After Nebraska volleyball’s dominant sweep of Texas on Sunday afternoon, one point came up over and over as head coach Dani Busboom Kelly, Andi Jackson and Laney Choboy met with the media.
The Huskers wouldn’t have routed the Longhorns, and may not have even won the match, if their serving hadn’t been so sharp. The start of the post-match press conference referenced just how well NU served the ball (recording seven aces to the Longhorns’ zero) so many times that Busboom Kelly actually apologized to her players.
The Nebraska coach said the drills her team does to get better at serving are not particularly entertaining for anyone on the team. In fact, she admitted that quite often, even if she wants to skip serving drills. However, if Busboom Kelly learned one thing from the straight-set victory, it was that those drills will continue.
“It's funny because there's so many times I want to skip serving in practice because I just … it's kind of boring. I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I have to tell myself every day, we're not going to skip it,” The Huskers coach said with a smile.
Dani Busboom Kelly promises Nebraska volleyball will continue practicing serves
“We're going to keep working hard and just make it part of our routine. And now you see that paying off and the confidence. So sorry, guys, we're going to have to keep doing it.”
Busboom Kelly wasn’t kidding about how much the drills were disliked either, as both Jackson and Choboy looked like they managed to stop themselves just short of letting out audible moans at the announcement. Still, both players talked at length and loudly about how much the sharp serving gave Nebraska confidence as the match wore on.
Jackson especially credited teammate Bergen Reilly for her performance on Sunday, saying that every time Reilly went back to the service line and prepared to dish one out, she looked like she had a ton of confidence, no matter what zone the Longhorns gave her as an opening.
“She made it really tough for them to side out, and I think that's what we need from the service line. We need to put pressure on teams from the service line.”
Jackson added that Nebraska has worked extremely hard on finding a way to be the better service team all spring and summer. The focus on that aspect of the game for Nebraska is paying off because they’ve all worked so hard on it.
Choboy then added that, personally, she’s worked on really trying to take risks and not just get the ball in the court.
“So i think i went back there just feeling comfortable and confident because i've been doing it in practice every day.”
Add us as a preferred source on Google