Last year, Nebraska Volleyball ended its season with a 33-2 record. Once again, the 5x national champions came within touching distance of their sixth title, only to fall short in the semifinals. Now, with John Cook retiring from coaching and putting the reins in Dani Busboom Kelly’s hands before leaving, things have changed at the Huskers camp.

DBK has already showcased glimpses of how the Huskers are willing to experiment. Remember Andi Jackson playing d-ball offense against Kansas during their spring game? It was quite a surprise for the fans who never saw the middle blocker go on the offensive. However, that was only a taste of what’s to come, as DBK hopes the Huskers will take to the court in a new avatar.

In this new form, Dani Busboom Kelly hopes the squad will embody the ‘offense is the defense’ formula on the court. “I want us to be really aggressive with everything we do. So, serving. Has that continued to improve? Attacking. I want to see us going for it,” the former Louisville head coach said what she expects the girls to do while chatting with Huskers Radio.

DBK also hopes to see the individual players pick up their game. “I want to see Bergen run a really good, crisp offense. There’s Campbell… There’s potential we could use both of them this weekend,” added the head coach. After the Red-White Scrimmage, SI’s Jeff Sheldon noted how Bergen Reilly sometimes had trouble “locating the ball when setting behind her.”

So Dani Busboom Kelly hopes that the Huskers can work as a unit. This is not John Cook’s Huskers, and Kelly believes that will show when they take on Pitt Volleyball on August 22. Yet, that doesn’t mean Cook’s methods were inferior. In fact, it’s quite the contrary, as Huskers assistant coach Kelly (Hunter) Natter described in another interview.

Dani Busboom Kelly on the burden of expectations

While DBK’s penchant for experimenting with the players paid off in the summer, the NCAA season will be different. The former Louisville head coach is no stranger to building an NCAA title-caliber team. After all, she took the Cardinal from conference title contenders to multiple NCAA finals during her tenure. However, the expectations are sky-high.

It’s a monumental task to live up to John Cook, who won one of his four NCAA titles with DBK as a player in his squad. So despite talking about change, Dani Busboom Kelly has preserved Cook’s foundations. “I think the values and what the type of teams they wanted to have are really similar, and they just kind of go about it two different ways,” Natter explained ahead of the alumni scrimmage.

DBK also addressed the point after she was voted the top NCAA coach in the preseason poll. “I’m not surprised. I get a vote, and I voted ourselves No. 1. I think we’re pretty talented,” explained the 40-year-old. Despite this confidence, DBK isn’t getting ahead of herself either. “I also don’t think anybody believes that that’s what we’ll be in December just because that’s what we are right now,” added the head coach.

The players also share a similar mindset. “It’s a lot of outside noise, and we try and keep that outside of the gym, because when we get in there, it’s just 17 on the court and it’s our coaches,” Bergen Reilly told Hurrdat Sports. So Dani Busboom Kelly, and the Huskers are focused on getting the job done on August 22 and then keep improving.