With the first game less than a month away, the pendulum is beginning to swing ever closer to volleyball season being back.
The 2025 Nebraska squad is seeking to avenge a reverse-sweep loss at the hands of the eventual national champion Penn State in the Final Four. They brought in a mountain of new faces and an old friend this offseason.
The journey to try and make it to the eventual promised land begins in downtown Chicago for the annual Big Ten Volleyball Media Days.
This year, the Huskers were represented by junior outside hitter Harper Murray and senior middle blocker Rebekah Allick, in addition to first-year head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. Here are three quick hits from their news conference.
Virginia Adriano’s arrival to the United States
The addition of sophomore opposite hitter Virginia Adriano took a lot of convincing, but there will be no penalty for her making her way to the Western Hemisphere.
Adriano was being recruited before Busboom Kelly accepted the job to be Nebraska’s fourth head coach, with the wheels in motion under former head coach John Cook.
“I certainly didn’t find her or go over to Italy and recruit her,” Busboom Kelly said.
The NCAA used the same approach that they traditionally use when international players who have played professionally come to the states. Salary and age are the two key components, and the NCAA determined that she would get three years of eligibility.
Adriano, 20, was born in July of 2004, and spent one season playing for Bergamo out of the Lega Volley Femminile, or the Italian Women’s Volleyball League Serie A1, the highest professional volleyball league in the country.
Busboom Kelly made a point to mention how excited Adriano is for the new experience and to embrace the American culture, and her teammates on stage echoed a similar topic.
“She’s a joy and super fun,” Allick said. “She’s more quiet in her regular nature but she’s definitelycame out of her shell a lot. She’s actually quite a jokester as well.”
“She’s the sweetest girl ever,” Murray added.
Changing of the team leaders
While Murray and Allick were two of the most vocal players on the 2024 squad, they will now be taking over the reins after the departures of Merritt Beason and Lexi Rodriguez.
Allick emphasized that the older players in the room are typically going to have the loudest voices, which includes her and Murray, along with juniors Bergen Reilly, Laney Choboy, and Andi Jackson, and senior Maisie Boesiger, the longest tenured Huskers.
“There is a responsibility being a senior and keeping the culture alive,” Allick said.
Murray is playing on the largest team roster-wise (17) that she has in college, only having 13 other teammates the past two seasons.Building relationships with eight new players was a challenge, but it was really important that the upperclassmen took the reins to keep the culture alive, especially underneath a new head coach.
“We know the expectation, we know what to expect, we know what needs to happen,” Murray said. We have to teach the younger girls what to do and how to help them and guide them.”
With just six players on the roster who have two or more years of service time at Nebraska, it is on them to lean on their experience to help make the best possible culture that they can.
John Cook leaves a lasting impact
It is no secret that the former head coach left a major impact on the players, both those who have been since the beginning and those who are freshly entering. Only freshman middle blocker Kenna Cogill was not a John Cook recruit/transfer, with everyone else understanding the lasting impact that he had made during his 25 years in the program.
But it might be even more significant that, other than players losing eligibility due to it expiring, there was no movement amongst the roster in terms of players leaving.
“Not many programs would be able to bring in a coach like (Busboom Kelly) in, and then have everyone stay,” Murray said. “We had no one leave to the portal. That’s a testament to how much we trust (Cook) and how much we trust (Busboom Kelly).”
With every coaching change, there is a learning curve. Fortunately for Nebraska, Cook hasn’t gone far, as he still plans to have his hands in the program and in the athletic department where he can. Change is never easy, and it does land squarely on the laps of the upperclassmen to help lead the newer players through it.
“I think the timing made sense,” Allick said. “The person made sense. I feel like what you embody is exactly what you need for this time.”
It’s an added bonus if Allick’s mom is a fan of yours, too.
“My mom loves (DBK), so that means I love her; it just makes sense!”
sports@dailynebraskan.com
