Sports
Libero Competition Highlights Offseason for Nebraska Volleyball
For the last four years, Lexi Rodriguez was the rock of the Nebraska volleyball program. The four-year starter and three-year captain owned the libero position from day one and put together a highly decorated, record-setting career in Lincoln.
Now she’s playing in the pros, and finding her successor is one of the top offseason objectives for Dani Busboom Kelly as she heads into her first season as Nebraska’s head coach. Fortunately, she likes her options — senior Maisie Boesiger, junior Laney Choboy, sophomore Olivia Mauch and freshman Keri Leimbach.
“All four of them have done a great job,” Busboom Kelly said prior to Nebraska’s exhibition win against Kansas. “I think they’re having great springs, and they’re all very different, which is unique. When we set up our six-on-six teams, it’s been fun to kind of put them in maybe tougher situations, whether it be putting Olivia with the quieter team where she has to step up and be a vocal leader, and Laney maybe with more of the loud voices and see how they kind of all blend together.
“But all four of them have been very, very good, and you can pick out days where they’ve all been really impressive.”
Busboom Kelly herself spent her final season at Nebraska at libero after starting at setter, helping the Huskers win a national championship in 2006. Since then, the view of the position has changed dramatically — and Rodriguez played a part in that as she carried forth the libero legacy in Lincoln.
“I think it’s changed quite a bit,” Busboom Kelly said. “It was still kind of new in 2006 a little bit. Liberos weren’t even playing pro back then. It was really hard. And now, you go to a LOVB game and you see Lexi Rodriguez getting the loudest ovation of anybody, any team. So I think it’s become a pretty big deal to be a great libero.”
Busboom Kelly highlighted two key traits she believes a libero must possess: the ability to pass the ball at a high level and a lot of confidence. Each of them showed glimpses of meeting those requirements in Nebraska’s 4-0 win against the Jayhawks on Saturday.
Busboom Kelly gave all four defensive specialists a chance to see the court in multiple sets, with Choboy and Mauch rotating at the libero spot from set to set. The Huskers tried a different combination in each set, and Busboom Kelly said she liked what she saw from the “littles” throughout the match.
“I did tell them in the locker room as a group, the first thing I said was I was just super impressed by those four and the way they handled the changes,” Busboom Kelly said after the match. “I thought Maisie and Keri did an awesome job in their roles, and Laney and Liv — going in and out of being libero is not easy, and their stats might not be amazing when we look at them tomorrow morning, but I thought their play was very, very good, and I’m super proud of them. It’s one of the deepest groups of liberos I’ve ever coached.”
Choboy led Nebraska with 18 digs in three sets (two as libero, one as defensive specialist), adding two assists, one ace and one service error. Mauch recorded 12 digs, six assists and one ace, though she was also credited uncharacteristically with two reception errors. She also played in three sets, two as a libero and one as a defensive specialist.
Boesiger had two digs in two sets as a defensive specialist. Leimbach played in two sets, one as a defensive specialist and one as a serving specialist, notching one dig and one ace. The freshman impressed John Cook, who served as color commentator for the Big Ten Network broadcast of the match.
“In the practices that I’ve watched, I’ve been very impressed with her,” Cook said. “When you watch them in high school, they all look good. But when she got in with this group, she’s been very impressive.”
Olivia Mauch (10) dives to dig the ball with Andi Jackson against the Kansas Jayhawks. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Mauch produced one of the highlights of the night in the fourth set, dropping a back-set dime cross-court to Harper Murray, who terminated over a triple block.
“I’m going to tell you right now, Nebraska has gone to another level with their liberos on setting out of system,” Cook said after the play. “That might be the most impressive thing for me.”
Cook said who wins the libero jersey is one of the offseason storylines he’s most looking forward to following.
“They’re up to the task,” Cook said. “I was talking to Dani about how is she going to make that decision … She had a really interesting answer. She said they’re all so even, they’re all passing-wise very good, serving. It’s going to come down to personality; what does the team need? They’re all very different personalities. So I thought that was a very interesting answer. I would never look at it that way, but that’s Dani and her instincts. She was a high-level player, and those are important things. What player is going to help that team feel comfortable and confident and be the best fit?”
From a personality standpoint, the two main contenders for the job — Choboy and Mauch — are almost complete opposites, which makes Busboom Kelly’s response all the more interesting.
“They both go about it their own way,” Harper Murray said. “I think Liv is a little bit more like Lexi as a person, a little bit more quiet and reserved, but they both have their own way about it, and it’s special, no matter how they’re going to do it.”
While an NCAA rule change allows teams to dress two players in the libero jersey and rotate them during the match, Busboom Kelly said she would prefer to have the consistency of one person filling the libero jersey. Fortunately for Nebraska, whoever ends up winning the competition will have had the best mentor one could hope for.
“I think Lexi is the type of person that’s going to leave her mark, and that’s exactly what she did, and I know that they all want to continue her legacy and continue to make us and our teammates and our fans and Lexi proud,” Murray said. “I know that they took a lot away from her, and I’m sure they’re going to find their own special way to show that. We obviously miss Lexi a lot, but it’s now their turn to fill her shoes, and they’ve done a great job of that.”
