The Blackshirts

Volleyball

Back to Brookings: Nebraska's First Trip to South Dakota State in 19 Years

A card reading Back to Brookings, noting the first meeting since 2007, 13 aces in six sets and a 102-0 record when Nebraska reaches 20 points first, with Kernel — an ear of corn in black-rim glasses and an officer's cap — presenting at the right.
Graphic by The Blackshirts

Husker fans, Nebraska has not played South Dakota State since 2007. That is long enough that most of this roster was not born the last time it happened.

No. 1 Nebraska (2-0) at South Dakota State (1-2), Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT, First Bank & Trust Arena in Brookings. It is on Midco Sports and streams on Midco Sports Plus.

The series, such as it is

Three meetings, ever.

The first was in 1975, when Nebraska took two of three sets. The most recent was November 30, 2007 — a Husker sweep in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, in Lincoln.

Nebraska leads it 2-0. This is not a rivalry — it is a midweek road trip on the way to the rest of the season.

So watch the numbers instead, because they are getting silly.

Nebraska is serving like it’s 2013

Through two matches the Huskers have 13 service aces in six sets — a rate of 2.17 per set.

That is the most through the first two matches of a season since 2013.

Andi Jackson, Teraya Sigler and Bergen Reilly have three apiece. Olivia Mauch and Laney Choboy have two each. Six went down against UNLV, seven against Texas.

And the number that keeps growing

Under Dani Busboom Kelly, Nebraska is 102-0 in sets in which it reaches 20 points first.

Not 102-3. Not close. She is 6-0 in those this season on top of 96-0 last season.

While we are on her: since 2021 Busboom Kelly is 155-16, a .906 winning percentage — the best of any Division I head coach over that span, ahead of Pitt’s Dan Fisher (.887) and Texas’s Jerritt Elliott (.868). She is 35-1 at Nebraska in a season and a half.

Two more from the weekend

The defence has held opponents to .099 hitting — 17th nationally, second in the Big Ten. UNLV managed .054. Texas managed .152.

And Nebraska has already produced eight runs of five or more unanswered points in two matches, including the 10-0 stretch that broke Texas open.

Worth watching for

Four Huskers made their debut against UNLV and each played a single set: sophomores Kenna Cogill, Ryan Hunter and Keri Leimbach, and freshman Keoni Williams.

A Wednesday night in Brookings against a 1-2 team is exactly where a coach finds out more about them.

Husker fans, seven o’clock Wednesday on Midco. Nebraska’s 125th week at No. 1 in the AVCA poll — more than any program in the history of the sport — starts with a bus ride to South Dakota.

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