Shank. Shank. Mis-serve. Mis-serve.

Dani Busboom Kelly could sense both teams were fighting nerves early on in Nebraska volleyball's spring scrimmage against Kansas last Saturday, which was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,592 in newly-named John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center as part of the first-ever Husker Games event.

The nerves didn't last long, though.

The Huskers, behind 11 kills and four blocks each from the middle-blocker duo of 6-foot-3 junior Andi Jackson and 6-4 senior Rebekah Allick, swept the Jayhawks 4-0 behind scores of 25-20, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-22.

Since it was a spring scrimmage, the two teams agreed to play four sets, regardless of how the first three sets went.

The Huskers will travel to Ord, Neb., on Saturday for a 2 p.m. match against South Dakota State for another spring scrimmage. The match will be broadcast on Nebraska Public Media and the Huskers Radio Network.

While the victory won't count in the official win column, the match provided Husker fans an opportunity to witness the unofficial start to the new era of Nebraska volleyball led by DBK, who takes over for the retired coaching legend John Cook, who spent the past 25 seasons in the head coach's chair.

"It really wasn't nervous, it was more excited just grateful to be here, a place where you can sell out a spring game and it's a big deal to people to get in," DBK said in the post-match press conference. "So it was more gratitude."

Cook was in the building, but on the call for Big Ten Network, which televised the match. Hours earlier, he was roping a mechanical calf in Memorial Stadium during the football team's portion of the Husker Games.

Allick admitted it was a different feeling at first when it wasn't Cook leading the team onto the court.

"At first it felt really weird," Allick said. "Being out there and technically going through old experiences, but with a missing piece without John Cook — we're used to him walking out, having his pep talk — and it's like something feels like it's missing. So, it was weird, and then it started feeling like home again."

The scrimmage gave DBK an opportunity to see how different lineups performed together in a game-like atmosphere. One of the team's goals was to keep the level of play consistent, whether it was perceived starters or backups on the court.

"No matter who was out there, just keep it really consistent with the things we've been working on in practice," DBK said.

Nebraska hit .285 while holding Kansas to .214. The Huskers racked up eight blocks and served six aces while Kansas had four blocks with four aces.

Harper Murray, a two-time All-American and player-face of the program, continued her strong play. The 6-2 junior outside hitter finished with 10 kills. Last season's ace leader added to her offensive game over the offseason and debuted a new top-spin jump serve against Kansas, which went for an ace:

"I think it just makes her a more-aggressive player," DBK said of Murray's new serve. "...She wants aces. She wants to score points, so it's another way for her to score more points."

Jackson also showed off something new during the scrimmage — a kill from the back row off a set from 6-1 junior setter Bergen Reilly. That new wrinkle to Nebraska's offense certainly caught the attention of Cook on media row:

DBK said Jackson, a first-team All-American last season, had been practicing the back-row attack recently and saw positive results, like six kills in a row during one drill.

"We're like, we should probably do that in a game, so we just started having her play right back when she serves and gave Bergen the green light to set her," DBK said. "So it was really fun to see it work. And it really worked, it wasn't just kind-of-worked."

Said Jackson of the back-row attack: "The funny thing is, it was our first time running it live, and it worked. We did a little back row vs. back row drill like a week ago, and I don't know, there was something about it, Bergen and I were just really connecting. So we decided to throw it into the offense, obviously with Dani accepting it."

Nebraska also had a group of freshmen — the 6-2 Ryan Hunter, the 6-3 Teraya Sigler, the 6-3 Campbell Flynn, the 6-2 Skyler Pierce (a redshirt freshman) and the 5-4 libero Keri Leimbach— see action. Hunter recorded nine kills while Sigler had six kills.

It was a solid showing from Hunter, an opposite hitter who tore an ACL last spring and missed her entire senior year of volleyball at Cox Mill High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. DBK said Hunter didn't play beach volleyball this offseason, so the coach wanted her to focus on kills and blocks in her first season back from injury.

"Super aggressive," DBK said of Hunter. "For a freshman to come out there and swing away, and some of those out-of-system swings were pretty insane. That sets the tone for her. She's going to go after it and go for kills."

Jackson said she was happy for Hunter, who was cleared in December, especially because she did what she did after fighting through the adversity.

"I'm so proud of Ryan,"Jackson said. "She's worked so hard to get to this point, especially coming off an injury she had. You would never be able to tell. She's been an amazing teammate through the entire thing, which is, in my opinion, the coolest thing because it's one thing to be an amazing volleyball player, but it's another thing to be an even more amazing person."

Nebraska needs to replace an all-time great in Lexi Rodriguez, who starred at libero. The Huskers have four liberos on the roster, including senior Maisie Boesiger, junior Laney Choboy, sophomore Olivia Mauch and Keri Leimbach. Choboy finished with 18 digs while Mauch got under 12.

"I did tell them in the locker room as a group, the first thing I said was, I was super impressed by those four and how they handled the changes," DBK said. "I thought Maisie and Keri did an awesome job in their roles. Laney and Liv, going in and out of being libero is not easy — their stats might not be amazing when we look at them tomorrow morning, but I thought their play was very good. I'm super proud of them. It's one of the deepest groups of liberos I've ever coached."

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