The Nebraska Volleyball Road Show Heads West to Chadron

The Huskers' final spring exhibition will be their first match in the Panhandle since 2009.

Members of the Huskers celebrate after winning a set point against Iowa State during an exhibition match in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Nebraska will play its final spring game this Saturday in Chadron against Northern Colorado. | Nebraska Athletics

The Nebraska Volleyball Road Show heads west this weekend. 

The Huskers will wrap up their spring season with an exhibition match against Northern Colorado Saturday at 1 p.m. Central/Noon Mountain at Chadron State College. The match, which will be broadcast by Nebraska Public Media, marks the first return to the Panhandle since 2009, when NU played Wichita State at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff. 

When they were discussing where to play their match this spring, the Huskers wanted to go somewhere new. Usually, teams are allowed to travel by bus during the spring season as a cost-saving measure, but NU applied for an NCAA waiver to fly to Chadron, a seven-hour drive from Lincoln. 

“Once we got that (waiver), it was a no-brainer,” NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “It’s a big deal to travel that far and really fun to go somewhere we haven’t been.”

On Mountain time in the 308! ⛰️

The Huskers will face Northern Colorado for a spring match in Chadron on April 25!

🎟️ℹ️: https://t.co/zNPNm9tayV pic.twitter.com/GFIfIt5Zqq

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) March 13, 2026

As they did in the first two exhibitions, the Huskers will play a minimum of four sets against Northern Colorado. Busboom Kelly said the Bears present a different challenge, with only three players taller than 6-foot. 

The Bears went 17-16 overall last season, posted an 11-5 league record and won the Big Sky Conference Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. UNC returns its top point scorer from last season in outside hitter Alayna Tessena, who averaged 3.13 kills per set last season. 

Busboom Kelly isn’t overly worried about what the Bears are doing on their side of the net. Instead, she wants NU to improve on their level of play from the first two exhibitions and use this match to set them up for a successful offseason, with them excited to return in June. 

“Chadron is more of a celebration of the state, and taking our team all the way out west, and to enjoy the people out there,” Busboom Kelly said.

Sophomore outside hitter Teraya Sigler enjoyed the trip to Ord last year and is looking forward to going to a new part of the state. She enjoys the tradition of playing in smaller towns, and they should cherish the experience. 

“It’s such a cool opportunity to travel around the state, especially for how much volleyball is celebrated here,” she said. “It’s the coolest thing ever to go to a random High School in Nebraska and just play volleyball and just celebrate the fact that we just all love volleyball and support each other in that.”

The Chadron exhibition will also be NU’s third match of the spring, which is more than they’ve had in recent history. In Busboom Kelly’s first spring, the Huskers hosted Kansas at the Devaney Center before going to Ord to take on South Dakota State.

The last time Nebraska played multiple spring matches under John Cook was 2014, when the Huskers played at Iowa State and faced Creighton at Wayne State. In 2013, the Huskers played the maximum four matches, going 2-2, dropping exhibitions against Creighton in the final contest at the NU Coliseum and at Wichita State. 

Nebraska volleyball players celebrate during a 4-0 win over South Dakota State at Ord High School in 2025. The Huskers traditionally play one match each year in a community outside of Lincoln. | Nebraska Athletics

From 2015-2024, Nebraska played one spring match around the state of Nebraska, except in 2018, when the Huskers didn’t have any setters on campus, and in 2021, when the usual season was postponed to the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Nebraska’s spring schedule is more compact than other schools because it uses the same players for the beach season as indoor practices, meaning the student-athletes are playing in the sand until mid-March before switching back to the hard court. 

The approach is similar to how Busboom Kelly managed the spring at Louisville, where they typically participated in up to four exhibitions.

“You want to max out as many competitions in the spring,” she said. “Pressure doesn’t matter if you win or lose. It’s literally about development and helping players get better, training them, learning more about them than learning more about you. You can only see so much in your own gym. It’s really great to see it against other competition, and know what you’re doing is working or it’s not.”

Sigler said she’s approaching this spring as an opportunity to work on new attacks. She’s shown the ability to hit the ball harder in attacks and also displayed a more aggressive back-row attack. The improvements are a direct result of their work in practice. 

“This is a time to make mistakes and a time to make errors. Go for it and kind of figure it out,” Sigler said. “It’s really important to have that in our practice gym, because you don’t grow when everything’s going right. You grow when things are rocky, and you’re just building off of taking risks.”

Nebraska Spring Match History Outside Lincoln/Omaha

Year	Host City	Facility	Attendance	Opponent	Result
2025	Ord	Ord High School	1,750	South Dakota State	W 4-0
2024	Kearney	University of Nebraska-Kearney	5,094	Denver	W 3-0
2023	Central City	Central City High School	2,096	Wichita State	W 3-0
2022	Grand Island	Heartland Events Center	6,117	Kansas	W 3-1
2019	McCook	Mid-Plains Community College	1,750	Colorado State	W 3-1
2017	Kearney	Kearney High School	2,040	Colorado State	W 3-0
2015	Grand Island	Heartland Events Center	6,006	Kansas State	W 3-0
2014	Wayne	Wayne State	2,050	Creighton	W 3-0
2012	Norfolk	Northeast Community College	2,000	North Dakota State	W 3-0
2011	Grand Island	Heartland Events Center	5,522	Wichita State	W 3-2
2009	Scottsbluff	Western Nebraska Community College	2,400	Wichita State	L 3-2
2007	North Platte	North Platte High School	2,400	Wichita State	W 3-0