As the NCAA Rules Continue to Change, Maisie Boesiger Remains the Same

Late in the first set against Illinois, Andi Jackson stood behind the end line holding the volleyball, awaiting her turn to serve.

Before she could begin her approach, the down official blew her whistle, signaling a substitution. Jackson jogged to the sideline with a huge smile on her face while palming the ball. She handed the ball to Maisie Boesiger, who was checking in for the 16th time this season. The crowd responded to Boesiger’s entrance with a little more gusto in their cheer.

While Jackson’s unbridled joy coming off the court says a lot about her, it says just as much about Boesiger. After her four years with the Huskers, Jackson said she is grateful whenever Boesiger gets the opportunity to shine.

“I’m so happy for her. I know that people love seeing her out there,” Jackson said. “She works so hard, and she’s just such an amazing person inside and out. I want really good things for her, and I know everyone else on the team does too, so to see her get that opportunity is huge.”

Boesiger will play her last regular-season matches with the Huskers this week. The senior defensive specialist has appeared in 111 sets over 66 matches. She has just seven aces and 45 digs over her career, but she’s had an outsized impact on the program, becoming one of the examples of a thriving student-athlete in a new era of college athletics that now seems to highlight NIL over GPA.

Boesiger has been through recruiting and roster rule changes and has seen the introduction of the transfer portal, name, image, likeness, and revenue sharing. Still, she’s remained true to herself and Nebraska. Through it all, she played with joy, whether it was showing up in practice with a smile or cheering on her teammates during a match.

“She’s just such a light for the team,” junior setter Bergen Reilly said. “It’s a long, hard season, but she will come in every day with the biggest smile on her face, and she’s the definition of team first.”

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Maisie Boesiger warms-up with her teammates before a match. Boesiger will play her final home regular season matches with the Huskers this week. | Kenneth Larabee/KLIN

All of a sudden, the hour-long car rides got a whole lot quieter and felt a lot longer.

Before her sophomore year of high school, Boesiger and a parent made frequent trips from her home near Firth, south of Lincoln, to southwest Omaha to play with the club Premier. Previously, she would use car rides as downtime to call coaches and discuss her future volleyball plans.

However, the NCAA passed a rule that went into effect on May 1, 2019, that overhauled the recruiting calendar for prospects. Coaches could not communicate with them at all until June 15 after their sophomore year.

It was a strange time for recruiting, as some of her classmates had already committed. Future teammate Rebekah Allick gave the Huskers her verbal pledge the summer before her freshman year of high school. However, most members of the Class of 2022 were in the same boat as Boesiger and had to deal with the silence.

Instead of passing time talking with college coaches, she spent the time on homework and enjoying some family time on those car rides to and from club practices.

“When the rule passed, it was so weird,” Boesiger said. “You can’t talk at all. It was just a complete pause on basically recruiting. They can go and watch you, but they can’t communicate with you or say what position they need. It was different.”

Eventually, the lines of communication reopened, and Boesiger took her time with her recruitment. The Covid-19 pandemic brought about a strange year: the world shut down at the end of her sophomore season, and most club tournaments were cancelled during her prime recruiting period.

Boesiger listened to pitches from several schools, including Louisville, Mississippi, Colorado, Colorado State, San Diego, and Omaha, but her heart had only one option.

“Nebraska was always my dream,” she said. “I grew up here, and being a Nebraska girl is just that much more special because it’s something that I had seen, and I’ve been a part of the fan base and the community, and I knew that it was not like that anywhere else.”

I am extremely excited to announce my commitment to the University of Nebraska to continue my academic and volleyball career. I am so blessed to have this opportunity and to be a Husker! ❤️🤍#GBR 🌽 @NorrisTitanVB @PrepDig_NE @Premier16_G @Premier_VB @PrepVolleyball @Huskervball pic.twitter.com/kxZO51r9nl
— Maisie Boesiger (@boesiger_maisie) September 5, 2020

She committed to the Huskers in late August 2020 and kept the news under wraps for a week before sharing it on social media — an eternity to keep the secret.

Boesiger, who played setter at Norris for her mother, Christina, would cap off her prep career with back-to-back Class B runner-up finishes. She was named to two all-state teams, including a third-team Super State honor by the Omaha World-Herald in 2020.

Two months after her final high school season, Boesiger made the short trip north and began her journey with the Huskers. Playing at Nebraska was a long-held dream for Boesiger. She attended matches at the NU Coliseum as a child with her father, Chris, and attended summer camps at the Devaney Center.

Now she would be one of the players she looked up to when she was younger.

“Getting the chance to represent my state and be a part of something with so much tradition and culture, it’s just truly amazing,” Boesiger said. “It was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.”

