Standing in their newly refurbished locker room, it finally hit Virginia Adriano. 

Nebraska’s sophomore opposite was looking at a giant metallic photo hanging on the wall showing a huddle from last year’s team. Above the image of the six players read, “We Are One.”

The moment got the best of her as she felt at home and part of the Nebraska volleyball family. 

Nebraska volleyball had always felt too big to comprehend during her first year as a Husker. It was the All-Americans who had played decades before her. The teams that won the national championships. It was the group that had played in front of 92,003 people at Memorial Stadium.

However, she got emotional standing in front of that picture of her with her teammates. No longer was she just a foreigner from Turin, Italy, and a 21-year-old freshman halfway across the world from her mother, brother and friends.

“I just never thought I would be in one of the pictures that are going to be permanently on the walls,” she said. “I’m truly part of this, and it just makes me feel part of a family.”

In her second year with the Huskers, Adriano is much more comfortable living in Lincoln, with her teammates and meeting new people. She’s also much more comfortable speaking English, as she talked to the media for 20 minutes on Tuesday, something she admitted was stressful last season.

Adriano is also sharing more of her Italian heritage and teaches her teammates an Italian word of the day. 

NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said Adriano has a better understanding of Nebraska volleyball culture and comes to practice every day ready to work. 

“She seems to be more comfortable and happier,” Busboom Kelly said. “She’s just inserting herself and her culture where she thinks it’s necessary.”

While her numbers are slightly down from last year (2.0 kills per set on a .231 hitting percentage this season, down from 2.2 kills at a .287 clip), she’s playing more confidently and with a better mentality. Adriano said she is working with associate head coach Jaylen Reyes on her approach and rhythm when attacking. They are trying to figure out whether she needs to start her run-up wider or deeper to prevent her from getting under the ball, which often causes her to hit it into a block. 

Even though she’s not part of the serving rotation, Adriano said she is still working on her serve, so she is ready if called upon.  Adriano said she is also still working on her footwork while blocking. She learned to shuffle into position for a block; however, the Huskers teach crossing their feet before lining up an opponent’s attack. 

“I still struggle to do it, but I feel like I’ve been improving, and I’m working on it,” she said. “Obviously, it’s not just gonna come from one day to the other, but I feel like I’ve been doing a better job.”

Adriano said she feels blessed to play volleyball for Nebraska. She said she’s enjoyed seeing Husker fans cheer for her wherever she plays. Everything she’s experienced during the past 18 months has been a dream, while doing it all “at the best level possible with the best people, the best staff, the best people that we work with.” 

She said being away from her family in Italy has been her biggest challenge. Her mother is alone at home in Italy while her brother studies in another country. Finding a home in Lincoln has helped Adriano settle in.

“I’m enjoying everything that I get to do,” Adriano said. “Not having my family here, I have to make my family in some way because I have to find the comfort that I don’t have with my actual family here, and I find it very easy to get to that point.”

Nebraska received three weekly awards from the Big Ten on Monday. Senior outside hitter Harper Murray was named Co-Player of the Week, senior Bergen Reilly earned top setter honors and sophomore Manaia Ogbechie was recognized as the conference’s best defensive player of the week. 

Murray averaged 5.17 kills with a .429 hitting percentage in sweeps over No. 15 Indiana and No. 7 Wisconsin, including a season-high 20 kills against the Badgers. She also added 11 digs, five blocks and two aces. Reilly averaged 12.33 assists while helping the Huskers hit .388 last week and chipped in 13 digs and five kills. Ogbechie recorded 13 blocks and 11 kills at a .363 clip.

While not usually into the hype around weekly awards, Busboom Kelly said she liked that all three were recognized, as they need each other to be great. 

“When we’re clicking, we can be pretty unstoppable,” she said. “It was very encouraging, and just rewarding for the team to see those players get those awards that were definitely well deserved this week.”

After a season-low .171 hitting percentage, Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield praised the Huskers’ defensive tenacity. NU outblocked the Badgers 9-2, and Laney Choboy and Olivia Mauch combined for 25 digs, just three fewer than Wisconsin. 

Throughout the match, Mauch kept plays alive with a one-armed dig, Choboy made a diving dig, or they stepped in for Reilly on second contact to set a ball that turned into an out-of-system kill. 

Busboom Kelly said you can coach tenacity, but it really only works if the players buy into the concept and set the example for others. She said Choboy sets the standard with her relentless pursuit of the ball. 

“They understand the value of defense, but they also have very high expectations of themselves,” Busboom Kelly said. “Sometimes they miss a dig, and it’s like I don’t know who would have made that dig, and they’re ticked off. I think that’s a good thing that they expect to get everything up.”

Choboy said even after holding another opponent to a season low, they aren’t satisfied. The Huskers lead the nation with a .105 opponents’ hitting percentage. Every day in practice, they focus on what they can improve and how to find another edge. 

“What makes our team so good is that we’ve never arrived,” Choboy said. “We’re always looking for the next milestone that we can hit.”

Adriano said it helps her as a blocker and attacker to know the littles in the back row can pick up almost everything that gets past the block. 

“They always constantly have every single ball up, no matter what,” she said. “It’s just so nice, and truly it makes you confident by seeing that they have that confidence and they never let it go.”