Nebraska Volleyball Set to Play a Pair of Home Matches This Weekend

Nebraska volleyball is finally back home and is slated to play more than one home match in a weekend. Finally. It seems like they have been on the ...

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Nebraska volleyball is finally back home and is slated to play more than one home match in a weekend. Finally. It seems like they have been on the road more than at home this season. While they probably enjoy road matches, it is always good to be back at the Bob.

The Huskers are riding a 27 set win streak as they have still not lost a set since September 16th at Creighton when they were taken to 5 sets. With Northwestern and Michigan State on the schedule for this weekend, they can definitely keep

that streak alive as the Wildcats and Spartans are 2 teams that have been shaky.

Here is a look at the current B1G standings so far: https://bigten.org/wvb/standings/. Nebraska remains the only unbeaten team in the conference followed by Illinois with only 1 loss in conference play, but 5 losses overall.

Nebraska volleyball added another Husker to the B1G Weekly Awards this week. Andi Jackson is the B1G Defensive Player of the Week after a very dominant performance on both offense and defense.

Against Michigan State and Michigan , she had 10 blocks for an average of 1.67 per set. 3 of these were solo. She also averaged 2.17 kills/set, hitting .706%. The Huskers held the opponent hitting percentage to .139% last weekend.

At Michigan State on Friday, she had 5 kills, hitting .571%, 4 block and 3 aces. At Michigan on Sunday, she had 8 kills, hitting .800%, 6 blocks, and 3 digs. This was Jackson’s 2nd B1G Defensive Player of the Week win of her career. The last time she won this was October 28th, 2024.

A Look at Northwestern

2024 Record: 5-23 (3-17 B1G)
NCAA Tournament Result: Did not qualify
Ranked Wins: None

The Northwestern Wildcats have been consistently at the bottom of the B1G for several years now and just haven’t seemed to break through and have a good season. In their 2025 non-conference schedule, they went 10-2, but have started 3-5 in conference play.

Their last winning season came in 2022 when they went 18-14, but they still did not make the NCAA Tournament. They managed to get a win over #12 Purdue, #7 Minnesota, and #24 Pepperdine that year as well. Their last Tournament appearance came in 2010 when they went 20-13 and made it to the 2nd Round of play before losing to Missouri.

Northwestern was predicted to finish on 15th of the 18 teams in the conference this season. They are also another team that put no one on the Preseason All-Conference Team this year. With a 2nd year coach, the Wildcats are trying to turn things around and become a top team in the conference.

Senior OH Rylen Reid came to Northwestern after spending 1 year playing at Florida Gulf Coast where she appeared in 26 matches. In the 2024 season, Reid became a staple in the Wildcats lineup and has been one of their top outsides.

In the 2025 season, she has 211 kills and is averaging 3.25 kills/set. She is positioned at 18th in the conference in kills which is just above Harper Murray who sits at 20th with 208 kills. Reid is hitting .247% so far while playing in 12 less sets than the total played this season.

OH Ayah Elnady is also a transfer and is one of their top players. She is a Grad Student from Egypt who started her career, playing all 4 years, at Kansas under legendary coach Ray Bechard. Elnady has already moved her way into the Wildcats’ starting lineup with 207 kills, hitting .237%. She also leads the team in digs, as an OH, with 164 and averages 2.28 digs/set.

Freshman Bella Bullington and Senior Buse Hazan have been sharing time on the outside as well. While Bullington has put up more sets played, and better stats overall, Hazan has been starting for the Wildcats in the last 2 matches. It doesn’t seem like Bullington is injured, as she has still been playing, so Hazan has probably been getting hot in practice which has translated in some well played matches for her.

Another freshman/upperclassmen duo for the Wildcats is Freshman Kayla Kauffman and Grad Student Bella Simkus. These 2 have been brick walls at the net for them and are currently sitting in T-24th in the B1G with 59 blocks each.

They are both hitting at a high clip even though they don’t record too many kills. Kauffman has 45 kills and is hitting .326% while Simkus has 57 kills and is hitting .376%. Junior Campbell Paris also helps them at the net as well, as an outside, with 42 blocks which is the 2nd highest on the team. Campbell is more of an attacker though with 143 kills at a .285% clip.

Rounding out their lineup is Senior Setter Lauren Carter, Junior L/OH Drew Wright, and Freshman DS/L Lauren Dignan. This starting lineup is very young with several freshman taking on starting roles so they are bound to, hopefully, be a good team in a couple years.

