3 bold predictions for Nebraska volleyball in 2025 season

Nebraska volleyball is officially back on Friday night. After a scrimmage and alumni match over the past two weeks, the Huskers will open their season as part of a top-three matchup in the AVCA Classic in Lincoln.

For the first time, Nebraska volleyball will play inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. The first of two matches there in three days will be against third-ranked Pittsburgh tonight (6 PM, Fox). No. 1 Nebraska will also play sixth-ranked Stanford on Sunday (2:3o p.m., ESPN).

Dani Busboom-Kelly, who coached Louisville to the national title match last season, knocking out Pittsburgh in the semifinals, will make her Nebraska head-coaching debut in Lincoln, and here are three predictions for her first season as the head coach.

Harper Murray will win the Big Ten Player of the Year

Pittsburgh boasts Olivia Babcock, the reigning National Player of the Year, an award Harper Murray should contend for in 2025. The junior outside hitter led Nebraska volleyball with 3.4 kills per set last season and a team-high 39 aces on her way to earning First-Team All-Big Ten for the second time. She’s also a two-time All-American.

The Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2023 seems poised for her best season. She hit .257 a year ago, but it feels like she can reach another level. Her serve is deadly, and it sounds like she’ll get more chances to attack teams with it in 2025.

Andi Jackson, her teammate, might be her toughest competition; it just seems like Murray is poised for a monster campaign, one that will make her Big Ten Player of the Year.

Bergen Reilly will be the nation’s best setter

Nebraska volleyball is so deep that even Bergen Reilly, the two-time Big Ten Setter of the Year, and the only player to win that award as a freshman and sophomore, had to hold off Campbell Flynn for the starting setter job.

Not only will Reilly hold onto the job this season, but surrounded by maybe the best group of attackers in college volleyball, Reilly will win the Big Ten Setter of the Year Award again, and this time, she’ll top that and bring home the national award, too.

Huskers win it all

Nebraska volleyball is ranked No. 1 for a reason. They have multiple All-Americans, and all of them have been with the program for multiple years.

The newcomers are extremely talented. Busboom-Kelly is a coach with the pedigree to win a national title. She coached Louisville to the title game last season.

This Nebraska team is more talented than that one. It’s the best team in college volleyball, and in 2025, the Huskers will finish the season ranked No. 1, just like they started.

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