Over his first two campaigns, Caleb Smith has produced successful efforts in the heptathlon and decathlon events. He broke the school record in the heptathlon, posting his best total of 4,952 points to win the Middlebury Winter Classic. A few weeks later, Smith paced the event at the Division III New England Championships to earn all-region accolades and qualify for the NCAA Championships. He translated that success to the decathlon, winning the title at the Carla Coffey Invitational and Williams’ Farley Interregional Extravaganza. He garnered All-NESCAC accolades with a third-place showing in the high jump and claimed all-region honors in the decathlon.
Sam McGarrahan returns after a superb season in the field events. He qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the high jump, clearing the bar with the 18th-best height at 1.95 meters. McGarrahan topped the podium in the event during the Division III New England Championships, soaring to a school-record effort of 2.05 meters. He also set the program mark in the long jump, leaping 6.81 meters at Middlebury’s New England Small College Invitational. McGarrahan became the NESCAC Champion in school-record fashion in the high jump (2.00 meters) and recorded a third-place leap in the long jump. His high jump efforts outdoors earned him all-region honors.
For the first time since the 2018-2019 season, all three schools advanced past the Area round of the playoffs. Archer City and Holliday both were Regional Semifinalists, while Windthorst was a State Semifinalist for the fourth-straight season. With that success comes state recognition Holliday senior Jordan Peters closed out her final season as a Lady Eagle with an All-State honor from the Texa…
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Sports
Cedar Rapids wrestler chases her dream, from a volleyball player to a young star in the sport
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – When Maggie Peters is home, she’s locked in.
She lifts weights at a gym in her hometown of Cedar Rapids. But it’s not just for strength – it’s for safety.
“One things goes wrong, and you’ve got people’s lives in your hands,” she said. “I mean, you don’t want to drop somebody on their head.”
But more often than not, Peters is on the road. Her sport is professional wrestling.
She’s performed performed in front of thousands in arenas and on television. Her fights may be scripted, but her dream of reaching WWE is real.
Peters has a background in volleyball, playing at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Kirkwood Community College and Mount Mercy. But her dream has always been in the wrestling ring.
“I wanted to do it right when I started watching I wanna say I was eight or nine I would just go wrestle on my trampoline,” Peters said.
She went from the volleyball court at Mount Mercy to a wrestling school in Davenport.
“We would have a show on a Thursday night, so I would leave class early,” said Peters. “But at that point, I will say, my senior year was my worst year of school. Once I got the wrestling training done, I was like, ‘ooh, this is what I want to do.’”
In professional wrestling, the winner and loser are predetermined, unlike traditional sports.
“Pro wrestling, I will say, is like a dance,” Peters said.
But there’s nothing fake about the pain wrestlers endure, what they call “bumps.”
“Any time you get put down on the mat, you’re taking a bump. You’re hitting the top of your back,” Peters said. “Higher on your neck, sometimes, (is) not good.”
Maggie wrestles in independent shows across the Midwest under the ring name Maggie Lee. She also performs in front of thousands in TNA Wrestling as the villainous character “M By Elegance.”
“Yeah, I do like being the bad guy,” Peters said. “I’ve worked a mix of both the bad guy and the good guy on the independents. But everybody was like, ‘you look more like you as the bad guy.’ I was like, ‘gee, thanks,” Peters said.
TNA – Total Nonstop Action – is high-level televised professional wrestling, one step below WWE.
“I actually really love the whole TV aspect. It’s very organized. Being able to see myself on TV is really cool,” Peters laughed.
Maggie hopes a full-time contract with WWE is next. She’s banking on it, writing a card to her mother labeled “open when I’m in the WWE.”
“And it was one of many letters. I made them for her birthday,” Peters said.
When asked about the letter’s contents, Peters said she doesn’t remember what she wrote as a girl.
“I don’t even remember what’s in it, so I’m kind of like scared,” she said. “When she does open it, I feel like it’s going to be a big deal and I might get embarrassed.”
Sometimes she’s flying high, sometimes she’s taking bumps.
Either way, she’s racing towards her dream.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
OMAHA (KMTV) — She might have a new name, but Norah (Sis) Tebrake still brings the same infectious smile to the court.
The former CU volleyball star is now married to former Creighton baseball standout Dylan Tebrake.
“He’s always encouraging me and challenging me,” said Norah. “And I try to do the same for him. I think it’s such a cool dynamic.”
After spending her first pro season helping Orlando to a league title, Norah had now returned to Omaha to play for the Supernovas. But returning to her hometown actually did take some getting used to again.
“I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold,” Tebrake said. “But now coming back after spending just one winter away, I feel like I can’t handle the cold.”
Along with reuniting with some former Bluejays, Tebrake has also formed friendships with her former rivals and now current teammates, including ex-NU star Merritt Beason.
“She’s just so joyful and leads with so much grace and so much love,” said Beason. “You can see that in her play. She’s one of the best people that I’ve ever met and it’s been so fun getting to know her.”
“To have people that know just kind of what makes you tick and what you need on the court and off the court is super helpful,” Tebrake said. “Obviously we’re all learning that about each other but just to come in knowing that there’s people that already know that about me has been super comforting.”
The Novas host San Diego in the season opener on Thursday at 7 PM at CHI Health Center.
Jan. 7, 2026, 4:01 a.m. ET
After a strong 2024 fall season, high school girls volleyball on the South Shore had an even better one in 2025.
There were two local state-championship-winning teams on the court this year. Oliver Ames finished off the best season in program history by winning it’s first-ever Division 2 state title in it’s second ever appearance (which came last season). On the same day, East Bridgewater followed that up with a program-first of their own, winning it’s first-ever Division 4 state championship in it’s first appearance.
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