Nebraska Smothers Illinois with Defense, Balanced Offense

Choboy puts up 20 digs as the Huskers record their 14th straight sweep.

Nebraska libero Laney Choboy passes the ball against Oregon. She finished with 20 digs against Illinois. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

LINCOLN—Teraya Sigler is thankful for Laney Choboy. 

During the second set, the freshman outside hitter wound up for a back-row attack that Illinois rejected and sent flying toward the endline. Because it was a back-row attack, the Huskers didn’t have anyone behind the 10-foot line, and it looked like a hitter error was imminent. 

Enter Choboy. 

Nebraska’s libero fully laid out and popped the ball up — the third time she recorded a dig during the rally, including one on a pancake — and kept the play alive. Setter Bergen Reilly then sent the ball to Harper Murray at the left pin for the kill.

Cheers! 🍾 pic.twitter.com/lv9xhfdrAr

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) November 7, 2025

After the ball hit the floor, Sigler ran over to Choboy and engulfed her in a bear hug. 

“I see Laney go for it, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s gonna get it,” Sigler said while sitting next to her libero in the post-match press conference. “That’s our team. We just hustle for everything. And I was like, ‘Thank you, Laney.’”

Choboy finished with a career-best 20 digs against the Illini and added two aces and three assists to lead the top-ranked Huskers in a 25-11, 25-15, 25-14 sweep over Illinois Thursday night at John Cook Arena. 

The 5-foot-3 junior said she doesn’t think much during plays like that; she just reacts and tries to keep the ball alive. Because Sigler was hitting a back-row attack, she knew that no one was behind her, and it was up to her to make a play and prevent a hitting error. 

“I want my teammates’ stats to be good,” Choboy said. 

The Huskers ready for their match against Illinois. | Amarillo Mullen

She was also perfect in nine serve receptions as the Huskers didn’t allow an ace for just the second time this season. In addition to those diving plays, she also covered the blocks and didn’t allow the Illini to record many kills on tips. 

NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly called Choboy’s full-extension dig “electric.” She said Choboy has the green light to cover as much of the court as possible on defense, and she helped NU limit the Illini to a season-low .095 hitting percentage. As a team, the Huskers tallied 40 digs, 16 more than the Illini. 

Illinois (12-9, 7-5) was led by eight kills from Taylor de Boer, while Auburn Tomkinson added six, but both finished with a hitting percentage below .100.

“Illinois could not get a tip down, and that’s like the biggest energy suck when you let tips drop,” Busboom Kelly said. “Laney was picking them up from everywhere, and I think she did an awesome job just taking charge of that from the get-go.”

For as good as Choboy was on defense, NU’s offense was equally impressive. 

Andi Jackson was perfect in attack against Illinois on Thursday. | Amarillo Mullen

Ten different players recorded a kill, led by junior middle blocker Andi Jackson, who terminated on all nine of her attacks. The performance nearly tied a school record for hitting percentage in a match, but a minimum of 10 attacks is required to enter the record books. Nevertheless, Choboy said she wasn’t surprised by Jackson’s perfect performance.

“Every time Andy goes up, I think that she expects and we know and trust that she’s probably gonna get a kill or get them out of system,” Choboy said. “We have a lot of trust in her, and I think that she’s just playing so well right now and just doing so amazing. So I’m just not surprised that she went nine for nine.”

For the match, the Huskers (23-0, 13-0) posted a .488 hitting percentage, their best against a Big Ten opponent since 2014. Reilly finished with 29 assists, seven digs, five blocks and a kill despite giving way to Campbell Flynn in the first and third sets. Flynn recorded seven assists on her 11 sets in limited action. 

The Huskers applied pressure on Illinois from the opening serve and jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Tompinkson accounted for four of the Illini’s seven kills in the set. In fact, Murray tied for the second-most points scored for Illinois as she missed two serves. 

Harper Murray had eight kills against Illinois. | Amarillo Mullen

NU’s offense was also at its best in the first set. The Huskers posted a .714 hitting percentage with 20 kills on 28 swings without an error, despite changing setters and also bringing in opposite Allie Sczech. Eight Huskers recorded a kill in the set, led by four from Virginia Adriano and Murray. 

“What’s different about our team is that we’re very selfless,” said Sigler, who recorded six kills and a .417 hitting percentage. “We go in and we always say there’s no drop off, whether you’re a freshman or a senior, you have the same Nebraska standard that everyone else has. That’s what makes us special, we have trust in everyone, no matter how old you are or how much experience you have.”

Murray and Adriano finished with eight kills in the match. Every NU attacker accounted for at least three kills, and no one attempted more than 19 attacks. Skyler Pierce and Manaia Ogbechie played just the third set and put up four and three kills, respectively. 

Virginia Adriano blocks an Illinois overpass. | Amarillo Mullen

Helping the NU offense was its serve receive, as according to Busboom Kelly, the Huskers passed a 2.63 out of 3, which is a season best. For just the second time this season, NU didn’t allow an ace. 

Busboom Kelly credited senior defensive specialist Maisie Boesiger with coming up with a team goal of making Illinois call a timeout before the media break at 15 points. The Illini used a timeout down 13-4 in the first set and down 9-4 in the third. 

“I think that it’s always a challenge (to start fast), because it’s very easy to get into a match and try to feel out another team,” Busboom Kelly said. “But we didn’t do that tonight. We came out and played great, and I thought what we planned to do worked really well, and we stuck with it.”

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