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Maisie Boesiger celebrates with Virginia Adriano during the Red-White Scrimmage. | Kenneth Larabee/KLIN

In May 2020, Boesiger posted her first video on TikTok. It was a simple photo montage of her in different outfits and poses set to “Shout Out to My Ex” by Little Mix. In the caption, Boesiger wrote that she’s not a TikToker and that this would be the last TikTok she’d make.

This is where the narrator comes in and says, “It was in fact, not the last TikTok she made.”

In the more than five years since that first video, Boesiger has posted hundreds of clips of her getting ready for matches, doing the latest dance moves and acting out skits with her teammates and friends. Her videos have generated 32.4 million likes and gained her more than 362,000 followers.

Even until her freshman year of college, the videos were just a fun side hobby. Most of the videos were simple, like doing the latest trendy dance or lip-syncing to a song or pop-culture trend. It wasn’t until Volleyball Day in Nebraska and the suggestion of her younger sister, Mallorie, that she began to provide more of a glimpse of the life of a college volleyball student-athlete.

Before the match in Memorial Stadium, Boesiger filmed a seven-second video with then-teammate Maggie Mendelson about how funny (weird, not haha) it was that the stadium would be full of almost 95,000 people the following day. The video blew up and now has 4.8 million views.

“I didn’t feel very comfortable doing it, but I pushed myself, just because it’s so cool,” Boesiger said. “That’s when I fell in love with sharing my experience. What it’s like playing for Nebraska and behind the scenes, my friendships, everything’s so special. Then it went from something that I really didn’t think I’d ever do to something that I love doing, and I have been able to reach and impact so many young girls.”

Boesiger’s most popular video is another trend with Mendelson, where they play the marshmallow challenge (a repeating sequence of phrases that builds as the game continues) before a match, watched by more than 15 million people. The key to getting more comfortable in front of the camera was to keep making more content.

While some of her clips have gone viral, she is best known for her videos in which she gets ready for matches (GRWM), packs for away trips, or cleans out her locker. She features her life, friends and Nebraska volleyball. Whatever the video content or style, one thing that came through her social media posts is that it was always Maisie being Maisie.

While she might come off as impervious to negative emotions with her constant joy and optimism, Lexi Rodriguez, who was teammates with Boesiger for three seasons, said Boesiger does have bad days and struggles just like everyone else. She has a big heart and feels emotions deeply. Despite whatever is going on in her world, Boesiger shows up and puts her best face on for others, no matter the format.

“She is her authentic self, whether that’s in person or on social media,” Rodriguez said. “Some people are like, ‘How is she so happy?’ I don’t know how she does it, but that bubbly personality that she shows online, that is her true, authentic self, and that’s what she’s bringing into the gym every day, and that’s why she has such a big impact on Husker nation in the community, little girls, but also the team as well.”

During her sophomore year, Boesiger was at home, watching YouTube videos of her favorite beach influencers with her sister and mother. She thought the videos were super cute, but also something she could do too.

Her mother’s ears perked up. If she wanted to produce longer-form content, she would fully support the decision and get Boesiger a camera. Maisie was in.

Using video editing skills she learned in her marketing classes, Boesiger began producing behind-the-scenes vlogs of postseason weekends, beach volleyball trips, and even one of her boyfriend’s proposal in Hawaii from earlier this year.

While her main influences are Natalie Zacek, Greta Wilson, and former Louisville volleyball player Alexa Hendricks, the style is all Maisie.

“I am a very positive and happy person. I really wanted that to show through my social media,” Boesiger said. “For it to be a safe space for younger athletes, girls, boys, anyone, to be able to watch the videos and just uplift people and just always be glass half full, because that’s truly who I am. That’s how I was raised, and I wanted that to shine through in my social media.”

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Maisie Boesiger poses for a pictures with Maezie Sherrill after the Nebraska-Maryland match in 2022. The meeting was arranged through Opendorse, a platform that helps student-athletes with NIL deals. | Courtesy photo

When Nick Sherrill asked his daughter which Nebraska player she wanted to meet, he already knew the answer.

His family was travelling the country in late 2022, and the timing worked out so that they could watch the Huskers play at Maryland. Sherrill, who grew up in Lincoln, thought it would be fun for her to meet a Husker player.

Of course, his daughter, Maezie, chose Maisie.

Sherrill arranged a post-match meeting with Boesiger through Opendorse, a platform that helps student-athletes secure NIL deals.

Only a year earlier, the NCAA began allowing student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. When Boesiger entered college, she could sell cakes under her name as a business, provide volleyball lessons, or partner with brands to promote their products on social media and compete.

During their encounter, Maezie, who was 8 at the time, asked Boesiger about her life as a college volleyball player. She peppered her with questions like, did she have any pets? (They bonded over both owning a golden doodle.) What was her favorite color? What does she do as a college volleyball player?

