The Lincoln edition of the 2025 AVCA First Serve Showcase has concluded.
Similarly to how it started, Nebraska volleyball treated a sellout Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd to a thrilling win.
Nebraska swept through the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal in dominant fashion, putting up 25-13, 25-19, and 25-14 set scores. After junior middle blocker Andi Jackson was named AVCA Most Valuable Player in Friday’s win against Pittsburgh, Jackson’s counterpart, senior middle blocker Rebekah Allick, was named Sunday’s MVP.
Here are some takeaways from the dominating win:
Home cooking
In de facto home games, while playing on a neutral court, the stands inside of Pinnacle Bank Arena were 96% filled with Nebraska red. Two sellout crowds played a major role in leading the Huskers to two wins over top-10 opponents in the First Serve Showcase, and the reactions after every big play were only amplified with the crowd nearly doubled from the normal audience at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
“The environment was really special,” Allick said postgame. “It’s a lot like Devaney, but it’s a little different. I can’t quite pinpoint why. But it was really cool just to be on the receiving end of it.”
The Huskers had seven runs of three or more points, including a massive 5-0 run at the tail end of the first set to propel them to the win. The Huskers also added on a huge 6-0 run in the middle of the third set to bloat their lead from 10-7 at the media break to 16-7, cruising to the set and match win.
Clean volleyball
In one of their most efficient games in recent memory, the Huskers played clean volleyball from start to finish.
Sets one and two featured just two attack errors each, and only three service errors before the intermission. Nebraska only recorded one blocking error, and that came at the far end of set two. Set three was a little less clean, with five attack errors and one service error, but still posted a match hitting percentage of .385 with nearly 100 total swings.
“It was impressive that our players could remember [the Stanford prep] and come back to it,” head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said postgame. “They had such a great scout and, mentally every play, they were locked in for the whole match.”
Not only did the Huskers play the ball clean, but they seldom gave up the lead. Only five ties and one lead change happened in the first two sets, and set three only featured one tie and lead change apiece. In a game against No. 3 Pittsburgh marred by roller-coaster emotions and back-and-forth activity, Nebraska managed to steamroll straight through the Cardinal after breezing to a 3-1 win over Florida on Friday.
Middles make the difference
There might be a new sheriff in town with Busboom Kelly at the helm, but if anything has stayed from last year’s offense, it’s the intense run through the middle on offense.
Jackson and Allick yet again proved why they are the most lethal one-two combo in the center throughout the country. Allick posted 11 kills on two errors with 15 swings, hitting .600% for the match, while Jackson put up five kills with one error on eight swings, hitting .500%. Jackson finished the match with four blocks, and Allick recorded five.
Throughout the entire match, the Huskers could do whatever they wanted in the middle. Stanford registered zero blocks in the center of the court, while Nebraska posted a 67% block rate over the Cardinal attackers in the middle. It was an absolute masterclass amongst the bigs.
Husker opposite battle
It was expected that sophomore Virginia Adriano and senior Allie Sczech would both get some runway to win the starting opposite spot for the Huskers. After a subpar performance from Adriano on Friday, Sczech took her opportunity on Sunday and ran with it.
The Sugarland, TX, native posted 12 kills on 25 swings with only two errors, and led all scorers in kills on both sides of the net. Coming in with the only collegiate experience of any of the rostered opposites, Scezch was expected to provide a spark from her three seasons in the Big 12. What wasn’t expected of Sczech right out of the gate was for her to provide an instant takeover of the offense.
“We thought [Szcech] earned a start, and it’s early, so we want to learn about our team,” Busboom Kelly said. “There’s also part of me that wants to give your players these great opportunities. It’s Pinnacle Bank Arena, sold out crowd, I wanted Allie to have that moment.”
Sczech might find herself earning some more starts in the near future after Sunday’s performance. Don’t be surprised, though, to see Adriano get a good chunk of playing time in the non-conference. This battle is far from over.
sports@dailynebraskan.com
![Florida middle blocker Jaela Auguste (4) slams past Texas during an NCAA women’s volleyball game at Steven C. O'Connell Center Exactec arena in Gainesville, FL on Friday, November 7, 2025. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/11/08/NTGS/87159497007-gai-fl-tn-volleyball-42806.jpg?width=660&height=466&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
