Reilly Ready for Homecoming with Exhibition Match in Sioux Falls

Bergen Reilly has created many memories in the Sanford Pentagon.

The Nebraska setter attended Sioux Falls Skyforce games there when she was little. She spent dozens of weekends playing club basketball and volleyball tournaments at the venue. She also played in a state championship game at the Pentagon with O’Gorman High School.

This weekend, Reilly will return to her hometown with Nebraska for a volleyball exhibition at the arena in the north part of Sioux Falls. The Huskers will face Iowa State on Saturday at 1 p.m. CDT, with the match televised on BTN.

The 3,250-seat venue sold out in minutes. While not every fan is there to watch Reilly play, many family members and friends are looking forward to seeing the three-time All-American play her first match in South Dakota since high school.

“It’s gonna be awesome,” Reilly said. “There’s a lot of people that have wanted to see me for the last three years and haven’t been able to come down to Lincoln, because it’s pretty hard for me to get tickets for people.”

Hosting college events isn’t new to the Pentagon. Wisconsin and St. John’s played a men’s basketball game shortly after it opened in 2013. Over the past dozen years, the venue has hosted more than 100 Division I basketball games. Last year, it hosted two matches as part of the First Serve Showcase (Penn State vs Kansas and Texas A&M vs Minnesota).

Nebraska also has a history with the facility. The men’s basketball team has played four games there since 2018, and the women’s team also made the trip north the past two years. While those games were played away from Lincoln, the Husker fans turned the venue into a home-court atmosphere.

When the Pentagon operators reached out to NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly about playing in Sioux Falls, it was an easy choice.

“The Pentagon is known as a great facility, and they host a lot of events,” she said. “It made a lot of sense to go up there and play a game with Devaney out of commission.”

Bergen Reilly poses for a portrait with three of her volleyball medals in 2022 at O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls. Reilly will return to her hometown with the Huskers this weekend. | Erin Woodiel / Argus Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even though Reilly has played high school and club games at the Pentagon, she hasn’t experienced the atmosphere of a sold-out crowd. She said she talked to her boyfriend, Cale Jacobsen, who plays for NU's men’s basketball team, about what to expect.

“It’s not a huge arena, but it gets really loud when it’s full,” Reilly said. “I’m really excited to get to experience that as a college player, because it only gets so full for high school games. I’m really excited to see it just jam-packed and people right on top of you.”

As with any road trip to a player’s hometown, Reilly and her parents, Brendan and Tiffany, will serve as unofficial hosts for the Huskers during the weekend. Usually, the family hosts the team for a meal at their home. However, the timing didn’t work out as they are redoing their basement.

“It’s unfortunate we can’t do it in our house,” Brendan Reilly said. “We still will be able to at least host a dinner event for them at another location, so that they could all hang out and chill for a little while.”

While this is Bergen Reilly’s first time playing in her home state during college, it won’t be her last. The Huskers will play a regular-season match on Sept. 2 at South Dakota State in Brookings, an hour north of Sioux Falls.

As with most Husker road matches, the fans are excited to watch them play in a new part of the country. The cheapest tickets for the match are now over $250 on third-party resellers.

Brendan Reilly said he’s had dozens of people reach out to him, saying they are coming to the match. He said the response to how many people want to watch his daughter play is humbling. While he’s been to dozens of games at the Pentagon and more than 100 Nebraska matches over the years, he is looking forward to the Huskers playing in his hometown.

“When they have showcase events like this, they really roll out the red carpet,” he said. “The Pentagon staff does a really good job of making it a big deal. I think they will this weekend too. So they put on a first-class event. I’d say it’s akin to an NBA-style event when it comes to the type of extra stuff they put on to make the event really cool.”