“It was super exciting and really interesting to see how her life was,” Maezie said. “She seems very friendly to me.”

Although the interaction lasted a short time, it had a lasting impact on Maezie. She says when Boesiger is on the court, she’s the only player she watches, especially her serves. When Maezie plays volleyball in the front yard with her friends, she always pretends she’s Boesiger.

Boesiger also enjoys the interactions she has with her younger fans. She receives hundreds of messages from young girls who look up to her and share how her content has impacted them.

“I really didn’t think I’d ever do something that I love doing, and I have been able to reach and impact so many young girls,” Boesiger said. “All the kind messages I get from young girls and just them sharing the impact that I’ve been able to make through just posting positive videos on social media is something that I think is so cool.”

Maisie Boesiger stands with her teammates as does their choreographed cheer as Bergen Reilly serves. | Kenneth Larabee/KLIN

Because of her social media following, Boesiger unintentionally created a valuable platform for the NIL era. As a result of her following, she became a more valued spokesperson for companies. However, Boesiger is picky with what brands she works with. She only picks companies that she believes in and would personally use.

While NIL deals changed the landscape of college athletics, the world was upended again following the finalization of the House settlement earlier this year, which allowed schools to share revenue directly with student-athletes.

For Boesiger and the rest of her teammates, Nebraska’s commitment to volleyball and the program’s status as the only profitable women’s sport in the country positioned it to be at the forefront in investing in the student-athletes on the roster, including Boesiger.

While it was never her idea to get paid to play volleyball at Nebraska, again, Boesiger was in the right place at the right time and earned a scholarship and a cut of the revenue that NU shared with all the volleyball players.

“It is another thing that sets Nebraska so high, because Nebraska gives back to us. They spoil us,” she said. “We’re so lucky to be at a program that has the funds to give to us. It’s been great, but I didn’t come here for a scholarship, and so coming and like now with rev share, it is awesome.”

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Maisie Boesiger attempts a serve for the Huskers. During her first two years at Nebraska, Boesiger carved out a role as a serving specialist. | Kenneth Larabee/KLIN

Boesiger isn’t just a social media darling who posts videos and is along for the ride of the machine that is Nebraska volleyball; she’s a legit Division I volleyball player.

She earned a role as a serving specialist in her freshman year, playing in a career-high 41 sets over 23 matches. That’s just what the public saw. Behind the scenes, she was putting in the work alongside her teammates. Reilly said Boesiger always showed up 30 minutes before practice to pass balls to help the setters get extra repetitions in.

“She’s just like the definition of a good teammate and exactly what we try to embrace here at Nebraska is being good teammates and having that culture,” Reilly said.

Perhaps the most memorable of her in-match appearances came in the final match of her freshman year. Boesiger checked in to serve for Rebekah Allick for Nebraska’s second match point, but NU failed to convert the opportunity. The Huskers eventually fought off an Oregon set point and earned two match points, but failed to capitalize on those as well.

After denying another Ducks set point, Nebraska was out of substitutes, and Boesiger had to play in the front row next to 6-foot-5 Ally Batenhorst and 5-foot-9 setter Anni Evans with the score tied at 30-all. Eventually, Oregon won the next two points to force a fifth set.

Over the next three years, she kept putting the work in and showing up for her teammates. Rodriguez saw Bosiger’s confidence grow as she improved as a player and became more comfortable in her role. While fans see her come in off the bench and nail a serve, it’s not that easy. Boesiger has missed only nine serves out of 270 attempts in her career.

“She goes in, she nails a serve. She goes into serve receive, she dimes the pass,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think people realize how hard that is to do, knowing that your name could get called at any moment, and you have to go out there in front of a sold-out crowd and execute.”

Her work was rewarded earlier this season against Grand Canyon when Boesiger earned her first career start as a defensive specialist. She served up a 7-0 run in the first set, added an ace and four digs while holding her own in serve receive.

Boesiger said she was excited for her first start and that NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly has confidence in everyone on the roster.

“She always tells us a lot that we have a great, deep team and everyone can play,” Boesiger said. “I was excited for a chance to compete, and also for everyone else who got to compete again today, too.”

The one time Boesiger donned the libero jersey was during the Huskers’ spring exhibition in Ord. However, the one catch was that it wasn’t her jersey. Boesiger expected to play her usual back-row specialist role, but again, Busboom Kelly liked to mix up the lineup.

Busboom Kelly said she considered playing Boesigner at libero to reward her for a great spring, but didn’t tell her before the team left Lincoln on Friday. Fortunately, Olivia Mauch was a “sweetheart” and willing to swap jerseys to allow Boesiger her shot at libero. The Norris graduate finished with eight digs against South Dakota State.

