No. 1 Nebraska volleyball will open the 2026 season at the Players Era Volleyball Showcase on Aug. 29-30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, facing UNLV and No. 2 Texas.
Players Era Volleyball Showcase Schedule
- No. 1 Nebraska vs. UNLV: Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. CT. The match will air on FS1 and stream on FoxSports.
- No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Texas: Aug. 30 at 2:30 p.m. CT. The match will air on FOX and stream on FoxSports.
- Audio: Both matches will be broadcast on the Huskers Radio Network, Huskers.com and the official Huskers App.
- Jack Kizer, Camryn Irwin and Kelsie Kasper will call both matches for FS1 and FOX.
- John Baylor and Lauren (Cook) West will handle the Huskers Radio Network broadcast.
Nebraska vs. UNLV
Nebraska’s season opener against UNLV will be the first meeting between the Huskers and Rebels.
Nebraska vs. Texas History
Nebraska leads the all-time series against Texas, 33-25, through 58 meetings. The teams last met in the 2023 national championship, when the Longhorns swept the Big Red in Tampa.
Huskers Capture Spikes Under the Lights Title
Nebraska won the inaugural Spikes Under the Lights championship after sweeping exhibition matches against No. 17 Florida and No. 11 SMU on Thursday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Huskers swept Florida, 2-0 (21-19, 21-18), behind six kills from Teraya Sigler. Virginia Adriano and Andi Jackson added five kills apiece.
Nebraska clinched the championship with a dominant performance against SMU, hitting .339 as a team while limiting the Mustangs to a .068 hitting percentage. Sigler recorded seven kills and five digs, while Harper Murray added six kills and five digs. Manaia Ogbechie, Andi Jackson and Skyler Pierce each contributed three kills.
Nebraska in Season Openers
Nebraska is 44-7 all-time in season openers. The Huskers have won seven consecutive season-opening matches since losing in four sets to No. 7 Florida in 2018.
Huskers Begin Season No. 1 in AVCA Poll
Nebraska was ranked No. 1 in the preseason AVCA Coaches Poll released Aug. 10. The Huskers received 1,568 points, ahead of No. 2 Texas (1,427), No. 3 Kentucky (1,398), No. 4 Pitt (1,383) and No. 5 Stanford (1,312).
Nebraska received 57 first-place votes. Kentucky had four, while Texas and Texas A&M received one each.
The ranking marks Nebraska’s 124th week at No. 1 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, the most of any program in the nation. The Huskers have started a season ranked No. 1 three times in the last five years, including 2025 and 2022.
Nebraska will face No. 2 Texas at the Players Era Showcase on Aug. 30.
What Nebraska Returns
- Kills: 1,126 of 1,630 (69.1%)
- Assists: 1,474 of 1,500 (98.3%)
- Service aces: 137 of 146 (93.8%)
- Digs: 1,396 of 1,507 (92.6%)
- Solo blocks: 30 of 51 (58.8%)
- Block assists: 325 of 494 (65.8%)
About the Huskers
- Nebraska is coming off a 33-1 season and reached the NCAA Regional Final before losing a 3-2 thriller in Lincoln to eventual national champion Texas A&M.
- The Huskers return three AVCA All-Americans: seniors Andi Jackson, Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly.
- Nebraska finished the 2025 regular season undefeated for the third time in program history, joining the 1994 and 2000 teams. The Huskers dropped only seven sets overall and one set in Big Ten play.
- Nebraska’s 33-match winning streak was the second-longest in school history during the NCAA era. The Huskers have won 33 matches in three consecutive seasons.
- Nebraska’s 99 wins from 2023-25 are the most in a three-year stretch in program history during the NCAA era.
- The Huskers won their third consecutive Big Ten title in 2025 with a perfect 20-0 conference record. It was Nebraska’s first undefeated conference season since 2004, when the program competed in the Big 12.
- Nebraska has won 37 conference championships, including six Big Ten titles in 2011, 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
- Dani Busboom Kelly became the first volleyball coach in Big Ten history to win the conference title in a first season as head coach at a school. John Cook won a Big Ten title at Nebraska in his first conference season in 2011, but it was his 12th season as Nebraska’s head coach.
- Nebraska swept 15 consecutive matches and won 48 straight sets from late September through mid-November in 2025. Both streaks were the longest of their kind since the 2007 team swept 17 matches in a row and won 53 consecutive sets.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 History
- Sunday’s match is expected to be the 43rd all-time meeting between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, including the 34th regular-season matchup.
- It will be the first No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matchup since Nebraska played Wisconsin in 2023.
- The No. 1 team is 28-14 all-time in No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matches.
- The last five No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matches have involved Nebraska, including Sunday’s match.
- The matchup has ended in a sweep 15 times, compared with 10 five-set matches.
- Current Big Ten teams have participated in 34 of the 43 all-time No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matches, including each of the last 10 and 23 of the last 24.
- This will be Nebraska’s seventh No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matchup. The Huskers are 3-3 in their previous six.
Nebraska’s Two-Way Dominance
After leading the nation in hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage last season, Nebraska became the first team to rank first nationally in both categories since at least 2014, the NCAA’s first season tracking opponent hitting percentage.
The Husker offense hit a school-record .351 in 2025 and topped .400 in nine matches, also a school record in the rally-scoring era.
Nebraska’s defense has led the nation in opponent hitting percentage three times in the last four seasons, in 2022, 2023 and 2025. Opponents hit .129 against the Huskers in 2025.
Nebraska’s Race to the Red Zone
Nebraska is 96-0 in sets under head coach Dani Busboom Kelly when reaching 20 points first. In October alone last season, the Huskers played 27 sets and went 27-0. An opponent reached 20 points in only three of those sets.
Big Red Road Show Features Professional Venues
Nebraska will begin the 2026 campaign with a schedule that includes venues from four professional sports leagues before playing its first match at the newly renovated John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
The road show starts at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys during the inaugural Spikes Under the Lights event at AT&T Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 27. No. 10 Penn State, No. 11 SMU and No. 17 Florida will join the Huskers for the three-hour exhibition event.
Nebraska officially opens the season at the first Players Era Volleyball Showcase in Las Vegas on Aug. 29-30. The Big Red will face UNLV on Aug. 29 and No. 2 Texas on Aug. 30 at T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.
After a midweek match at South Dakota State, Nebraska will travel to Chicago for matches at two additional professional venues. The Huskers will play DePaul on Sept. 4 at Wintrust Arena, home of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, before facing Missouri in the Big Ten/SEC Challenge on Sept. 6 at Wrigley Field, home of MLB’s Chicago Cubs.
13 Matches Against 2025 NCAA Tournament Teams
Nebraska is scheduled to play 13 teams that qualified for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including four regional finalists and one semifinalist.
In addition to those 13 regular-season matches, the Huskers will face Florida and could play SMU in exhibition matches at Spikes Under the Lights in Arlington, Texas.
2026 Big Ten Preseason Poll
Nebraska was selected as the favorite in the 2026 Big Ten Preseason Poll, based on a vote by the conference’s 18 head coaches in July.
Wisconsin and Penn State were picked second and third, respectively. Purdue and Minnesota rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth.
