Three Questions Answered From Nebraska Volleyball's Red-White Scrimmage

What We Think We Know

Who Replaces Rebekah Allick and Taylor Landfair?

Last season, Nebraska relied heavily on Andi Jackson and Rebekah Allick in the middle and Harper Murray and Taylor Landfair on the outside pins. This year, it seems inevitable that Jackson and Murray will continue to be starters in their respective roles, but who will join them as starters?

On the outside, the top two names are junior Skyler Pierce and sophomore Teraya Sigler.

Pierce redshirted her freshman year and played sparingly last year, appearing in 15 matches with a hitting percentage of .221. Sigler played in 34 matches, including 32 starts, last year as a true freshman, though almost entirely in the back row, racking up 165 digs.

Both are excellent players. Pierce had 10 kills, six digs, and three blocks. On any other team, she is a clear starter and will undoubtedly see more play time this season.

Following her double-double performance (11 kills and 10 digs), it seems likely that Sigler will also part of the starting lineup.

Competing with Ogbechie this year for the second starting position is sophomore Kenna Cogill, who redshirted last year, but showed up at the spring match ready to fight for her spot on the court, garnering eight blocks and five kills.

Like the outside hitter battle, expect to see both Ogbechie and Cogill share the position this season, with Ogbechie getting the initial nod.

Has Nebraska’s Serving Improved?

Last year, Nebraska had 146 service aces and 219 serving errors. They ended the season 259th in the NCAA for aces per set at 1.32. This offseason, coaches and players discussed the focus on intentionality of serving.

In the scrimmage, the Huskers had 13 aces and 22 errors. Head coach Kelly Busboom Kelly wasn’t overly concerned about the high number of errors.

“It was awesome to see [the serve] show up today. We served really tough,” she said in the post-scrimmage press conference. “Of course we missed a few, but the misses weren’t bad. And sometimes in the Red-White game you have some pretty horrible misses, and I can only remember one or two that barely hit the net or one that was out by a lot.”

Even when they didn’t result in an ace, players were able to create havoc from the service line, leading to more out-of-system plays.

“No team was in great rhythm because of our serving,” setter Bergen Reilly said. “It’s better than where it was, but we have more room to grow.”

Who Gets the Libero Jersey?

Last year, there were many questions about whether the energetic junior, Laney Choboy, or the quiet, steady sophomore, Olivia Mauch, would win the battle of the liberos.

There never was a full answer.

Choboy got the initial start against Pittsburgh, but during the Kentucky match only a week later, Mauch switched into the libero jersey to help lead the Huskers to a 3-2 reverse sweep.

For the rest of the season, it was a game-by-game basis, depending on the opponent’s strength and the team’s need.

This year, fans have no reason to expect anything different.

Busboom Kelly has not indicated that she has changed her philosophy on the position. Choboy and Mauch both played libero for their respective teams in the scrimmage, putting up similar numbers of digs (16 for Choboy, 14 for Mauch) and aces, with two and one, respectively.

What We Don’t Know Yet

What happened to Nebraska’s Offense?

Neither the Red nor the White team had hitting percentages that would make a fan happy.

Across the four sets, the Red team hit .120 and the White team hit .002.

On the other side of the net, the Red team’s defense put up 17 blocks and 48 digs, while the White team’s defense had 12 blocks and 43 digs.

Across each set, a clear pattern emerged: low (sometimes negative) hitting percentages on offense but strong block and dig numbers on defense.

“We know it’s really hard to kill balls in our gym and especially when we’ve been practicing together for seven months...I think we knew no team was going to be hitting .300 today. And if they were, I think that’s more of a problem than if a team’s hitting what they were,” Reilly said when asked how she felt the offense performed.

Busboom Kelley seemingly agreed. “I hope it’s very hard to get a kill in our gym and I hope it’s more because of [our middles being effective] and not because we can’t get kills. I do think the defense is a little bit ahead of the offense right now.”

What Happened to Nebraska’s Serve Receive?

As with the distinction between offense and defense, it’s difficult to know if serve receive struggled due to increased service pressure or a breakdown in serve receive.

“Passing is interesting because is it because our serving is so much better or do we need to fine-tune our passing?” Busboom Kelley said, adding that serve-receive will continue to be an emphasis for the team as they put the finishing touches on their pre-season practices.

Thankfully, Nebraska players and fans will not have long to wait to start getting these answers.

The Huskers play an exhibition match on Aug. 27 in Dallas for the Spikes Under the Lights showcase against No. 17 Florida. If they win against either No. 10 Penn State or No. 11 SMU, they’ll then have a quick turnaround, with their season officially starting with the Player Era Showcase in Las Vegas on Aug. 29 and 30 against UNLV and No. 2 Texas.