The Wednesday Spike: Is Harper Murray the Best All-Around Outside Hitter in the Country?

In a talented national class of outsides, Nebraska’s junior is among the best.

Harper Murray's all-around game makes her among the top in an exceptional class of NCAA outside hitters | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Monday, Nebraska’s junior outside hitter Harper Murray was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week, the first time in her career she’s received that honor and the first Nebraska player to be so honored since Merritt Beason in November 2023.

That’s right, Nebraska won a share of the Big Ten championship and advanced to the Final Four in 2024 without a single player ever being given the league’s player of the week honor. 

It’s often been discussed. The Huskers’ balance doesn’t lend itself to individual accolades. I wrote about it just last week in making the case for setter Bergen Reilly.

But after she reached final Kaiju form last week in sweeps of Washington and No. 12 Purdue, I thought it was time to take a closer look at how Murray fits in an exceptional 2025 group of NCAA outside hitters.

Harper Murray passes the ball after an Arizona serve. | Amarillo Mullen

***Disclaimer*** This is not an exhaustive list of outsides. These are top outsides on some of the nation’s best teams, who we expect to make deep NCAA tournament runs. So that’s why LSU’s Jurnee Robinson (the Tigers are 9-8) or Lincoln Southwest grad Shaylee Meyers at Kansas State aren’t on here despite impressive stats.

Also, these are left-side hitters. So, no Olivia Babcock or Kennedy Martin, who both are six-rotation opposites.

Harper Murray is among the nation's best all-around outside hitters. She attacks, passes, and defends at a high level. | Jeff Sheldon | Spreadsheet Grinder

Murray acquits herself very well on this list. She hasn’t put up the kills like Colyer, DeLeye or Stafford. She doesn’t dig as many balls as Petersen or Rubin. But putting all the skills together, it’s clear no one has an open-and-shut case for being a better overall performer. 

It depends on what you value. Would Nebraska like Murray to put away one more kill per set? Sure. But her monster weekend, where she had 28 kills and just one error over the two matches, jumped her kill percentage up to 44.2 percent. If she sustains that over the course of the season, she’ll be a first-team All-American for the first time in her career.

And while it’s not as valued in college volleyball as it will be when she plays professionally, Murray’s passing stands out. Only Rubin and Petersen can make the claim to be at Murray’s level as a serve receiver. Murray’s 2.30 pass score ties her with libero Olivia Mauch for best on Nebraska’s team.

Murray is tied with libero Olivia Mauch for the best passing numbers on the team. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Often, opponents will target a talented outside hitter like Murray in serve receive to try to wear them down, like the Huskers did to Penn State’s Emmi Sellman a couple of weeks ago. Murray has passed fewer serves than her peers on this list, not because the Huskers hide her in serve receive when she’s in the back row, but because Nebraska’s opponents would rather try their luck serving Mauch, Laney Choboy, or freshman Teraya Sigler. 

Serving Murray puts the Huskers in system 60 percent of the time.

And Nebraska plays some of its best volleyball when Murray is in the back row, not only because of her passing and defensive skills, but because she’s one of the best back-row attackers in the country.

The Huskers’ second and third-best rotations by attack percentage come with Murray in the back row. Because she can do things like this to end Game 1 against Purdue.

HARP ON THE BIC 😤@harpermurray4 ends the rally flying out of the back row and Huskers take S1! pic.twitter.com/5A95OY6qDu

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) October 12, 2025

It’s going to be a crowded conversation for All-American honors at outside hitter this season, but Murray’s all-around talents should keep her right in the middle of it.

What do we like?

After last weekend’s matches, Nebraska moved into the national lead in attack percentage at .327, creeping ahead of Tennessee. The Huskers hit .307 on Friday against Washington, then blitzed Purdue at .349 on Sunday to reach the .300 mark for the 13th time in 16 matches this year.

You don’t reach numbers like those without contributions from all over the court. We already talked about Murray’s match, and Andi Jackson did her regular thing, too, hitting .450 with 12 kills against the Boilermakers.

Andi Jackson (15) hit .562 with 10 kills against Washington last week. | Amarillo Mullen

But Baylor transfer opposite hitter Allie Sczech got some deserved shine this week after coming off the bench vs. Purdue in place of starter Virginia Adriano, who struggled with three kills and four errors on 11 attacks in about one-and-a-half sets of action Sunday. 

