Nebraska volleyball will start this season and the Dani Busboom Kelly era on top as the AVCA selected the Huskers the preseason No. 1 team in the country. Nebraska captured 40 of the 61 first-place votes.
Defending national champion Penn State enters the season ranked second, while Pitt, the Huskers’ season-opening opponent, begins the season ranked No. 3. Louisville, where Busboom Kelly coached last year, was ranked fourth, while Texas was slotted fifth.
Stanford, who Nebraska will face in the second match of the season Aug. 26, was ranked sixth. Kentucky was listed seventh. The Huskers face the Wildcats in Nashville Aug. 31. Wisconsin became the third Big Ten team in the poll, ranked eighth, with Texas A&M and SMU rounding out the top 10.
In all, seven Big Ten teams are ranked. Minnesota was placed at 11, followed by Purdue at No. 15. UCLA is 18th while USC is 21st. In addition to the three preseason top 10 foes, Nebraska will also face No. 12 Creighton and No. 23 Utah.
Nebraska takes the floor for the first time for public viewing on Saturday in the Red/White Scrimmage at John Cook Arena at the Devaney Center. Pregame coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. with first serve at 2:30 p.m. on B-107.3 and KLIN.