Depth, Discipline Define Nebraska’s Latest Sweep of Michigan State

Is Nebraska volleyball boring? After 11-straight sweeps, the Huskers are finding ways to keep things fresh, even if it has to happen in practice instead of the games.

For the second time in eight days, top-ranked Nebraska swept Michigan State. | Amarillo Mullen

The Nebraska volleyball team is so successful, it’s actually been relatively boring volleyball to watch over the last 11 matches.

Since a five-set thriller against Creighton back in mid-September, the Huskers have barely broken a sweat while sweeping 11-straight opponents, which now has their consecutive sets won tally at 34. The latest victim is Michigan State to the tune of 25-15, 25-15, 25-18.

It’s the second time the Huskers have taken the court against the Spartans this season, but you guessed it, both ended in Nebraska sweeps.

Nebraska swept Michigan State just eight days prior to Saturday night's sweep in East Lansing. The Spartans hosted an arena-record 11,578 fans at the Breslin Center. | Nebraska Athletics

“It does get a little bit old, but being able to even participate in the third set, for me, that’s more than fulfilling,” freshman middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie said. “It has definitely been a dream. That was my goal here – just to help in one way or another.”

The Huskers have been so dominant, it’s not hard for coach Dani Busboom Kelly to turn to the bench and give her younger players some time on the court. It’s also allowing Nebraska’s setters to gain a feel for a variety of different players who can make an impact when called upon.

“It’s a good thing that we’re spreading the ball around,” Busboom Kelly said. “If you’re game planning against us, you’ve got to make some tough decisions. I guess it’d be good for some players to have double-digit counts, but they’re hitting pretty high efficiencies.”

🖐 gets it done for us in S2! @rebekahallick5 x #GBR pic.twitter.com/xMn8TO1nPq

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) October 26, 2025

Saturday night’s match against Michigan State offered somewhat of a unique change of pace, as the Spartans played Nebraska in East Lansing, Mich. just eight days earlier. One would think getting to see a team like Nebraska twice in essentially a one-week span could help, but the Huskers weren’t phased by anything MSU threw at them.

Like Busboom Kelly alluded too, the offense didn’t exactly run through one player. Instead, Nebraska had nine different players record kills in the match, with Teraya Sigler leading the way with nine. It marked the second-straight night where Nebraska didn’t have a player reach double-digit kills.

That, however, didn’t seem to bother anybody in red Saturday night.

“I think we’re really good on both sides of the ball – just so many weapons and (it) just feels like if somebody’s having an off night or even multiple people are having an off night, not only can we set somebody else and they’ll be really efficient, we can make substitutions,” Busboom Kelly said. “It’s just consistency and your setters (have) got to be playing great and really confident, and then everybody else I think feels that.”

Good serve receive and passing helped carry Nebraska to its 11th-straight sweep. | Amarillo Mullen

The confidence for Nebraska not only comes from good passing, which they’ve had plenty of in their 20-0 start to the 2025 season, but it’s come from potentially some of the toughest volleyball practices you’ll find across the country.

After NU’s sweep of Northwestern Friday night, middle blocker Rebekah Allick first mentioned how grueling their practices are. In the midst of the now 11-straight sweeps, Allick alluded to the fact that some of their toughest volleyball week in and week out lately has come against themselves.

That seems to still be the sentiment now with another weekend of sweeps in the books.

“I mean, we push each other a lot in practice, so that helps when a struggle is going to come,” Nebraska freshman opposite hitter Virginia Adriano said. “When that’s going to happen, we are going to be prepared for that. I think helping each other in practice specifically.”

AJ slams it down 😮‍💨@aandijackson 🤝 pic.twitter.com/d8MaW9wHW0

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) October 26, 2025

“As much as we can during our practices, we have really competitive practices,” Busboom Kelly echoed. “We’re always mixing our teams up, making sure we’re creating different match-ups that could be similar to the game. Trying to create things in practice as much as we can.”

More times than not, the games have been easier as of late, but Nebraska’s about to see an uptick in competition over the next handful of games. The toughest match may be the next one as the Huskers hit the road for a Halloween night showdown at No. 12 Wisconsin. The Badgers beat Washington in four sets Friday night and have a Sunday afternoon match on tap with Oregon to close out their weekend.

Nebraska is also staring down the schedule at matches against No. 20 Minnesota, No. 25 UCLA and an Illinois team that’s currently sitting just outside the top 25, but is receiving plenty of votes.

BIG ROOF TO END IT 🏠 HUSKERS WIN!@aandijackson 🤝 @BergenReilly pic.twitter.com/KP7uWf3RkO

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) October 26, 2025

While it might not be similar to the run of playing Pittsburgh, Stanford and Kentucky in a short stretch to start the season, Nebraska will still be hard-pressed to keep sweeping teams over the next several weeks.

However, even if the sweeps do keep stacking up, Busboom Kelly knows how the last few years have ended is more than enough to keep the engine running in Lincoln.

“I’ve said this so many times this year – this team’s fallen short, the bulk of this team, for two years now,” Busboom Kelly said. “They’re pretty hungry. I think they understand what is going to happen if they get complacent, and it’s not going to be good.”

---

---

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.