The Nebraska Huskers are looking pretty comfortable under the new volleyball head coach, Dani Busboom Kelly. In 2025 so far, DBK’s girls are seated on a 4-0 record, underscoring the program’s proficiency once again. However, the unblemished winning streak came dangerously close to getting halted last Sunday, when the Huskers took on the Kentucky Wildcats. However, opposite hitter Harper Murray believes the initial scare at the game wasn’t just a freak incident.

The Nebraska vs Kentucky match for the Broadway Block Party was held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. There, the Huskers dropped the first two sets before rallying back to reverse-sweep the No. 7 Wildcats. In a YouTube upload by HuskerOnline from September 2, Murray talked about the initial slump might have been a result of the new environment.

On being asked about how the on-court communication with her teammates changes over games, the 6-foot-2 OH said, “I mean, yeah, I feel like the gym plays a big role in that, not to use that as an excuse, but playing in Bob all the time, and then going to a new gym, a lot can affect that.” She explicitly noted that the players have gotten so used to practicing and playing at their home venue, the Bob Devaney Sports Center, that adjusting elsewhere can become a task in itself.

She also highlighted that the court surface at different venues reacts differently with the ball, which can further cause trouble. “Sometimes that’s the setting, sometimes it’s serving and passing,  just how the ball moves, so I think it’s just adjusting to where we are,” Murray said. Adapting to the subtleties of a new location is necessary to perform well. Tough, but crucial, as Harper was told by the ex-head coach, John Cook.

“John used to say, great ones adjust, so that’s kind of what we revert back to in moments like that,” Murray told reporters. However, she also said that the difficulties the Huskers faced at Bridgestone Arena were entirely dissimilar to the environment that they played in at the Pinnacle Bank Arena for the AVCA First Serve Showcase. “In a way, it felt like a home match. We basically had our own Nebraska fans, so it didn’t really feel any different, but AVCA was super fun, and I know we all enjoyed how that turned out,” Harper stated.

But, goes without saying, having someone like John Cook as your mentor definitely helps to elevate your game. After all, the storied coach comes from an era where the infrastructure was often palpable. Last year, when the Huskers clashed against Maryland at the Xfinity Center in College Park, they had to play on a basketball court, which was turned into a makeshift volleyball arena. But Cook joked that things were still much better than they used to be.

“This huge gym you got these lines and got three-point lines and everything going on and uh, so it took us a while to get comfortable,” the former Huskers’ boss said, while mentioning that they only had the option to play at gyms that had portable baskets back in the day. Coincidentally, even in that game against the Terrapins, the Huskers dropped the first set before reverse sweeping the former, much like how the scenes panned out against Kentucky last weekend. But Murray’s elite skills couldn’t be suppressed even under pressure from the Wildcats.

With a career-high 23 kills and 15 digs, Murray posted a double-double against Kentucky, en route to helping the Huskers bag their third top-10 win of 2025 so far. But there wasn’t any doubt that in the first two sets, Busboom Kelly’s girls struggled to find their footing. “We weren’t playing Nebraska volleyball those first two sets, and that’s what we talked about between the second and the third, we had to go back to us, and that’s what we did,” a smiling Murray boasted.

But the change in pace wasn’t the result of just a pep talk. Instead, it was the coach’s strategic play and one player stepping up to the challenge.

Harper Murray’s teammates showed incredible resilience

After the disastrous first two sets, DBK swapped junior Laney Choboy for Olivia Mauch as the libero. The change helped Nebraska stabilize its defense, with Mauch posting 14 digs along with ensuring her team tightened up on the serve receive. “My team huddled around me and was like, you got it. They’re so supportive. I really couldn’t do it without them all,” the sophomore later thanked her brethren for helping her out with the jersey switch before the third set. However, that wasn’t the only line-up shake-up that worked to the Huskers’ favor.

Redshirt freshman Skyler Pierce was also given the green light by Busboom Kelly to step onto the court, and the young Husker immediately started setting up Murray in the back row. Freshman opposite hitter Virginia Adriano also got to show her worth on the court. Undoubtedly, the Sunday match would assure Nebraska fans that they are in safe hands, despite the players’ slipping up at times. But the coach, being the true leader she is, wasn’t going to single out anyone from her roster for the shaky times.

“I didn’t think one person was playing poorly, or even one or two; it was just everybody,” the coach didn’t hesitate to admit. “The game is typically won or lost on the left, so we have to have a left side that can take over, get big kills,” Kelly later lauded Murray for stepping up when the team needed her to. Thankfully, it’s still early in the season, and the coach still has several combinations to try out on who to pair with Harper.

Which combo do you expect to be the most likely to click for Nebraska? Tell us below!