The Huskers project as national-title contenders — their shiny No. 1 preseason ranking agrees — but the journey ahead comes with its share of questions, too.

Here’s a look at the players, storylines, numbers and matches to know as another season begins at the Devaney Center.

Defensive specialist; 5-4; Fr.

Hometown: Lincoln (Lincoln Lutheran).

She played on four state championship teams at Lincoln Lutheran and is the first player from her high school to get a spot on the Husker volleyball team.

Hometown: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

In each of her first two seasons, she’s set the Huskers to the NCAA Tournament Final Four, was the Big Ten setter of the year and earned second-team All-American honors.

Right-side hitter; 6-4; Sr.

Hometown: Sugar Land, Texas.

As a junior at Baylor last season, she had a solid .273 hitting percentage while earning second-team all-Big 12 honors.

Hometown: Oakland, Michigan.

She was ranked as the No. 1 setter recruit in the country and No. 4 player overall by PrepDig. She was also the Gatorade national player of the year for high school volleyball.

Hometown: Lincoln (Waverly).

The three-year starter looks poised to have a big senior season and is on pace to be one of the most productive blockers in program history. She ranked 14th nationally in blocking last season (1.43 per set).

Defensive specialist; 5-3; Jr.

Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina.

Last season, she ranked fifth on the team in digs with 185. Now she’ll have an opportunity to earn the libero job.

Defensive specialist; 5-6; Sr.

Hometown: Firth (Norris).

As a serving specialist last season, she had some long serving runs.

Hometown: Gilbert, Arizona.

She was a late addition to Nebraska’s freshmen class after a coaching change at Oregon. With her club team, Arizona Storm, she won two national championships.

Right-side hitter; 6-5; So.

She joined the Huskers in June and has the potential to help Nebraska’s offense considerably. She would be the program’s first letterwinner from Italy.

Defensive specialist; 5-6; So.

With Mauch and Laney Choboy in the back row, the graduation of All-American libero Lexi Rodriguez may not be as noticeable as some fans were expecting.

Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona.

She’s the No. 1-ranked overall recruit in the 2025 recruiting class. Sigler shot up John Cook’s recruiting list after she “put on a show” at a national tournament.

Hometown: Plainfield, Illinois.

The 2022 Big Ten player of the year, while at Minnesota, will have a chance to write a great final chapter for her college career during her second season with the Huskers.

Hometown: Santa Rosa Valley, California.

She was a late addition to Nebraska’s 2025 recruiting class. She had been committed to Northwestern but made a switch after a coaching change there.

Hometown: Brighton, Colorado.

She had a breakout sophomore season, improving her hitting percentage by 40 points from her freshman season to earn first-team All-American honors. She nearly helped Nebraska reach the national championship match, with a career-high 19 kills on .630 hitting in the NCAA semifinal loss against Penn State.

Right-side hitter; 6-2; Fr.

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina.

She’s coming back from a knee injury during her final year of high school, but she showed her significant potential at times during the spring season.

Outside hitter; 6-2; RFr.

Hometown: Lenexa, Kansas.

She was ranked as the No. 4-overall recruit and No. 1 outside hitter by PrepDig.com for the 2024 recruiting class. She redshirted in her first season at Nebraska.

Hometown: Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Just some of what she accomplished last season: second-team All-American, all-Big Ten honors, NCAA Championship all-tournament team, Lincoln Regional most outstanding player and led Nebraska in kills (411) and ace serves (39).

Pinnacle Bank Arena debut: For several years, Nebraska volleyball fans pleaded for the Huskers to play a match at Lincoln’s large downtown arena, and that’s how this season will begin. Nebraska opens the season with two matches at Pinnacle Bank Arena as part of the season-starting AVCA First Serve event that brings seven other teams to Lincoln: Penn State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Creighton, Florida, Kansas and Vanderbilt. Top-ranked Nebraska plays No. 3 Pittsburgh on Friday, Aug. 22,  and No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Dani’s impact: Nearly all of Nebraska’s 17 players are at Nebraska in part because of retired coach John Cook. Now we’ll see if some small changes implemented by new head coach Dani Busboom Kelly can help take some players to the next level. Does setter Bergen Reilly go to the next level with the location, speed and variety of her sets? Do Rebekah Allick and Taylor Landfair thrive in what could be a slightly faster offense? Remember, with just a few more kills, Nebraska likely would have beaten Penn State in the NCAA semifinals last year and then played for the title against Busboom-Kelly and the Louisville Cardinals.

First-team All-American on the pin: Does Nebraska have a first-team All-American caliber player at outside hitter or right-side hitter? If so, the Huskers’ chances of winning a national championship improve significantly. You can win it all without such a player, but the recent national champions have had a go-to player on the pin: Jess Mruzik (Penn State), Madisen Skinner (Texas) and Logan Eggleston (Texas). Last year in the national semifinals, Penn State got more from its collection of pin hitters than Nebraska did and won the match.

