Ignite. One pick later at No. 29, Sczech was selected by the Omaha Supernovas.
FLYNN NAMED GATORADE NATIONAL POTY
• Freshman Campbell Flynn was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year on Jan. 10.
• Flynn, a 6-3 setter from Oakland, Mich., was a two-time Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year. She recorded 730 assists and 180 digs in her senior season for Mercy High School, leading the Marlins to a 31-3 record and the Division I regional semifinals in 2024. Flynn also compiled 131 kills, 52 blocks and 36 service aces while posting a .394 hitting percentage at net.
• Flynn was a member of the U.S. U21 Women’s National Team that won the gold medal at the NORCECA Championships in 2024 and was ranked as the nation’s No. 4 overall recruit and top setter recruit in the Class of 2025 by PrepDig.com. Flynn concluded her prep volleyball career, which included a state championship in 2023, with 1,973 assists and 737 kills. She also competed in the Under Armour All-America Game. Off the court, Flynn maintained a 3.94 GPA in the classroom.
• Flynn is the sixth Husker all-time to be named the Gatorade National Player of the Year. The others are Harper Murray (2022-23), Ally Batenhorst (2020-21), Lexi Sun (2016-17), Mikaela Foecke (2014-15) and Gina Mancuso (2008-09).
FLYNN, SIGLER EARN GATORADE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
• In addition to being named Gatorade National Player of the Year, Campbell Flynn was named the Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year for the second straight year, while fellow Husker newcomer Teraya Sigler was named the Gatorade Arizona Volleyball Player of the Year for the second straight time.
• Sigler, a 6-2 outside hitter from Scottsdale, Ariz., led Horizon High School to a 25-5 record and a fourth straight Conference 5A state championship in 2024. Sigler amassed 619 kills and 354 digs, including 33 kills and 20 digs in the state championship match. She also had 65 service aces and 28 blocks while posting a .398 hitting percentage.
• Ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2025 by PrepDig.com, Sigler was a member of the U.S. U21 Women’s National Team that won the gold medal at the NORCECA Championships in 2024. She concluded her prep volleyball career with 1,951 kills and 1,128 digs and competed in the Under Armour All-America Game.
2024 SEASON IN REVIEW
• Nebraska finished the 2024 season 33-3 overall and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the second year in a row and seventh time in the last 10 years.
• Nebraska won its 36th all-time conference title and fifth Big Ten title with a 19-1 record in Big Ten play last season. The Huskers went back-to-back as Big Ten champions for the second time, also accomplishing that feat in 2016 and 2017.
• The Huskers’ 29 regular-season wins last year tied the 1983 school record for most wins in a regular season in the NCAA era.
• The Huskers’ 33 wins last season were tied for the most victories by a Husker team since the 2000 national championship team went 34-0.
• The Huskers ranked 11th nationally with a team hitting percentage of .284 in 2024.
• The Huskers ranked sixth nationally and first in the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage at .143 last season. NU led the nation in opponent hitting percentage in 2022 and 2023.