3 Husker volleyball players are semifinalists for AVCA Player of the Year
By Jackie Ourada 
, Managing editor Nebraska Public Media
Nov. 7, 2025, 1:38 p.m. ·
Three Nebraska Cornhusker volleyball players are semifinalists for the 2025 AVCA Player of the Year Award.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association on Friday added Nebraska’s Andi Jackson, Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly to its semifinal list of contenders for 2025 AVCA Player of the Year Award.
Nebraska’s three players was the most for any team on the 14-player list. Kentucky was the only other team with more than one player named to the list.
Jackson, Murray and Reilly have collected several awards so far this fall, on top of lengthy honors in their prior seasons. The Big Ten Conference plucked several Husker volleyball players for its weekly Big Ten Player of the Week award, marking the first Huskers to receive the award since 2023.
Just earlier this week, the Big Ten athletic conference named Reilly, a junior from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, “Big Ten Co-Setter of the Week,” marking her 12th career Big Ten Setter of the Week accolade and third for the season.
Reilly helped lead the Huskers to easy wins over No. 11 Wisconsin and Oregon. The setter averaged 10.67 assists per set and 2.17 digs per set with five kills and five blocks. At Wisconsin, Reilly recorded 38 assists, eight digs, four blocks and three kills as the Huskers hit .349 against the second-best defensive team in the Big Ten. It was the highest hitting percentage allowed by Wisconsin at the UW Field House since 2012.
Middle blocker Jackson picked up the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award in late October. It was the second time in her career that the junior from Brighton, Colorado, received the honor. She nabbed the award after her standout performances against Michigan State and Michigan, when she totaled 10 blocks for an average of 1.67 per set, and three of her blocks were also solo blocks. She averaged 2.17 kills per set on a .706 hitting percentage.
Murray, a junior outside hitter from Ann Arbor, Michigan, earned the Big Ten Player of the Week honor in early October, marking her first career Big Ten Player of the Week selection. The award followed her two dominant all-around performances in Nebraska’s sweeps of Washington and then-No. 12 Purdue. In the ranked match-up against the Boilermakers, the two-time All-American racked up 16 kills on 25 error-free swings for a .640 hitting percentage, along with five digs, four set assists, two service aces and two blocks.
The association, one of the largest national groups for volleyball coaches and players, announced the shortened list Friday with a final list expected to come on Dec. 15. The shortlists are compiled by the AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Awards Committee. The association expects to name its Player of the Year in Kansas City at the AVCA Awards Banquet on Dec. 19.
Middle blocker Rebekah Allick appeared earlier this year on the AVCA’s watchlist for the honor along with Jackson, Murray and Reilly but didn’t make the semifinalist list.
The volleyball team, which is in its first season under former Husker coach and standout player Dani Busboom-Kelly, remains the only undefeated team in Division I with 23 wins. The Huskers quickly swept Illinois at home Thursday night. Their next matchup is against Minnesota on Saturday.