The last thing the girls on the Nebraska volleyball team expected was to see John Cook retire. And the first one to find out was Harper Murray. “I knew that would be the toughest one. I didn’t even finish getting to the T in retirement, and she was very, very emotional,” Coach Cook told the press in January. Later in May, Murray highlighted how she and the team were still adjusting to Kelly’s approach.

“Everything is different. We’re still adjusting, but we’re super excited for the fall,” Murray told the media. Now, a couple of months later, the 20-year-old gave her take now that she and her teammates have become familiar with DBK’s approach. While discussing how Rebekah Allick talked about “playing more free this offseason,” Murray revealed Allick wasn’t the only one.

“I’ve seen it in Skyler (Pierce). I’ve seen it in Taylor (Landfair) and Becca, too. I think, I don’t know if it’s just like… we needed a little bit of a change,” Harper Murray confessed. “All love to John, but I think maybe we did need a little bit of a change,” the outside hitter confessed. While Coach Cook gave Nebraska four NCAA titles and turned them into regular finalists, the team appreciates DBK’s approach.

“Dani’s been able to bring that out of all of us. It’s been super fun. She’s open to more ideas. She’s very… she’s laid-back. I’ll put it that way,” Harper Murray told HuskerOnline. Maybe this is one of the reasons why John Cook chose Dani Busboom Kelly as his successor. As a former Husker who won the NCAA title as a student and assistant coach, Cook knew his team would be in capable hands.

However, Dani Busboom Kelly hasn’t completely overhauled John Cook’s system. Harper Murray and Co.’s new coach kept everything that worked and tweaked the rest as she saw fit. “I think Coach was more of a routine type of guy and stuck to that,” the 20-year-old said in April. However, DBK is all for experimenting. In fact, she didn’t even plan the style change that surprised Huskers fans and Kansas during one of their spring games.

Harper Murray and the Huskers have already surprised the fans

Dani Busboom Kelly made her official debut as Nebraska’s head coach on April 26, in the Huskers’ first spring game. In her very first game, Coach Kelly shattered any assumptions about her playing it safe on her debut when middle blocker Andi Jackson went on the offense. Jackson became Nebraska’s D-Ball attacker against Kansas, and it wasn’t even something they’d planned.

“The funny thing is that was our first time running it live. And it worked. We did a little back row versus back row drill a week ago. And I don’t know, something about it, Bergen and I were just really connecting. And so we decided to throw it into the offense, obviously with Dani accepting it,” the middle blocker spilled the beans on why she played in the position.

What’s more? The surprise move totally caught Kansas off guard, and Nebraska dominated the clash. Besides Jackson, Harper Murray, and Bergen Reilly led a confident Nebraska to a 4-0 victory against Kansas. While Kansas put up a good fight, the 25-20, 25-18, 25-21, 25-22 showed how they couldn’t close the gap or push Nebraska into a tiebreaker situation in any of the four sets.

From what Harper Murray said during the Big Ten Media Days, it’s clear the Huskers will enter the 2025 season with a fresh approach. “We don’t all want to stay on the same page and regimen. So, I think it’s been really easy for Becca to open up and play a little bit more freely knowing that she has a little bit more free rein,” said Murray. The question is: How effective will it be against the best NCAA teams?