Nebraska Volleyball Position Previews: Middle Blocker

During July, Huskers Illustrated will examine the position groups: setter, middle blocker, opposite, libero/defensive specialist and outside hitter as Nebraska prepares for the 2026 season. 

In an era of dominant pin hitters, Nebraska continues to feed the middles. 

Last year, eight middle blockers in the country were honored by AVCA as All-Americans. Two were the starting middle blockers for the Huskers — Andi Jackson and Rebekah Allick. 

The third middle on NU’s depth chart, Manaia Ogbechie, posted the team’s best hitting percentage at .529. She didn’t qualify for any statistical leaderboard with just 104 attacks, but Ogbechie committed just seven hitting errors.

While Allick has moved on to the professional ranks, Jackson returns for her final season as she tries to etch her name further into the Nebraska record books. 

The Huskers have plenty of options for the second middle blocker spot, including several with the potential to join the All-American ranks by the end of their careers. 

Here is how the position stacks up for 2026: 

Who is back: Andi Jackson, 6-foot-3, senior; Manaia Ogbechie, 6-3, sophomore; Kenna Cogill, 6-4, redshirt freshman. 

Who is gone: Rebekah Allick, 6-4, exhausted eligibility.

Who is new: Keoni Williams, 6-4, freshman. 

As amazing as Jackson played in 2025, she ended the season on the bench. She was largely ineffective against Texas A&M, with just six kills and five errors on 22 attacks. NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly opted for Ogbechie down the stretch, but the Huskers still came up short, suffering their first loss of the year. 

The sour ending shouldn’t overshadow the impressive year Jackson put together before the finale. The Brighton, Colorado, native posted a .467 hitting percentage to lead the nation and was named the AVCA’s inaugural Middle Blocker of the Year. 

Jackson ended up third on Nebraska’s single-season hitting percentage chart, just six points behind Tracy Stalls’s record in 2007 and one point behind Lauren Stivrins in 2020. (Prior to the regional final, Jackson was hitting .486.) 

She now owns the third- and fifth-best single-season marks and is hitting .437 over her three seasons at NU, which is on pace to top Virginia Stahr’s career mark of .401. Jackson also just missed tying the best single-game hitting percentage in program history when she terminated all nine attacks against Illinois — the minimum number of kills to join the record book is 10. 

All this to say, Jackson knows how to kill the ball. 

How far has Jackson come since she committed to Nebraska as an unranked prospect in 2021? Multiple 2028 prospects said they try to emulate Jackson while playing middle blocker. She’s setting the standard at the position and combining athleticism and offensive prowess like few others. 

Jackson is back and motivated after coming up short of winning a title in her first three years. She will build on her connection with setter Bergen Reilly and likely be the top middle blocker in the nation. If Jackson has any area to improve, it’s her blocking. Although hardly a liability, Jackson’s blocks per set dipped slightly from 1.18 to 1.12 from her sophomore to junior years. 

Who will join Jackson as the other starter? 

Ogbechie has the inside track after appearing in  27 sets over 16 matches. She started three of those matches and finished with a hitting percentage of .500 or better in 10 of the matches she appeared in (There was one match in which she didn’t record an attack). Her stats weren’t just a result of a small sample size, as in the matches where she took more than 10 swings, she terminated on more than half of them three times. 

The Santa Rosa Valley, California, native also showed her chops on defense with 30 blocks, including eight against Rutgers. Ogbechie is at her best when in front of the setter, where she can take a quick set and beat the defense. She is a cerebral player with great physical skills that allow her to overpower opponents. 

Kenna Cogill spent the year redshirting, but in the few chances NU fans have seen her on the court, she’s made quite the impression. During the Red-White Scrimmage, the Gilbert, Arizona, native recorded 10 kills on a .421 hitting percentage with five blocks. After redshirting all fall, she broke out in the spring. She matched her scrimmage line against Creighton and put up six kills on eight swings against Northern Colorado in two sets. She also notched three blocks against Iowa State. 

While she’s not as quick as Jackson, Cogill’s style matches the seniors'. She’s explosive at the net and can terminate both in front and behind the setter. This spring, Cogill talked about her mindset during her redshirt year and how she used it as an opportunity to get better. 

Keoni Williams comes in as the latest highly touted recruit, ranked No. 8 by PrepDig and PrepVolleyball. The Fort Worth, Texas, native had a quieter spring than the other middle blockers. However, she showed she is ahead of the curve in blocking. In the Under Armour All-America match in January, she posted five kills and eight blocks over two sets. 

Normally, Williams would be slated for a redshirt year as the fourth middle blocker, but with the new legislation allowing five years of eligibility, she should get a few chances to get on the court. A big summer and fall camp from Williams could get her more playing time, but she will spend most of the year learning from her teammates and assistant coach Brennan Hagar.

Middle blocker requires a high level of physicality that can wear on players throughout the season. While Jackson is locked in as a starter, all of the middle blockers will likely see time on the court this season. With four middle blockers on the roster, the Huskers have the talent and depth to impose their will on opponents. 

Next up: Opposite hitter