Nebraska Uses a Strong Service Game to Overpower Texas

LAS VEGAS — Every day in practice, Dani Bubsoom Kelly has to talk herself into not skipping the serving drills. 

The Nebraska coach said it’s boring, and she likes other parts of practice better, but she knows the importance of serving and keeps it in the schedule. 

The extra work paid off for the Huskers against Texas, as their best offensive weapon came from the service line. 

The top-ranked Huskers recorded seven aces and kept the Longhorns’ attack off balance with tough serving on their way to a 25-19, 25-19, 25-16 sweep Sunday afternoon in front of 9,747 fans at T-Mobile Arena. 

The last time these teams played — the 2023 national championship — Texas controlled the match with 12 aces. In this match, with a completely different lineup, the Longhorns failed to record an ace and missed eight serves. 

Busboom Kelly said you want your players to be confident from the end line, which is a tough task to do when you’re asked to rip a big serve against a great team. 

“Against any team, serving is really important, but against a super physical team like Texas, it might be the most important thing,” Busboom Kelly said. “I’m just really proud that our hard work and practice paid off today, and that our mindset more than anything paid off.”

While Texas came out swinging hard in the first set and took an 8-5 lead, Bergen Reilly changed the complexion of the match when she went back to serve. The senior setter fueled a 10-0 run as the Longhorns struggled to pass her serve. Reilly recorded one ace, and UT committed five hitting errors in the run as it repeatedly took out-of-system swings. 

The Longhorns (2-2) chipped away at the lead as they scored on four straight trips to the end line. NU (2-0) led 22-19 when Reilly returned to the service line and added three more points, including another ace to end it. 

Senior Andi Jackson said Reilly’s biggest strength is her consistency and calm demeanor. 

“Whatever zone they gave her, she was hitting it, and she made it really tough for them to side out,” Jackson said. “That’s what we need from the service line. We need to put pressure on teams from the service line. We’ve worked really hard on that this preseason and over the summer.”

In the second set, Texas jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Laney Choboy attempted her first serve of the match. She sparked NU to a 6-0 run, which included an ace. When her serving rotation came around again, Choboy contributed to four straight points. 

Choboy said the work on serving in the spring and summer paid off as she is more aggressive from the end line. 

“I really tried to buy into the spring and the summer, and then preseason was just my serving and just taking risks and not just trying to get the ball in the court,” the senior defensive specialist said. “I went back there just feeling comfortable and confident because I had been doing it in practice every day.”

Sophomore outside hitter Teraya Sigler started the third set with an ace as the Huskers never trailed. She added one more later on, and Choboy notched another to put the Huskers up 20-13. 

Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said Nebraska cranked up the velocity on their serve and moved the ball from sideline to sideline. 

“Choboy was just putting a lot of pressure from our one-to-one serving,” he said. “We’re working on some of our formations. We’re working on some of our clarity on that. The great thing is we can fix those things, but we’ve got to return the favor when we get back to the service line and be able to do that.”

When Nebraska wasn’t earning points from the service line, the offense was playing at a high level. The Huskers spent most of the match hitting above .300 before two late errors gave them a .293 hitting percentage. 

Harper Murray struggled offensively as she was shut out in the first set and committed three errors without a kill on her first six attacks. She got on track in the second set with five kills and finished with eight kills. 

Despite her offensive woes, Busboom Kelly wasn’t worried about her senior outside hitter because she found other ways to contribute. 

“I thought she passed amazing, and that’s what kept us on course,” Busboom Kelly said. “We don’t have to have her kill every ball this year. We have a really balanced team. We didn’t last year, but this year especially, we just need those players to be steady. If you can’t give in one way, what can you give? They targeted her, and then they stopped targeting her on serving because she was passing so well.”

Jackson led the Huskers with nine kills on 14 attacks on a .571 hitting percentage. Sigler and Ogbechie each recorded seven kills, with the latter contributing to seven of the Huskers’ 10 blocks. Virginia Adriano chipped in five blocks. 

Reilly was named the MVP of the Players Era Challenge. After a stellar match against UNLV on Saturday, she tallied 30 assists, two kills, two aces and five digs against Texas. 

Cari Spears paced the UT attack with 12 kills. Torrey Stafford added eight kills, but she also had six attack errors. 

The Longhorns were without sophomore outside hitter Abby Vander Wal, who landed awkwardly on an attack Saturday night against TCU. Elliott said she would miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. 

While Texas suffered just its third sweep in the past three seasons, Nebraska said they aren’t celebrating the win any more than any other victory. Even though the Longhorns won the last meeting when the NU seniors were freshmen, Jackson said it’s a different team across the net. 

Busboom Kelly credited the approach to their four seniors. She said their mentality of playing selflessly and focusing on the task at hand, no matter the opponent, bleeds into the rest of the team. 

“They’ve learned a lot in their careers, and sometimes it’s tough to put that into action, but these four are on a different level this year,” she said. “Just what they want to do, how they’re communicating, how they’re leading. You think you see it every day in practice, and you think you feel it, and okay, it’s there, but is it really? To see that against a great opponent in a really fun environment feels pretty big time. It was huge for us, and that’s just going to pay off later.”