Olivia Mauch raised her arms above her head. Harper Murray dove to her knees. Laney Choboy sprinted in from the bench.
After Kentucky failed to pass Mauch’s serve, the ball hit the ground, giving Nebraska the final point in its reverse sweep of the Wildcats. A few minutes later in the locker room, NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly asked the Huskers whether they were feeling excitement from pulling out the win or relief.
Busboom Kelly said they have a long season ahead, and if relief is the primary reaction to win, it takes the joy and fun out of the success they have.
“I want our team to be playing free and enjoying every minute, and whether it’s a big opponent or a small opponent,” she said. “The most important thing in this program is the thing we’re doing right now.”
The Huskers will try to experience more joy this weekend as they host another ranked opponent Friday night, as No. 22 Utah will be at the Devaney Center for a 6 p.m. CDT match.
Junior setter Bergen Reilly said she was excited after the come-from-behind victory against Kentucky, which rose from No. 7 to No. 3 after the five-set loss. Pressure to win is standard at Nebraska, which often draws the best out of its opponents as one of the most prominent programs in the nation.
However, Busboom Kelly works to make sure NU enjoys their journey this season, so that no matter how it ends, they will have fun. During the Kentucky match, she encouraged them to take in the atmosphere inside Bridgestone Arena, where a majority of the 11,200 fans were rooting for the Huskers.
“It should be super exciting that we just had a huge win or reverse sweep against a really great team,” Reilly said. “We have a really great crowd in front of us, and we also have a really great team. Getting to enjoy all those little moments that we might forget about in the heat of a game makes you reconsider how you felt.”
Those moments of excitement aren’t just reserved for the end of the match celebration. The Huskers celebrate each point they win and also regroup after the other team scores, taking a few seconds for reflection and regrouping.
Busboom Kelly tries to inject fun into practice as well. While they have periods of intense competition playing six-on-six, they also inject “silly games” into training sessions. The fun they have together breaks up the monotony of school, volleyball and life. She wants the staff also to enjoy their job and not just view it as work they have to grind through.
Busboom Kelly said toward the end of her tenure at Louisville, the team crept more toward relief instead of joy following victories. Perhaps the biggest tension release came in the NCAA tournament last year when the Cardinals won the regional final over Stanford to reach the national semifinals in their hometown.
She wanted to make sure the Huskers didn’t fall into a similar trap, especially because they fell short of their goal the last few years and began the season as the top-ranked team.
“We’d always built our program on joy and enjoying the moment, enjoying the journey, all the cliche things that coaches say, but we weren’t actually living up to that and the opposite,” Busboom Kelly said. “To feel that so early in the season, I was like, Well, I don’t want to go through the next 25 games feeling relieved. I want to be fired up for these wins. It’s a big deal to win. Not everybody gets to win, and it’s hard to win, so I want them to understand that too.”
Going Back-to-back
While the Huskers have faced numerous challenges this season, including playing top-10 opponents, traveling to Nashville, and breaking in new venues, they have one more this weekend. NU will play matches on consecutive days for the first time this season this weekend.
After facing Utah on Friday, the Huskers will take on Grand Canyon on Saturday at 6 p.m. During its 15-week season, Nebraska will only play back-to-back matches during four weeks.
The first back-to-back matches in the Big Ten will take place on Oct. 3-4 at Penn State and Rutgers. Later, they will host Northwestern and Michigan State on Oct. 24-25. The season ends with consecutive matches against Penn State and Ohio State.
Reilly said she doesn’t mind playing consecutive days because she can stay in the gameday mindset between the matches.
“They’re kind of fun just to keep it rolling, and especially if you do get a win on Friday, then it feels good going in on Saturday,” she said.
Busboom Kelly said she doesn’t have a preference either way, back-to-back matches or a day off. With matches on consecutive days, she is more concerned with recovery time, sleep patterns and meals.
The Huskers will likely face another back-to-back matchup during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, but the regional rounds have shifted away from this format in recent years. Part of the reason is to provide more time for rest and travel time for opponents during the regular season. Still, Busboom Kelly said the driving factor to spreading matches throughout the week is television.
“They’re moving matches midweek. They’re showcasing volleyball at main times. I don’t think it’s really coaches or conferences that are pushing that,” she said. “It’s just more where the sport is going with TV. I also won’t ever say no to putting a match on a major TV network.”
Three Freshmen on Path for Redshirt
Busboom Kelly said on her weekly radio show that opposite Ryan Hunter, middle blocker Kenna Cogill and libero/defensive specialist Keri Leimbach are on Redshirt Watch. The three freshmen have not appeared in a match yet, which would allow them to retain a year of eligibility.
“You always understand that things can change, but if players aren’t going to play a meaningful role, then why not try to redshirt them?” she said.
All three have been great in the practice gym and have been great teammates. She said Leimbach has improved the most in making plays and passing. She is also one of the best servers; however, with three other defensive specialists on the team, just utilizing her serving might not be worth using a year of eligibility.
She said Hunter had a tremendous spring but might have lingering issues with her injured knee, but has improved blocking. Meanwhile, Cogill is a complete middle and gets the job done quietly, but puts up good numbers in practice.
With revenue sharing, payments from name-image-likeness and the training table, redshirting is a more appealing option.
“Players are now understanding what a difference (taking a redshirt) makes,” she said. “Covid may have helped that, where you had all these elite players for four years in a row, and then you have these fifth-year and Covid seniors dominating.”
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