“Everything is different,” Harper Murray admitted in May, that there is this dissimilarity between how things were under the former head coach, John Cook, and with the new management. However, some things always stay the same. For example: Your relationship with those you have won countless matches together for years.

Nebraska fans just can’t wait for the 2025 volleyball season to kick off. With Dani Busboom Kelly taking over the mantle of the head coach, the Huskers have high hopes of seeing the program continue to build on the legacy of John Cook. Surely, opposite hitter Harper Murray will play a critical role in attaining that objective. On Saturday, she showed that she’s more than up for the task, while also reliving the olden days with a former squadmate.

In her Instagram story from August 9, the 6’2″ Huskers’ OH shared a snippet of her joyful reunion with a former Nebraska star during Saturday’s Red-White Scrimmage. Captioned, “look who’s here!!! missed my merbie,” the IG story showed Harper in a tight embrace with Merritt Beason, who used to be the Huskers’ star opposite hitter before moving on to play professionally for the Omaha Supernovas.

The former Nebraska captain was among the crowd in the John Cook Arena at the Devaney Center on Saturday, watching the new generation of Huskers stars in action. Along with Murray, newcomers Allie Sczech, Virginia Adriano, Manaia Ogbechie, and Kenna Cogill made their debut in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,414 in Lincoln, as the Red team won 3-1 in four sets.

Thanks to the elated emotions of seeing Beason after so long, Murray posted 15 kills and nine digs in the match that saw the lineup being mixed up for every set. But it was Rebekah Allick who stood out with her impressive performance by posting five blocks and 16 kills on .433 hitting. Teraya Sigler hauled a double-trouble with 10 kills and 10 digs, while also bagging a couple of aces. Setter and team captain Bergen Reilly got 41 assists and 15 digs, while freshman Campbell Flynn posted 34 assists and 11 digs.

The newcomers also did impressively well. Sczech, who came to Lincoln from Baylor to pursue her volleyball passion, but also to make sure her academic career had a better future, looked comfortable on the volleyball court with 6 kills, 5 digs, and 3 blocks. Adriano had 11 kills with a match-high of 3 aces, while former Oregon commit Cogill posted 10 kills and 5 blocks and hit .421.

Surely, Harper feels good about the team right now. After all, with all the new blood on the team, the Huskers are looking pretty incredible in the preseason already. But can this finally be the year when the OH gets her revenge on the trolls?

The Huskers’ preseason form to help Harper Murray achieve her goal?

Remember when Harper tried to sound optimistic by claiming that the Huskers would win three consecutive NCAA championships following the heartbreaking loss in the final in her freshman year? Well, that was the beginning of one of Murray’s most difficult patches in her life. Trolls came after her, claiming that she needed to get a reality check before making snarky comments, and the volleyball star later admitted that all the hate comments made her cry herself to sleep every other night. But maybe with a new team, Murray can finally attain national glory.

Moreover, the chances look quite possible. Just days ago, Coach Kelly noted that she has a lot of options to go over when it comes to who to pair with Murray. Taylor Landfair, Teyara Sigler, and Skyler Pierce all had great potential to work with the opposite hitter, Kelly recently said during an interview with former Nebraska boss Terry Pettit. But maybe the Red-White Scrimmage wasn’t something that only had pointers for Murray and Kelly.

Beason recently announced that she will be beginning her volleyball coaching journey as part of Gardendale High School’s staff during her time off from the PVF. It would be safe to assume that watching her former NCAA teammates playing would help the new coach brush up on her learnings before embarking on the next chapter of her career.

So, who do you suspect would profit the most from all the things that went down at the “Bob” on Saturday? The Huskers won the Big Ten title last year, sharing the same with Penn State, but could it be all Nebraska in 2025?. Can this year finally end the NCAA drought that the Huskers have been struggling with since 2017? Share your takeaways in a comment!