In addition to Bergen Reilly’s homecoming, here are other storylines to watch:

Get to know @CycloneVB ahead of the sold‑out Cyclones–Nebraska match on April 11. ISU has flourished under Christy Johnson‑Lynch with 16 NCAA bids since 2006. Rachel Van Gorp returns as Big 12 Libero of the Year, joined by all‑Big 12 standouts Alea Goolsby and Reagan Hanfelt. pic.twitter.com/WlYjQqvbL5
— Sanford Sports Complex (@sanford_complex) April 7, 2026

HUSKER REUNION: Both coaches in Saturday’s match won national championships at Nebraska. In addition to Dani Busboom Kelly’s title from 2006, Iowa State’s Christy Johnson-Lynch was the starting setter on the 1995 title-winning team.

This will be their first match as head coaches, but it won’t be their first meeting. During 2015, then-NU coach John Cook missed a match at Iowa State to be with his sister in California as she battled an illness. Busboom Kelly filled in as the interim beach coach as the Huskers earned a four-set victory.

Busboom Kelly said she’s excited to coach against Johnson-Lynch again.

“She is somebody that I grew up idolizing and watching, and I remember watching her play like it was yesterday,” she said.

OUTSIDE FACTOR: With Taylor Landfair graduating, Nebraska has an opening starting spot at outside hitter. Teraya Sigler played in the back row for her last season, but is looking to expand her role.

Busboom Kelly said the sophomore outside hitter needs to terminate more out-of-system attacks. Sigler has put in work since the end of last season, gotten stronger and increased her vertical jump. She is confident Sigler can record kills when she gets a good set, but putting the ball away with blockers in front of her will be critical.

“She’s got one of the heaviest arms on the team,” Busboom Kelly said. “She’s had an awesome offseason and is playing much better, much stronger in the front row than she was last year.”

When asked who has made a jump since last season, Reilly cited Sigler. The two of them were partners during the beach season and went 16-4. Reilly said their time together helped develop better communication and chemistry.

“She’s looking great. I’m really excited that everybody gets to see that this spring,” she said.

Virginia Adriano (9) celebrates a kill. — Virginia Adriano (9) celebrates a kill during her freshman season. NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said she's seen the 6-foot-5 opposite play with more confidence this spring. | Amarillo Mullen

SETTLING IN: Virginia Adriano flashed her potential during her first year playing college volleyball. The Turin, Italy native also struggled at times as she adapted to a new style of play and a culture while living halfway across the world from her home.

This spring, Busboom Kelly said the 6-foot-5 opposite is playing with more confidence and has developed a better connection with the setters.

“I think she’s just taken her game to a new level, where she’s expecting herself to kill the ball and she wants to be that player that can take over matches,” she said. “I’ve seen her grow a lot and hopefully that shows up in these three games.”

MIDDLE REPLACEMENT: Another opportunity for a new starter is at middle blocker following the graduation of Rebekah Allick. The Huskers have three viable options in sophomore Manaia Ogbechie, redshirt freshman Kenna Cogill and freshman Keoni Williams.

While they can’t replace some of the intangibles Allick brought, they should be able to provide plenty of on-court production. They each have distinct strengths and play styles. Busboom Kelly said she is looking forward to them playing against someone who doesn’t know all their tendencies.

“When they’re going up against each other all the time, they can make each other look very average,” she said. “ When it gets to other teams, they all look like rock stars.”

From left, Jayden Robinson, Gabby DiVita and Keoni Williams officially signed with the Huskers on Wednesday. — From left, Jayden Robinson, Gabby DiVita and Keoni Williams are participating in their first spring season with the Huskers. The three recruits were part of the third-ranked 2026 class according to PrepVolleyball. | Keoni Williams Instagram

FRESH FACES: In addition to all the returners, the exhibition will be the debut of three true freshmen: Williams, outside hitter Gabby DiVita and pin hitter Jayden Robinson. Busboom Kelly said she expects everyone to play and to see how the new players react to a rowdy environment.

She said they’ve helped bring some fire to the gym and made practices more enjoyable.

“They want to get better every single day, and sometimes that can be a tough adjustment,” Busboom Kelly said. “We’ve thrown them into the fire a little bit. They’ve done great, and they want to learn, they want to compete, and that’s made it really fun.”