Nebraska volleyball’s stage continues to be massive at the start of the Dani Busboom Kelly era. The No. 1 Huskers travel to Nashville to take on Lipscomb at Allen Arena on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. CT. Nebraska will face No. 7 Kentucky in the first-ever Broadway Block Party at Bridgestone Arena. The match is […]
Nebraska volleyball’s stage continues to be massive at the start of the Dani Busboom Kelly era.
The No. 1 Huskers travel to Nashville to take on Lipscomb at Allen Arena on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. CT. Nebraska will face No. 7 Kentucky in the first-ever Broadway Block Party at Bridgestone Arena. The match is at 11 a.m. CT on Aug. 31 on ABC.
“(Kentucky) will be good enough to be a team in December that makes it all the way, in my opinion, based on their roster,” Busboom Kelly said. “That’ll be a heck of a challenge for us. And then you throw in the ABC and the 11 a.m. start. There’s a lot going on there.”
Nebraska dominated No. 3 Pitt in four sets and swept No. 6 Stanford to start the 2025 season. The AVCA First Serve Showcase at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. provided a massive stage for the Huskers to flex their talent.
They had a crowd of 15,000 cheering them on in the First Serve. How will Nebraska volleyball handle its first road trip? Luckily for the Huskers, most crowds are supporting them, whether that’s home or away.
Scouting the Opponents:
Lipscomb: The Bison are coming off a 19-11 season, going 14-2 in the ASUN conference. They fell to Florida Gulf Coast in the ASUN Championship match, coming up one win short of the NCAA Tournament. Lipscomb opens its 2025 season against No. 1 Nebraska and No. 7 Kentucky. The Wildcats vs. Lipscomb is on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 2 p.m.
The Bison are replacing four of their top six scorers from last season. They lost four-time All-ASUN middle blocker Meg Mersman, who led the team in blocks and was second in points per set in 2024.
No. 7 Kentucky: The Wildcats want to build on a 23-8 2024 season. They went 14-2 in the SEC and advanced to the NCAA Regional Final. But No. 1-ranked Pittsburgh swept the Wildcats to advance to the Final Four. Nebraska extended its win streak vs. Kentucky to 10 straight matches with a 3-1 victory on Aug. 27, 2024.
Kentucky had three very important pieces graduate: outside hitter Megan Wilson, libero Eleanor Beavin and setter Emma Grome. Grome was a four-time AVCA All-American and the 2022 SEC Player of the Year. Led by Grome, the Wildcat offense hit .271 and averaged 13.1 assists per set.
Adding Purdue’s Eva Hudson was a massive pickup for 2024 SEC Coach of the Year Craig Skinner. Kentucky also added former Purdue middle blocker/opposite hitter Lizzie Carr.
Players to Watch:
Courtney Jones, Lipscomb:
- 5-foot-11 senior outside hitter
- 2024 All-ASUN First Team, 2023 All-ASUN Third-Team
- 2024 ASUN All-Tournament team
- Led Lipscomb with 422.5 points, 3.54 kills per set and hit .248
- Finished second on team with 34 aces
- Added 1.47 digs per set and 29 total blocks
Sophia Hudepohl, Lipscomb:
- 5-foot-8 senior setter
- All-ASUN First Team (2023), Second Team (2024)
- AVCA All-Regional Honorable Mention (2022)
- Seven-time ASUN Setter of the Week
- Finished second in ASUN with 9.86 assists per set in 2024
- Ranked No. 9 in ASUN with 0.34 aces per set last season
- Averaged 2.37 digs per set and added 36 blocks in 2024
Brooklyn DeLeye, Kentucky:
- 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter
- 2024 AVCA Player of the Year finalist
- 2024 AVCA First-Team All-American
- 2024 SEC Player of the Year
- 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year
- Averaged 4.87 kills per set, ranked third in the SEC
- Ranked second in SEC with .51 aces per set and 56 aces
- Best returning player to SEC with 5.59 points per set
Eva Hudson, Kentucky:
- 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter
- Transferred to Kentucky after three seasons at Purdue
- Three-time All-Big Ten First Team selection (2022, 2023, 2024)
- 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year
- Led the Big Ten with 4.81 kills per set in 2024
- Hit .287 with 567 kills in 2024
- Posted 288 digs and 70 blocks as a junior at Purdue
Key stat: .293
Nebraska’s defense will face another set of First-Team All-Americans during its trip to Nashville. Hudson and DeLeye are two incredible players. The duo hit .293 in 2024. Having both of them on one team is lethal. But the Husker defense proved it can shut down the best of the best.
