Sheldon: 3 Quick Sideouts from Nebraska's Win over Wright State

Husker newcomers make their mark on a night the offense still needed work, while a huge question mark emerges in the Big Ten title race.

Andi Jackson and Bergen Reilly block a Wright State attack. | Cory Edmondson, KLIN

Here are three quick sideouts from Nebraska's 3-0 win Friday against Wright State at John Cook Arena.

Nebraska’s offense remains clunky

The Huskers hit .330 - a respectable hitting percentage and the team’s second-best of the young season - and were blocked a season-low once.

But Nebraska’s attack continues to not ace the eye test. It started with another rocky passing performance. Wright State aced NU three times in the first set, the third of which put the Raiders on top 13-12.

If the Huskers were looking for answers on how to get kills from its second outside hitter position, they didn’t come Friday. Teraya Sigler, Taylor Landfair, and Skyler Pierce combined for seven kills and four errors on 24 swings (.125) hitting. 

Nebraska outside hitter Skyler Pierce had three kills on 11 attacks vs. Wright State. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

And while the match was somewhat of a coming-out party for freshman Manaia Ogbechie (more on her later), it was another match where Nebraska couldn’t unlock Andi Jackson. The junior All-American had six kills and three errors on her 14 attacks. The Huskers went to her three straight times to close out the match, and she fired the first two out of bounds before burying the match’s final swing.

Husker Sports Network radio analyst Lauren Cook West, herself an All-American setter during her playing days, remarked during the match broadcast on several occasions that she believed mistimed or misplaced sets from Bergen Reilly led to a failure to convert. 

But Nebraska coach Dani Busboom Kelly, one big goal was met. She wanted to watch Ogbechie and freshman opposite Virginia Adriano play the entire match.

Adriano finished with seven kills and four blocks in playing all three sets.

Nebraska opposite hitter Virginia Adriano put away 7 kills Friday. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

“It’s important for her and Bergen to feel comfortable with each other, and it’s important for Bergen to know what kind of set she needs,” Busboom Kelly said. “That was great. I thought tonight both of them together connected really well, and Virginia looked a little more like herself than she did the last couple of games.”

Adriano was open after the match that she’s not adjusted to American college volleyball as quickly as she’d hoped, with nine kills and 10 errors over the first four matches of the year.

The 6-foot-5 Italian has not quite seemed to find the timing with Reilly right away. The Huskers perhaps run a slightly quicker offense than Adriano’s Italian teams, which gave her higher, but slower, sets that allowed her to use the full extent of her reach.

To start this season, at least, the Huskers seem to prefer pushing the tempo to the right side.

“I would say I’m becoming a more, how do you say it, open-minded player because I’m trying to understand new things I didn’t know before,” Adriano said. “And even if it’s still the game of volleyball, I’m learning a lot of new things. I’m learning to do something different I wasn’t taught before, and at the same time, I’m kind of losing something that I was used to. 

“So, it’s been hard, but I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying the process, and I’m trusting the process.”

Introducing Manaia Ogbechie

You can call the first-year middle blocker a lot of things, but don’t call her a freshman, Busboom Kelly said after Ogbechie had the best match of her young Husker career Friday with eight kills on .583 hitting with a team-best five blocks.

Like with Adriano, Busboom Kelly was determined to give Ogbechie the full match, as she filled in for starter Rebekah Allick, who did not play against Wright State. 

Nebraska middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie prepares to spike the ball during the Red-White Scrimmage. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

“She reads the game really well for a freshman,” Busboom Kelly said. “She hates when you even say that, ‘as a freshman.’ She’s like, ‘I don’t want to be viewed as a freshman,’ and that’s an amazing mentality to have.”

Ogbechie, who had five kills in limited action over the Huskers’ first four matches, more than doubled that Friday and may have shown the best connection with setter Reilly of any Husker attacker. She scored on both slides behind Reilly and quick attacks in front of the setter.

Pressed on what are the marks of a freshman with precocious maturity, Busboom Kelly ticked off a number of Ogbechie’s qualifications.

“Take care of their business on and off the court is a big one,” she said. “Come into every practice mentally ready to get better. That’s probably one of the most difficult things as a freshman. And going for it. Swinging away and not acting scared or intimidated.”

Starck absence shifts Big Ten title picture

Conference play is still three weeks away, but the Big Ten championship race was shaken Friday 1,000 miles to the east in Lincoln. 

Just as No. 4 Penn State took the floor at Rec Hall to host No. 5 Kentucky, sophomore setter Izzy Starck, the reigning national freshman of the year, announced on social media she was immediately stepping away from volleyball to focus on her mental health.

With St. Louis transfer Addie Lyon stepping in to set, the Nittany Lions were swept on their home court by the Wildcats, dropping the defending national champions to 2-3 on the season with their third straight loss.

This must be a near-unprecedented situation, at least in college volleyball. There have been surprise transfers and medical retirements from star players before, but the abrupt loss of perhaps the country’s best setter right before a match, and for these circumstances, has little comparison.

Penn State sophomore setter Izzy Starck | Penn State Athletics

Starck’s admission is a brave one. And you’d hope more people - star athlete or not - can recognize when they are unwell and seek help despite any fear of judgement or stigma. 

Presuming she does not play again this season, having played in only four matches, Starck may qualify for a medical redshirt, should she choose to apply for one.

But for now, it’s another loss PSU Coach Katie Schumacher Cawley will need to overcome, with a lineup that already had several new starters from last season.

Nebraska travels to State College on Friday, Oct. 3.

Nebraska Volleyball 2025 Schedule

• Aug. 9 Red 3, White 1
• Aug. 16 Nebraska 3, Alumni 1
• Aug. 22 Nebraska 3, Pittsburgh 1
• Aug. 24 Nebraska 3, Stanford 0
• Aug. 29 Nebraska 3, Lipscomb 0
• Aug. 31 Nebraska 3, Kentucky 2
• Sept. 5 Nebraska 3, Wright State 0
• Sept. 7 vs. California 1 p.m. BTN
• Sept. 12 vs. Utah 6 p.m. FS1
• Sept. 13 vs. Grand Canyon 6 p.m. NPM
• Sept. 16 at Creighton 6:30 p.m. FS1
• Sept. 20 vs. Arizona BTN
• Sept. 24 vs Michigan 6 p.m. BTN
• Sept. 27 vs. Maryland 3 p.m. NPM
• Oct. 3 at Penn State 7 p.m. FOX
• Oct. 4 at Rutgers
• Oct. 10 vs. Washington 8 p.m. BTN
• Oct. 12 at Purdue
• Oct. 17 at Michigan State
• Oct. 19 at Michigan 1 p.m.
• Oct. 24 vs. Northwestern NPM
• Oct. 25 vs. Michigan State 7:30 p.m. BTN
• Oct. 31 at Wisconsin 8 p.m. BTN
• Nov. 2 vs. Oregon 1 p.m. BTN
• Nov. 6 vs. Illinois 7 p.m. FS1
• Nov. 8 at Minnesota 2:30 p.m. NBC
• Nov. 14 at UCLA BTN
• Nov. 16 at USC 2 p.m. B1G+
• Nov. 20 vs. Iowa FS1
• Nov. 22 at Indiana
• Nov. 28 vs. Penn State 5:30 p.m. BTN
• Nov. 29 vs. Ohio State BTN

Home matches are bolded. All times central.

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