LAS VEGAS — If there was any doubt Manaia Ogbechie was ready for the big stage, she answered on the first play against then-No. 2 Texas. 

The Longhorns tried to run a quick set to middle blocker Taylor Harvey, but Ogbechie waited for the play to develop and rejected the attack for a point.  Nebraska’s sophomore middle blocker turned around and strided to the middle of the court, where her teammates mobbed her.

Coming into the season, Nebraska needed to fill starting roles left by two departed seniors. After the first week of matches, Ogbechie and sophomore outside hitter Teraya Sigler appear ready for prime time. 

Ogbechie finished the weekend with a team-high 14 blocks to go with 13 kills. She played a big part in limiting Texas to a .152 hitting percentage. Of her seven blocks against the Longhorns, four came against Torrey Stafford, who hit .095 and was held below .100 since her freshman year. (She hit .094 in the 2023 national semifinal against … Nebraska.)

“Manaya, especially, she blocked phenomenal today,” Jackson said. “She’s been blocking phenomenal, but I think you can just see the calm demeanor on the court when it comes to our team blocking. Everyone just looks super confident when they’re out there.”

Meanwhile, Sigler posted 21 kills over the two matches, tied with Harper Murray for second-best on the team and only one behind Andi Jackson. She’s hitting .340, is tied for the team lead with four aces and is third on the team with eight blocks. 

The Scottsdale, Arizona native also played a solid back-row defense. She has eight digs and didn’t give up an ace in 24 serve receptions. For the UNLV match, Sigler posted a 78.6 good pass percentage. 

NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said they’ve been challenging Sigler to block better and terminate more out-of-system. She was impressed in both areas after the opener. 

“She took a big step tonight and thought she made great decisions; she touched a lot of balls blocking and she had a great serving game,” Busboom Kelly said. “It was just good to see the complete match come together.”

There is a lot of season left to go, but after the first weekend, NU’s new sophomore starters appeared to be exactly what they needed. 

Both Busboom Kelly and Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said they wanted to continue the series between their programs.  The match drew 9,747 fans to T-Mobile Arena and aired nationally on FOX. The old Big 12 rivals have played five times in the last decade, but only one of those (2016) came in the regular season. 

Both teams signed three-year deals with Players Era to participate in their event, meaning they will likely meet again next year during the regular season. T

Elliott said he has a good relationship with Busboom Kelly and people want to see their teams play. He said future matchups could go several ways, including more neutral-site matches or a home-and-home series. 

“We’re trying to do it for long periods of time,” he said. “Dani and I will work together to keep growing the game and growing the names of each one of our programs and making it exciting.”

Busboom Kelly was excited to work with Players Era and is looking to the future matchups. 

“I’m very thankful that they took a risk to have this event, and it’s huge for us,” she said. “This whole couple of weeks. I was pinching myself. We’re playing in these huge events at the beginning of the season against great opponents.”

When asked how to keep growing the game, Elliott said they are making good progress with the Players Era Showcase and other events like the AVCA First Serve, Opening Spike Classic in Pittsburgh, and the State Farm Volleyball Showcase in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

Next steps include building bigger television ratings and increasing investment and returns for the businesses that sponsor the events and matches. 

His biggest idea was to revamp the NCAA Tournament and emulate what college softball does in its postseason.  

Elliott suggested keeping the first and second rounds as single-elimination matches, then making regionals a best-of-three series. The eight winners would then be placed into two pools of four and play each other over a week. The top-two teams would then advance to a Final Four. 

“We have the viewership and the interest to be able to make that happen,” Elliott said. “We need to put these stars on TV for longer periods of time so the game keeps growing. The one-and-done is not great for the sport.”

On Monday, Bergen Reilly was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week after leading the Huskers to a pair of wins. 

The senior setter helped the Huskers to a .315 hitting percentage with 10.3 assists per set to go with seven kills, 15 digs and four blocks. She also sparked the Huskers with a 10-0 run in the first set against Texas and then later served the final three points as well. 

This is the 14th career Big Ten weekly setting honor for the Sioux Falls native. She was also named the most valuable player at the Players Era Showcase.

Nebraska remained No. 1 in this week’s AVCA coaches poll on Monday. The Huskers received 57 of the 63 first-place votes. No. 2 Pitt got the remaining six after moving up from fourth. 

Kentucky is No. 3, followed by Stanford and Wisconsin. Texas fell seven spots to No. 9, while Creighton moved up three lines and into the Top Ten at No. 10.

No. 7 Arizona State and No. 15 USC were the biggest risers, each moving up five spots.