For months, the University of Nebraska’s volleyball team looked absolutely untouchable. The Cornhuskers went undefeated in regular season play, dropping just seven sets all year, and one in Big 10 play. Sweeping 27 out of the 34 matches they played in this year, the season that most thought would end in Nebraska’s 6th national championship came to a heartbreaking end in the Elite 8.
“We played our hearts out and had a lot of things against us this week, and we still were that close,” head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said after the loss. Before the match, the Huskers faced adversity off the volleyball court, dealing with injury and illness at the most critical part of the season.
Setter Bergen Reilly, the Big Ten setter and player of the year, was one of the players struck the hardest. Coming down with an illness before the game only hurt the Huskers, “She’s the best setter I’ve ever played with… and the fact that she could go out there feeling as sick as she does and still work her butt off… It’s truly amazing, ” junior Harper Murray said after the game.
Under normal circumstances, Nebraska would have adjusted and gone with backup setter Campbell Flynn. Instead, Reilly had no choice but to grind it out because Flynn was already sidelined with a broken finger that had happened two days prior. “[If Bergen can’t play] it’s kinda like we’ll roll the dice, maybe play the old like, rotate whoever’s in the right front will set. We’ll see,” Busboom Kelly said jokingly when asked about the limited options.
If that wasn’t enough, senior Allie Sczech was sidelined just five minutes before gametime after tripping on a ball during warmups. Earlier in the fall, this Nebraska team thrived on its bench, with many people claiming they have the two best teams in the nation on one roster, the starters and the reserves. DBK was constantly switching up the lineups, adding and removing players when needed, and taking pride in it.
Busboom Kelly leaned into her bench in ways few programs felt comfortable doing, “I think a lot of coaches are scared to [rotate players mid-game] for a lot of reasons, because I think it potentially could mess up your rhythm,” she said. “But I think it has helped us stay consistent.”
Unfortunately for the Cornhuskers, their depth was limited in the Elite Eight game against Texas A&M. Nebraska went on to drop the first two sets of the game, 25-22, battling back to win the third, 20-25. The fourth went to extras, with Nebraska forcing a fifth set, 35-37. They ultimately fell in the fifth, 15-13.
The loss stung even more because it seemed familiar to the Cornhuskers. Nebraska has consistently put together teams capable of winning it all, only to fall short each year. The last three years have ended in similar fashion, with expectations being very high and ending with an upset.
Seasons filled with dominance ended with no national hardware, and this narrative has followed the program the last few years. Among the fan base, it has become impossible to ignore, with one fan stating, “Nebraska Volleyball and choking in the postseason. Name a better duo.” Other fans pushed back, saying, “Honestly you got to just salute Texas A&M because this wasn’t no fluke. This wasn’t Nebraska choking, this was Texas A&M just playing better than Nebraska.”
Knowing Volleyball fans would have something to say about the upset, Busboom-Kelly did not want to take anything away from this successful Cornhuskers team and everything they achieved. “We can look back and have no regrets,” she said, referring to a resume that consisted of a 33-1 record, a Big Ten championship, and a lot of national respect.
