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Dani Busboom Kelly, Head Coach
Coaching Honors and Awards
• AVCA National Coach of the Year (2021)
• VolleyballMag.com National Coach of the Year (2021)
• AVCA East Region Coach of the Year (2017, 2020, 2021, 2022)
• ACC Coach of the Year (2020, 2021, 2022)
• USA Collegiate National Team Head Coach - Europe Global Challenge Gold Medal (2018)
• AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year (2016)
• AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award (2014)
Nebraska native Dani Busboom Kelly was named the fourth head coach in program history on Jan. 29, 2025 by Nebraska Director of Athletics Troy Dannen.
Busboom Kelly succeeds her former coach and mentor, John Cook, who announced his retirement following the 2024 season after 25 seasons as Nebraska’s head volleyball coach.
A Husker national champion player and assistant coach, Busboom Kelly spent the last eight years building Louisville into a national power. The Cardinals have reached two NCAA Championship matches, three NCAA Semifinals, five regional finals and have won four ACC titles.
Busboom Kelly compiled a 203-44 (.822) record in her eight seasons at Louisville, including a 120-15 (.889) mark from 2021-24, which is the second-best winning percentage in the country during that span. In 2024, the Cardinals reached the NCAA Championship match for the second time in the last three seasons.
“We are excited to welcome Dani and her family back to Lincoln to continue our tradition of excellence in our volleyball program,” Dannen said. “She has demonstrated outstanding leadership at the highest levels of the sport and I am confident that our program will remain among the nation’s elite for years to come. This is a special place that needs an exceptional coach, and we have her. Welcome to Dani and her family!”
Busboom Kelly was the starting libero on Nebraska’s 2006 national championship team, and she was an assistant coach when the Huskers won the 2015 national championship in Omaha. She took the helm at Louisville late in 2016 after being named AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year in her final season as a Husker assistant, and she guided the Cardinals to heights the program had never experienced.
“The opportunity to come home to Nebraska is more than a dream come true,” Busboom Kelly said. “I want to thank Troy Dannen, President Jeffrey Gold, and Kristen Brown for their trust in me to continue the legacy of Nebraska volleyball. A huge thank you to John Cook. I would not be here without his mentorship and support. I’ve gotten chills listening to the roars in the Coliseum and now Devaney since I was nine years old. Nebraska is the greatest place in the world to play volleyball and I am honored to be a part of it once again! My family and I can’t wait to get to work and bring more championships home. Go Big Red!”
In her first season at Louisville in 2017, Busboom Kelly took over a program coming off a 12-18 season and led UofL to a 24-7 record, an ACC title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Picked eighth in the ACC preseason poll, she coached two players to major conference postseason awards, ACC Setter of the Year (Wilma Rivera) and ACC Defensive Player of the Year (Molly Sauer). For her efforts, she was named the AVCA East Region Coach of the Year for the first of four times at Louisville. Following her first season, Busboom Kelly was named the head coach of the U.S. Collegiate National Team Europe Tour, leading them to the gold medal in the European Global Challenge.
The Cardinals continued to improve each season, reaching the NCAA Tournament Second Round in 2018 and the program’s first-ever NCAA Regional Final in 2019. During the shortened 2020-21 season, Busboom Kelly’s Cardinals went 15-3 and won the ACC Championship, and she was named ACC Coach of the Year.
Louisville broke through in a big way in 2021, winning 32 straight matches to begin the season before finishing the year in the NCAA Semifinals for the first time in program history. Busboom Kelly was again named ACC Coach of the Year as well as AVCA National Coach of the Year, as the Cardinals achieved their first No. 1 ranking in program history. She became the first woman in NCAA history to coach an undefeated regular season, and two Louisville players (Tori Dilfer and Anna Stevenson) earned the program’s first-ever AVCA All-America First Team honors.
The Cardinals finished 31-3 in 2022 and reached the NCAA Final for the first time in school history, falling to top-seeded Texas. Busboom Kelly was the ACC Coach of the Year for the third year in a row, as the Cardinals won their third straight ACC title. Claire Chaussee was voted ACC Player of the Year, and Amaya Tillman won the NCAA Elite 90 Award for having the best cumulative GPA at the NCAA Championship.