“I was obviously super grateful and so excited,” Boesiger said about playing libero. “That’s not something I’ve been able to do in college yet. I was so thankful and wanted to soak in every second of it.”

Maisie Boesiger goes back to serve during the first set against the Omaha Mavericks at Volleyball Day in Nebraska. — Maisie Boesiger goes back to serve during the first set against the Omaha Mavericks at Volleyball Day in Nebraska at Memorial Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

While those on-court moments were highlights, Boesiger’s favorite part of her Husker career was Volleyball Day in Nebraska. She served six times and was the only NU server who didn’t commit an error in the spacious football stadium.

Boesiger said even several years later, she still struggles with how special the experience of playing in front of 92,003 people was. The event became worldwide news and broke out of the volleyball news bubble, reaching a whole new audience of fans, with ripple effects still being felt today.

“It’s honestly unbelievable,” Boesiger said. “I feel so lucky to be a part of this program, because Nebraska fans truly care so much about us. This is a volleyball state. They love us, they support us, and they care about the people, not just the volleyball. They care about each of us as people, which I think is so cool.”

That support has shown up everywhere the Huskers have played during the last two years. The Devaney Center has continued to fill up, reaching 350 consecutive sellouts, but since the Memorial Stadium match, Nebraska has helped set attendance records at 19 venues from coast to coast.

The one constant for these matches is the crowd support Boesiger receives when she checks in. Husker fans are generally appreciative of the role players, but when Boesiger enters to serve, the cheers have a little extra energy.

“It’s a Nebraska girl who’s paid her dues and has worked really hard. It’s just the culture of the state,” Busboom Kelly said. “She might not get a lot of the credit, but I think Nebraskans recognize what she means to the program. That’s why they get so excited when she comes in.”

Eventually, the scores will fade, and the names of the opponents will fade. Boesiger will be left with the connections she made with teammates over the years — many of whom will serve as bridesmaids in her wedding — and form life-long friendships.

“When I’m done, it’s not like the specific games that I’m gonna look back on and remember, we played X team, and this happened,” she said. “It’s more all the memories I have and all the friendships I have going forward.”

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Maisie Boesiger (7) celebrates with her teammates after a point. The senior defensive specialist has remained a team-first player that has helped the Huskers remained undefeated entering the final week of Big Ten play. | Kenneth Larabee/KLIN

While the rules around her have changed, Boesiger has remained the same upbeat, bubbly person.

During her time at Nebraska, she’s seen the rules around college volleyball evolve, but she’s been well-positioned to use those changes and set herself up with long-term success.

Boesiger put in the work in the last few years to graduate this past May. She wanted to walk in Nebraska’s commencement ceremony, and did so in May, because she’s seen teammates wrap up their degrees in December and not participate because it occurs the same weekend as the Final Four.

Now, Boesiger is taking a few undergraduate classes this fall to retain her eligibility. She is also busy planning her wedding next year and has already used her earnings as a student-athlete to buy a house with her fiancé.

Even though her career is wrapping up, Boesiger’s legacy will carry on after she’s gone. Her sister Malorie, a top-ranked setter in the Class of 2027, committed to the Huskers earlier this year. To celebrate her pledge, Boesiger helped Malorie with a photo shoot on the north side of the Devaney Center, the exact spot where Boesiger had taken her commitment photos five years earlier.

Boesiger was elated to watch Malorie win a state championship in her home gym in November after she hustled back from an away match in Minnesota. Malorie said she is impressed with her sister’s attitude, how she approaches everything with joy and treats everyone she comes into contact with respect.

“She’s the biggest cheerleader, not just to me, but to all of her teammates,” Malorie said. “It’s just really cool to see her put others before herself and embrace her role.”

Maisie Boesiger digs a ball while diving to her right wearing a white jersey and black shorts. — Maisie Boesiger will suit up for her final regular-season home match for the Huskers this weekend, but she plans to remain involved with volleyball after her playing career. | Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics

Boesiger will also stay involved with volleyball after her playing career with the Huskers is over. She will continue to be her sister’s biggest fan when she starts her collegiate career and root for her mother while coaching Norris. She said she could become a coach one day, but likely only for her children.

In addition, Boesiger will combine her passions and work as a social media manager for LOVB Nebraska. When that season is over, she will work for the new company Rodriguez co-founded called She Sports. The company’s purpose aligns with Boesiger’s motivation, as it aims to connect young girls with female college athletes who share stories to build confidence and inspire growth in the next generation.

For now, Boesiger is not in a hurry to get to her future. She’s busy trying to soak up every moment left in her journey with the Huskers — every practice, every match and every connection she’s made over her career.

“I loved everyone so much, and (I want to be remembered as) just someone who was so positive, and someone who was a great teammate,” Boesiger said. “I’m just a small-town Nebraska girl whose dreams came true getting to be here and play for Nebraska.”

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