66. Nebraska’s 66-5 record over the previous two seasons is the most wins for an NCAA Division I women’s volleyball team in that stretch. Next on the list are Dayton (63), Pittsburgh (62), Creighton (61), Arizona State (58), Penn State (58), Western Kentucky (58), Louisville (57) and Stanford (57). Nebraska’s 33 wins last season were tied for the most victories by a Husker team since the 2000 national championship team went 34-0.

12. That’s how many Nebraska players were Top 25 national recruits in their class, including three No. 1 overall recruits at the outside hitter position. Recruiting rankings don’t win championships, but there isn’t any position where Nebraska doesn’t have a high-level “backup” if a player is injured or not producing at a high level, and that hasn’t always been the case during the past decade. Nebraska’s top 25 national recruits are: Harper Murray (1), Taylor Landfair (1), Teraya Sigler (1), Bergen Reilly (4), Campbell Flynn (4), Skyler Pierce (4), Andi Jackson (6), Rebekah Allick (6), Laney Choboy (8), Olivia Mauch (16), Manaia Ogbechie (19) and Kenna Cogill (24).

1,499. Nebraska enters the season with 1,499 all-time victories and will be looking to become the first NCAA Division I volleyball program to reach 1,500 all-time wins when the season begins.

Week 1: Nebraska hosts Pittsburgh on Friday and plays Stanford on Sunday. Those teams are ranked No. 3 and No. 6 to start the season, and the caliber of teams you often play in an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight match.

Week 11: This is a challenging week with a late Friday night match at Wisconsin and a Sunday afternoon match against Oregon back in Lincoln. Wisconsin, because of its team and intimidating environment for the road team, is one of the toughest places to win on the road in the Big Ten.

Week 15: The Big Ten title could come down to the final weekend, when Nebraska hosts Penn State on Friday and Ohio State on Saturday. Nebraska and Penn State will have already played once, on Oct. 3 at State College.

Pinnacle Bank Arena debut: For several years, Nebraska volleyball fans pleaded for the Huskers to play a match at Lincoln’s large downtown arena, and that’s how this season will begin. Nebraska opens the season with two matches at Pinnacle Bank Arena as part of the season-starting AVCA First Serve event that brings seven other teams to Lincoln: Penn State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Creighton, Florida, Kansas and Vanderbilt. Top-ranked Nebraska plays No. 3 Pittsburgh on Friday, Aug. 22,  and No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Dani’s impact: Nearly all of Nebraska’s 17 players are at Nebraska in part because of retired coach John Cook. Now we’ll see if some small changes implemented by new head coach Dani Busboom Kelly can help take some players to the next level. Does setter Bergen Reilly go to the next level with the location, speed and variety of her sets? Do Rebekah Allick and Taylor Landfair thrive in what could be a slightly faster offense? Remember, with just a few more kills, Nebraska likely would have beaten Penn State in the NCAA semifinals last year and then played for the title against Busboom-Kelly and the Louisville Cardinals.

First-team All-American on the pin: Does Nebraska have a first-team All-American caliber player at outside hitter or right-side hitter? If so, the Huskers’ chances of winning a national championship improve significantly. You can win it all without such a player, but the recent national champions have had a go-to player on the pin: Jess Mruzik (Penn State), Madisen Skinner (Texas) and Logan Eggleston (Texas). Last year in the national semifinals, Penn State got more from its collection of pin hitters than Nebraska did and won the match.

66. Nebraska’s 66-5 record over the previous two seasons is the most wins for an NCAA Division I women’s volleyball team in that stretch. Next on the list are Dayton (63), Pittsburgh (62), Creighton (61), Arizona State (58), Penn State (58), Western Kentucky (58), Louisville (57) and Stanford (57). Nebraska’s 33 wins last season were tied for the most victories by a Husker team since the 2000 national championship team went 34-0.

12. That’s how many Nebraska players were Top 25 national recruits in their class, including three No. 1 overall recruits at the outside hitter position. Recruiting rankings don’t win championships, but there isn’t any position where Nebraska doesn’t have a high-level “backup” if a player is injured or not producing at a high level, and that hasn’t always been the case during the past decade. Nebraska’s top 25 national recruits are: Harper Murray (1), Taylor Landfair (1), Teraya Sigler (1), Bergen Reilly (4), Campbell Flynn (4), Skyler Pierce (4), Andi Jackson (6), Rebekah Allick (6), Laney Choboy (8), Olivia Mauch (16), Manaia Ogbechie (19) and Kenna Cogill (24).

1,499. Nebraska enters the season with 1,499 all-time victories and will be looking to become the first NCAA Division I volleyball program to reach 1,500 all-time wins when the season begins.

Week 1: Nebraska hosts Pittsburgh on Friday and plays Stanford on Sunday. Those teams are ranked No. 3 and No. 6 to start the season, and the caliber of teams you often play in an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight match.

Week 11: This is a challenging week with a late Friday night match at Wisconsin and a Sunday afternoon match against Oregon back in Lincoln. Wisconsin, because of its team and intimidating environment for the road team, is one of the toughest places to win on the road in the Big Ten.

Week 15: The Big Ten title could come down to the final weekend, when Nebraska hosts Penn State on Friday and Ohio State on Saturday. Nebraska and Penn State will have already played once, on Oct. 3 at State College.