After going 27-5 in 2023 with another regional final appearance and another ACC Player of the Year honor (Anna DeBeer), the Cardinals began the 2024 season with pressure to get back to the NCAA Semifinals, which were being played at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. Not only did the Cardinals qualify for the NCAA Semifinals in their own city, they also impressively turned aside top-seeded Pittsburgh, 3-1, despite losing their top hitter DeBeer for the tournament early in set four.
Prior to her time at Louisville, Busboom Kelly played a vital role on the Husker coaching staff, assisting with Nebraska's setters, liberos, outside hitters and recruiting. Regarded as one of the best recruiters in the nation, Busboom Kelly helped Nebraska's resurgence to the forefront of college volleyball, as the Huskers captured the 2015 NCAA Championship at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, the same place Busboom Kelly won the national title as a player for the Huskers in 2006.
Behind Busboom Kelly’s recruiting efforts, the Huskers' 2013 signing class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com, and the 2015 class was also a top-five class. From that group Mikaela Foecke went on to become the third freshman to be named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Championship.
Busboom Kelly helped the Huskers to a 134-30 record and NCAA Regional Final appearances in all five seasons. Before joining the Husker staff in 2012, she was an assistant coach at Tennessee from 2009-10, and an assistant coach at Louisville in 2011.
As a captain at Nebraska, Busboom moved from setter to libero in 2006 to help Nebraska’s defense and finished her career as one of only two players to rank among NU’s all-time leaders in both digs (1,281) and assists (2,873). She was a four-year starter for Cook, guiding NU to a 124-10 record, three Big 12 titles, two NCAA Final appearances and a national title in 2006.
Busboom was considered the Big 12’s best libero in 2006, as she helped NU limit opponents to a Big 12-low .144 hitting percentage. She set Nebraska’s single-season digs record (580) in her first year as a libero. She notched her best defensive performance in the NCAA Semifinals against UCLA, totaling a career-high 29 digs, which ranks as the second-best postseason performance in school history.
In addition to her accomplishments on the court, Busboom excelled off the court for the Huskers. She was a 2006 second-team Academic All-District VII selection, while earning six Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll accolades and becoming a three-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 honoree. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Nebraska in 2007.
Following her graduation, Busboom spent time with the U.S. Women’s National Training Team before working as a sales representative for an Omaha insurance company. She also worked as a sideline reporter for radio broadcasts of Nebraska volleyball matches on the Husker Sports Network and was an assistant coach with USA Volleyball’s Select A2 Program.
Dani and her husband, former Nebraska football player Lane Kelly, were married in the summer of 2010 and have a son, Boone.
Lindsay Peterson, Director of Operations
Former Husker volleyball standout Lindsay Peterson is in her 20th year as director of operations for the Nebraska volleyball program in 2025. A former Husker volleyball captain and one of the greatest defensive players in school history, Peterson was hired in 2006 after serving assistant coaching stints at Northern Colorado and Virginia Tech.
At Nebraska, Peterson handles a variety of duties for the Husker volleyball team, including team travel, budgeting, coordinating tournaments and camps and assisting visiting teams. She also serves as a liaison for volleyball support units, including facilities and events, media relations, marketing, compliance, HuskerVision, the ticket office, alumni and The Match Club. In addition to her duties on the Husker staff, Peterson has served as a club coach for Nebraska Juniors, helping the 15-and-under team to a USA Junior Olympic National title in 2010.
Peterson came to Nebraska after serving as an assistant coach in the Northern Colorado program from March of 2005 to July of 2006. At Northern Colorado, she worked extensively with the setters and liberos and helped with recruiting in the Midwest. In 2005, she helped a pair of Northern Colorado players earn first-team Division I Independent honors, including libero Abby Mayne, who was named Division I Independent Co-Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 4.44 digs per game.
After serving as an undergraduate assistant coach at Nebraska in 2003, Peterson was on the staff at Virginia Tech in 2004, helping the Hokies finish with a 13-16 record, including a 7-9 mark in the program’s first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
During her playing days, Peterson was a four-year performer in the Nebraska program from 1999 to 2002, helping the Huskers to a 123-10 record, including a national title in 2000. Peterson played in 133 matches as a Husker, including 438 of a possible 440 career sets. She finished her career holding the school record at the time with 1,111 career digs, despite playing three positions during her Nebraska career. She competed as a setter her freshman year and a defensive specialist her sophomore and junior years before taking over the newly created libero role in 2002. That season she averaged 3.35 digs per set, a total that was fourth in school history at the time. As a setter in 1999, she posted a then-freshman record 724 set assists.
