Fully aware that this might be the final ride for one of Nebraska volleyball’s most popular and talented iterations, the stars of the team also know the season is a long one and can end in plenty of disappointment. This veteran Husker team is keeping that possibility front of mind despite a very exciting start to the latest campaign.
“We all know how the last three years have ended, and we need to prove that we can do it. We can get it finished,” Bergen Reilly said earlier this month at Big Ten Media Days. “That’s been the theme of everything, starting from beach. How are we gonna finish when things get hard? Whether it’s a lift, a practice, a game, how are we going to finish? … It’s in everything we do. We need to finish because at the end of the day, it’s not how we start the season; it’s how we finish.”
The Nebraska volleyball team learned that the hardest way last season. The Huskers got off to a 33-0 start and looked like a juggernaut, destined to finally get players like Reilly, Harper Murray, and Andi Jackson their first national title. Then Texas A&M pulled off a monster upset in the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament, and the season was over far too early again.
This year, there’s plenty of hype again and the possibility of a big payday before the regular season really starts for Nebraska. The Huskers kick off their 2026 campaign in an exhibition tournament called Spikes Under the Lights.
@HuskerVisionHD never disappoints! It’s Game Day people!! pic.twitter.com/K2QZOwDynR
— Dani Busboom Kelly (@danib18) August 27, 2026
Spikes Under the Lights features the Huskers, Florida, Penn State and SMU in a fast-paced Friday-night tournament, with the champion earning a $1 million prize. Nebraska opens against the Gators in a best-of-three-set match instead of the traditional best-of-five-set contest.
SMU and Penn State will face off immediately after the first match, and the two winners will then meet for the championship. Of course, none of these matches count, so even if NU falls short, they only suffer a blow to their collective ego and wallet.
The real season starts on Saturday with Top-Ranked Nebraska against UNLV, then Sunday against No. 2 Texas.
After that, September will offer plenty of ranked tests, including the start of the Big Ten schedule. But Nebraska knows that no matter how well it plays during the regular season or how high a seed it has in the NCAA Tournament, the key will be staying focused all year long. If the Nebraska volleyball team has truly cracked that code, 2026 could be a magical season.
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