Sczech, who my Volleyball State co-host Lincoln Arneal profiled this week, had five kills without an error on eight attacks against the Boilermakers. 

On his weekly “Serve and Volley” appearance on 93.7 The Ticket, Nebraska assistant Jaylen Reyes said Nebraska’s depth allows them to give a struggling player a break without much, if any, drop off.

“Obviously, if someone is in a rut, we can kind of throw them a life raft,” Reyes said.

“It’s just nice to have options. You look down the bench and you’re like ‘Whoa, let’s put that girl in because we can win with her, too.’”

Baylor transfer Allie Sczech gave the Huskers a boost at opposite against Purdue. | Nebraska Athletics

Caught my eye

I often urge people to look beyond the surface to judge how effective a team is at serving. Just because aces and errors are in the box score doesn’t give you a full picture.

But anytime you finish a weekend with more aces than service errors, it’s a positive. Nebraska served 11 aces and seven errors against Washington and Purdue, tying its season high with six aces on Friday against the Huskies.

Murray and Mauch each totaled three service winners on the weekend, while Reilly had two.

Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly had a pair of aces against Washington and Purdue. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The Huskers are still second-to-last in the Big Ten in aces per set, but Nebraska out-passed both opponents by last weekend by 20 points in Good Pass Percentage. 

Nebraska’s last six opponents have passed below a 2.0 as a team, and none have reached a Good Pass % mark of higher than 45.8. Ideally, a team is around at least 49 or 50 percent there.

Husker opponents continue to struggle to start their offense in system, which is a reflection of NU’s effective servers.

Numbers to know

Volleyball is full of statistics, and Lord knows, I throw a lot of them at you. But here are a few numbers to know heading into the weekend.

13 - of Nebraska’s 16 opponents this season who have failed to reach a 50% Good Pass Percentage. 

2.17 - Nebraska’s team passing score on the season. That leads the Big Ten, as does NU’s 53.6% Good Pass Pct.

1 - Number of NCAA Division I teams that rank in the top 10 in both attack percentage and opponent attack percentage. Nebraska leads the nation in offense and ranks second in opponent hitting, holding foes to .109. Hofstra tops the country with a .103 mark.

2 - The number of school-record crowds Nebraska is expected to play in front of this weekend at Michigan State and Michigan. MSU’s current record is 8,789 fans from a 2023 match against Ohio State. Michigan also set its attendance record in 2023, with 7,831 fans against Nebraska. 

Both matches this weekend are expected to draw more than 10,000 fans. Michigan has announced Sunday’s match is sold out inside 13,000-seat Crisler Arena. 

The Week Ahead

Friday: No. 1 Nebraska (16-0, 6-0 Big Ten) at Michigan State (14-2, 4-2), 6:00 p.m. (CDT), B1G+

Relegated to the Big Ten’s streaming platform and taking place opposite the Huskers’ Friday football clash at Minnesota, the Huskers will try to dispatch a Spartans team that has a few similarities to NU.

Michigan State has soared to a 14-2 start under first-year head coach Kristen Kelsay, a former Spartan setter.

Her Spartans are very balanced, with four players totaling at least 100 kills this season. Lincoln Southwest grad Malayah Long sets the offense and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after MSU handed Indiana its first conference loss last weekend.

The Spartans are eighth in the conference with a .263 attack percentage, and are even better defensively, holding opponents to .175, third in the league.

Junior outside hitter Taylah Holdem missed a month with an injury suffered in September, and played back row only with no attacks when she returned against Indiana. The Spartans could use her arm as they seek their first win over the Huskers since 2013.

Sunday: Nebraska at Michigan (12-5, 2-4), 1:00 p.m., B1G+

Michigan has gotten off to a rocky start in conference play, but has yet to lose this season, playing at Crisler Center, as opposed to their smaller gym, Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines got their best win of the season there against Minnesota on Oct. 1.

Senior outside Allison Jacobs is still the straw that stirs the drink for the Wolverines, who are fourth in the Big Ten in hitting (.288). She had 26 kills last weekend in a five-set win against Iowa. The bad news: Michigan had to go five to beat Iowa.

The Huskers swept in the teams’ Big Ten opener on Sept. 24 at John Cook Arena, out-hitting Michigan .380 to .108 (a season-low for the Wolverines).

Michigan ran a 6-2 system in the first meeting, but because of either injury or preference, appears to have gone to a 5-1 with Omaha Skutt product Morgan Burke at setter.

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