In the classroom, Peterson was a three-time, first-team academic All-Big 12 selection, a six-time selection to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and finished her degree in business administration at Nebraska in 2003, when she served as an undergraduate assistant coach. In that role, she assisted with recruiting, game day preparation and various coaching duties.
A native of Burchard, Neb., the former Lindsay Wischmeier led Lewiston High School to a pair of Class D-2 State Championships (1995 and 1997) and earned D-2 Player-of-the-Year honors while also being a three-time academic all-state selection. She married Ty Peterson in May of 2007. They have four sons: Drake, Jax, Ronan and Nash.
Jaylen Reyes, Assistant Coach
Jaylen Reyes joined the Nebraska volleyball program as an assistant coach in March 2018. Reyes coaches the Husker pin hitters and helps coordinate game plans and scouting reports while assisting with other positions. He also serves as the Huskers’ recruiting coordinator and has served as the head coach of the beach volleyball team.
In his seven years with the program, Reyes has played an instrumental role in helping the Huskers consistently rank among the nation’s top defensive teams. Since Reyes joined the program in 2018, Nebraska has ranked in the top 10 nationally in defense six times, including the No. 1 opponent hitting percentage in 2022 and 2023. Reyes has also established himself as one of the top recruiters in the nation, helping Nebraska land the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class for both 2021 and 2023 according to PrepVolleyball.com, as well as the No. 2-ranked class for 2025 according to VB Adrenaline.
With Reyes on staff, the Huskers have been to the NCAA Championship match three times and won Big Ten titles in 2023 and 2024. Under Reyes’ guidance, libero Lexi Rodriguez was a four-time AVCA All-American, while Kenzie Maloney was an All-American libero in 2018. Rodriguez was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year three times.
In 2022, Nebraska led the nation with a .128 opponent hitting percentage, the best defensive mark for the program since 2005. The Huskers followed up in 2023 by leading the nation in opponent hitting percentage again (.137) as they won the Big Ten title and finished the season in the NCAA Championship match with a 33-2 record, Nebraska’s best record since the 2005 season. The Huskers went 33-3 in 2024 and reached the NCAA Semifinals once again after earning a repeat Big Ten title.
Reyes has been actively involved with the U.S. National Team as well. In May 2019 he served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team as they toured Japan. In June 2024, he served as an assistant coach for the U21 National Team as they won gold at the U21 NORCECA Continental Championship in Toronto.
Prior to Nebraska, Reyes was an assistant coach for the BYU men’s volleyball team from 2016-18. He handled player development and was the recruiting coordinator for the Cougars, who reached the NCAA Championship match in 2016 and 2017 and were NCAA semifinalists in 2018. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Reyes is the son of Tino Reyes, who was the head women’s volleyball coach at the University of Hawaii at Hilo from 2010-15 and spent 17 years as associate head coach on the Hawaii men’s volleyball coaching staff.
Reyes helped lead BYU to a 26-5 (16-2 MPSF) record in 2017, winning a share of the conference regular-season title. The Cougars reached the national championship match for a second-consecutive season. BYU went 27-4 (19-3 MPSF) in 2016 – Reyes’ first season on staff – also winning the conference title and playing in the national final. In 2018, the Cougars reached the national semifinals once again and finished with a 22-7 overall record while winning the MPSF tournament title. Reyes coached four AVCA All-Americans in each of his three seasons at BYU.
Reyes’ other coaching experience includes serving as the lead coach at the Gold Medal Squared Clinic since 2014, and as an assistant coach with the SCVA High Performance Team in the International Youth Division at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships, winning silver in 2017 and bronze in 2016.
Reyes received his bachelor’s degree from BYU in exercise science in 2015. He was the starting libero for the Cougars from 2012-15 and received AVCA All-America honorable mention in 2015. Reyes helped his team to back-to-back MPSF regular-season and tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2013-14. Reyes is BYU’s all-time rally-scoring era leader in sets played (431) and is second in career digs (762).