Northwestern Wildcats (13-7, 3-5 B1G)

#1 Sienna Noordermeer 5’11” RS-JR Setter
#2 Drew Wright 5’11” JR L/OH
#4 Kayla Kauffman 6’2” FR MB
#6 Bella Simkus 6’1” Grad Student MB
#7 Lauren Dignan 5’7” FR DS/L
#8 Gabrielle Gerry 6’5” JR MB
#10 Lauren Carter 5’10” SR Setter
#11 Ayah Elnady 5’10” Grad Student OH
#12 Buse Hazan 5’11” SR OH
#15 Lauren Curry 6’0” Grad Student MB/OH
#16 Ava Pratt 6’2” RS-FR OH
#18 Kathryn Randorf 6’1” SR OH
#19 Beste Ayhan 6’4” Grad Student MB
#20 Lily Wagner 5’11” JR OH
#21 Rylen Reid 6’0” SR OH
#22 Bella Bullington 6’1” FR OH
#23 Gigi Navarrete 5’6” JR DS/L
#25 Campbell Paris 6’5” JR OH

Another Date with Michigan State

A week and a day after the Huskers and Spartans met in East Lansing will mark their 2nd, and last, meeting in B1G play this year as they are one of the teams that the Huskers will face twice this season. This time Nebraska will have an arena full of their fans even though they sort of already did in Michigan.

Since our match last Friday, the Spartans have only played tw0 matches since so they have 1 more played than the Huskers will when they meet on Saturday. Maryland took the Spartans to 5 sets, but the Spartans were able to get the W. They will play Iowa on the 24th before heading to Nebraska after.

The October 17th score doesn’t match how hard Michigan State fought in the match. It was a sweep, but the Spartans never went away as they had Nebraska on their heels, and playing from behind, at some points.

Karolina Staniszewska, Evie Doezema, and Bianca Mumcular each had big nights for the Spartans as each of them had over 7 kills each. Doezema hit at the highest clip of the 3 at .368% on 19 swings. These 3, along with Taylah Holdem, will be a lot to handle once again as they now know that they can hang with the Huskers.

The Spartans were very light in the block department as they only recorded 6 total on the night. Staniszewska and Zuzanna Kulig each had 2 kills each while Mumcular and Breccan Scheck had 1 each.

Both Nebraska were high in errors in their 1st meeting. The Huskers recorded 11 hitting errors while the Spartans had 16. Nebraska had more troubles with blocking, even though they recorded 14 total blocks. They had 3 errors compared to Michigan State’s 1.

While Michigan State had less blocking errors, they weren’t able to get their serve receive in motion as Nebraska aced them 9 times. This is a lot for the Huskers as they are usually one of the worst teams in the conference at getting aces since they don’t typically serve aggressive. The Huskers finally were able to find some momentum with their serves which was good to see.

Michigan State will be looking to, at least, win a set over Nebraska, but they are coming in wanting to take a win. After last week’s matchup, they know they have the fire power to do so, but will have to kick it into another gear.

Michigan State Spartans (15-3, 5-3 B1G)

#1 Lia Schneider 5’8” JR DS/L
#2 Karolina Staniszewska 6’0” JR OH
#3 Bianca Mumcular 6’3” FR OH
#4 Danyle Courtley 6’1” Grad Student OH
#5 Ky Clayton 5’6” JR DS/L
#7 Malayah Long 6’1” RS-FR Setter
#8 Mia Hood 6’6” SO MB
#9 Zuzanna Kulig 6’4” JR MB
#10 Leela Ormsby 6’3” FR MB
#12 Evie Doezema 6’4” SR OPP
#13 Sarah Vellucci 6’0” RS-SO DS/L
#14 Taylah Holdem 6’2” JR OH
#16 Kalea Norton 5’10” FR Setter
#18 Breccan Scheck 6’1” SO MB
#21 Caroline Formankova 6’3” FR OPP
#22 Carmen Waye 6’2” SO MB
#23 Cam Berger 5’11” JR Setter
#33 Mya Bolton 5’4” SO DS/L

Friday’s match vs. Northwestern will begin at 6:00pm CT and will be broadcasted on Nebraska Public Media, but will also be available to stream on B1G+. Saturday’s match vs. Michigan State will start at 7:30pm CT and will be broadcasted on B1G Network.