Husker volleyball is coming off of a sweep of in-state rival #20 Creighton on Wednesday night and now return to the Bob Devaney Center for the remainder of their season. While PBA is fun to play in, Devaney is their home and is an electric environment.
This year has Devaney has been a little too quiet though. Quiet enough for Harper Murray and Dani Busboom Kelly to point it out in press conferences. Strap on your running shoes, warm up your voices and get rid of those oxygen machines, if possible, and be loud for this team. That is what they expect. That is the tradition that has been set. We can’t be a hard environment to play in if it’s going to be silent in moments where the team needs us.
The Huskers play another ranked opponent, #25 North Carolina, on Friday night. This will be their last ranked test of the non-conference schedule and also their last weekend before B1G play starts next Friday night when they host Rutgers.
North Carolina Tar Heels(4-2)
2025 Record: 22-9
2025 Conference Record: ACC (14-6)
Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2025 (Lost to Wisconsin in 2nd Round)
The Tar Heels are coming off of a 2025 season where they were able to make it to the 2nd Round of the Tournament and a season that included a win against, at the time, #7 SMU during the regular season. UNC doesn’t have an easy conference to play in either.
The ACC is regarded as, normally, the 2nd best conference behind the B1G. Some SEC enthusiasts like to say their conference is the best, but who do they really have this season? I can really only think of Kentucky since Texas and Texas A&M seem to kind of be flops this year. The ACC has firepower and usually does every year.
North Carolina may be ranked, but so are the other 4 teams above them in the preseason ACC rankings. Stanford, Pitt, Louisville, and SMU take the top 4 sports in the poll while UNC follows them and then Georgia Tech and Miami come after the Tar Heels. This conference is going to be fun to watch this season.
The Tar Heels schedule hasn’t been that impressive so far yet. They have wins against Davidson, UNCW, James Madison, and Colorado State. Their 2 losses came against #Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The only two Power teams they have played, they have lost. The Huskers will hopefully make that 3 losses to Power programs.
Senior OH Safi Hampton is one of the three big arms for the Tar Heels this season. She was named First Team All-ACC last season and was also apart of the AVCA Preseason Player of the Year Watchlist. This season, Hampton already has a team high 65 kills, and is averaging 3.10 kills/set. She also adds 46 digs and 7 blocks.
5th Year OH/OPP Chelsea Thorpe is also an upperclassmen who has contributed a lot to the Tar Heel team since she got there in 2024. Thorpe started her career at Ohio State in 2022, but redshirted her freshman year. She is a big contributor on offense with 55 kills, 2.62 kills/set, but is also a big defensive help as well with 17 blocks.
The third head of the Tar Heel offense is Sophomore OH Bridget Malone. Malone is an underclassmen and seems to be the teams next top player, offensively, when Thorpe, and possibly Hampton, are gone next season. She is second in kills on the team with 56, 2.95 kills/set. She has only accumulated 20 errors on 149 swings taken.
This match will be North Carolina’s second real test of the season after failing their first one by getting swept by Kentucky. They are hanging on by a thread in the rankings right sitting at #25 and a loss to Nebraska could mean they are unranked going into next week.
After being sick on Wednesday night for the match vs. Creighton, Manaia Ogbechie will hope to be back in the starting line up. If she still happens to be sick, the team will be just fine as Kenna Cogill looked like a seasoned pro against the Bluejays.
These teams will meet for only the 3rd time ever for Friday’s match. It will begin at 7:00pm CST at the Bob Devaney Center and will be televised on B1G Network.
#1 Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-0)
#1 Keri Leimbach 5’4” SO DS/L
#2 Bergen Reilly 6’1” SR Setter
#3 Virginia Adriano 6’5” SO OPP
#4 Campbell Flynn 6’3” SO Setter
#6 Laney Choboy 5’3” SR DS/L
#8 Kenna Cogill 6’4” SO MB
#10 Olivia Mauch 5’6” JR DS/L
#11 Teraya Sigler 6’3” SO OH
#14 Manaia Ogbechie 6’3” SO MB
#15 Andi Jackson 6’3” SR MB
#17 Keoni Williams 6’4” FR MB
#18 Ryan Hunter 6’2” SO OPP
#20 Jayden Robinson 6’3” FR OH
#21 Skyler Pierce 6’2” JR OH
#23 Gabby DiVita 6’1” FR OH
#27 Harper Murray 6’2” SR OH
#25 North Carolina Tar Heels (4-2)
#0 Mackenzie Boyer 6’3” SR MB
#1 Zoe Behrendt 6’0” SR Setter
#3 Lauren Schutter 6’2” 5th Year MB
#4 Erin Curtis 6’0” JR OH
#5 Meghan Clifford 6’4” JR MB
#6 Julia Bohlinger 5’11” JR DS/L
#7 Sadie Swift 6’3” 5th Year MB
#8 Sienna Cozza 5’9” SO Setter
#10 Bridget Malone 6’1” SO OH
#14 Emily Bobbitt 5’10” JR Setter
#18 Carly Markham 5’8” FR DS/L
#20 Lindley Miller 6’4” FR OH/OPP
#21 Jackie Taylor 6’1” JR MB
#22 Safi Hampton 6’1” SR OH
#23 Laynie Smith 6’3” JR OH/OPP
#24 Addison West 6’2” FR OH
#33 Hailey Pearce 6’3” SR OPP
#77 Chelsea Thorpe 6’3” 5th Year OH/OPP