At Purdue, Hudson recorded 1,642 kills, 4.5 kills per set and hit .262 over three seasons. In her last match vs. the Huskers, she posted 26 kills, 15 digs and hit .349 in a five-set loss on Oct. 11, 2024.
DeLeye has been one of the best players in the country since entering college. She was one of four finalists for the 2024 AVCA National Player of the Year and is on the 2025 watch list.
Nebraska volleyball shut down AVCA National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock when they faced Pitt. 2024 First-Team All-American Elia Rubin hit under .200 with eight kills as well. The Huskers defense is capable of smoothering great offensive players.
Storylines to Watch:
Another Busboom Kelly rival: Busboom Kelly will be facing another successful branch of the John Cook coaching tree.
Cook, Nebraska’s former head coach, created an impressive coaching tree during his 25 years of leading Nebraska volleyball. He coached Busboom Kelly, hired her as an assistant, and then Busboom Kelly took over for him as head coach. Skinner, Kentucky’s head coach, was Cook’s assistant from 2000-2004. During his time at Nebraska, the Huskers had a 97-3 record and won four Big 12 titles.
Busboom Kelly (2003-2006) was a player when Skinner was an assistant coach at Nebraska. They coached against each other often when Busboom Kelly was at Louisville. Busboom Kelly went 4-3 against the Wildcats, winning the final four matches.
“Skinner was the assistant here when I was a player, so we had a player-coach relationship,” Busboom Kelly said. “Then, going to Louisville, I don’t know if there are too many rivals in the whole country that can top the Louisville-Kentucky rivals. So then we were rivals, but it’s always funny, because the fans wanted us like hate each other. Well, the volleyball staffs were very friendly. So we know a lot about each other’s coaching styles, and I’m excited to play Kentucky. It’s a new challenge.”
Skinner has had a great career at Kentucky. The Wildcats won the 2020 National Championship. He is an eight-time SEC champion, a seven-time SEC Coach of the Year and was the 2020-21 AVCA National Coach of the Year. Skinner is Kentucky volleyball’s all-time winningest coach.
Nebraska Women’s Roundup: Nebraska volleyball elite defense
Lipscomb has a strong mid-major history: Lipscomb is a solid mid-major team, Busboom Kelly said on Tuesday. They have experience upsetting Power Four teams, including a 2023 five-set win over Kansas State.
Head coach Brian Rosenthal had led the Bison to eight NCAA Tournament births since 2007. He recorded his 400th win in 2024. Lipscomb has seven ASUN conference tournament championships and six regular-season titles.
Busboom Kelly is encouraging her team to stay locked in to the Lipscomb match, despite the top-10 Kentucky match and the big stage looming.
“The challenge is staying focused and making sure you know our team isn’t listening to whether it’s good and bad noise. That we’re focused on ourselves and our improvement,” DBK said. “Lipscomb is another match to improve and hopefully see what other players can do. It’s our first road game. I’m sure that’ll be sold out.
“Lipscomb is a really good mid-major. This isn’t a team that hasn’t competed in NCAA tournaments or beaten Power Five teams before. So they’ve shown that they can compete with a lot of Power Five schools.”
More opportunities: Nebraska volleyball has an extremely deep team. Unfortunately, only seven names are on the lineup card. As the Huskers start to play teams outside of the top 15, more players will get an opportunity.
Finding a balance between getting younger players experience, but also creating great rhythm with the top lineup is important. In college volleyball, there are major upsets every season. Nebraska found that out the hard way against SMU in 2024.
Category: General Sports