Kelly (Hunter) Natter, Assistant Coach
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Kelly (Hunter) Natter, a three-time All-American setter and two-time national champion at Nebraska, was named an assistant coach on Dec. 22, 2021. Prior to that, Natter spent three seasons on the Husker staff as a graduate assistant and a volunteer coach.
Overall, Natter has spent 11 of the last 12 seasons with the Husker program as either a player (2013-17) or coach (2019-24). In those 11 seasons, Nebraska has posted a top-10 finish every year, winning two national championships, playing in five NCAA Finals and making six trips to the final four.
Natter works with the Huskers’ liberos and defensive specialists while assisting with other positions. She has also worked direclty with NU’s setters in her time on the Husker staff. In 2023, Natter helped freshman Bergen Reilly earn Big Ten Setter of the Year and AVCA All-America honors as the Huskers won the Big Ten title and reached the NCAA Championship match. Reilly was the first freshman to win Big Ten Setter of the Year since the award originated in 2012. In 2024, Reilly was named an All-American and Big Ten Setter of the Year once again, leading the Huskers to their highest hitting percentage since 2016 and another appearance in the NCAA Semifinals.
As a volunteer coach in 2021, Natter helped Nebraska finish as the national runner-up. The Huskers finished with a No. 2 final ranking after a memorable run to the National Championship match as the No. 10 seed.
Natter was named a first-team AVCA All-American, the Big Ten Setter of the Year and an All-Big Ten selection for the second time in her career following her 2017 senior season. She received numerous honors from volleyball publications, including National Player of the Year and All-America first-team honors from PrepVolleyball.com and VolleyMob.com. Natter was also named co-Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Championship with teammate Mikaela Foecke after the Huskers beat Florida in the national title match in 2017.
The Papillion, Nebraska native earned CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team accolades and was named a semifinalist for the Senior CLASS Award. She ended her career with 4,125 assists and 699 career postseason assists, both of which rank second in school history. Natter finished her career with a 16-1 record in the NCAA Tournament as Nebraska’s starting setter, posting the most wins and highest postseason winning percentage by a starting setter in Husker history.
Natter earned her bachelor’s degree in management and marketing in May 2017. She graduated with her master’s degree in the arts of business administration from Nebraska in December 2019. Natter is married to A.J. Natter, who played football for the Huskers from 2014-16.
Brennan Hagar, Interim Assistant Coach
Brennan Hagar was promoted to assistant coach on the Nebraska volleyball coaching staff in January 2025. Hagar works with Nebraska’s middle blockers while assisting with other positions.
Hagar spent three years as a graduate assistant for the Huskers from 2022-24. During that span, the Huskers went 92-11, won two Big Ten titles and reached the NCAA Championship match in 2023 and NCAA Semifinals in 2024. Hagar assisted with scouting reports and film review, as well as coaching the Huskers during beach volleyball season.
Prior to coming to Nebraska, Hagar played outside hitter at Ottawa University in Kansas. He was a two-time first-team All-GPAC selection. In 2021 he ranked 48th in the NAIA in kills per set (2.8) with 20 aces, 115 digs and 25 blocks. In 2022, Hagar averaged 2.5 kills per set with 14 aces, 125 digs and 45 blocks.
Hagar earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Ottawa in 2022. He completed a master’s degree at Nebraska in educational administration in 2025.
Nate Wilson, Video & Administrative Coordinator
Nate Wilson joined the Nebraska volleyball program as the video and administrative coordinator in May 2024.
Wilson handles all aspects of coordinating game film and Data Volley input, as well as assisting with day-to-day administrative operations for the volleyball program.
Before coming to Nebraska, Wilson was the technical coordinator for the Ohio State men's volleyball team. In Wilson's final season in 2024, the Buckeyes went 22-9 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. In 2023, Ohio State won the MIVA regular season and tournament titles.
Wilson also spent time in 2023 serving as the technical coordinator for the U.S. Men's National Team, which won a gold medal at the NORCECA Final Six in Edmonton.
A native of York, Pennsylvania, Wilson earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State in physical activity/sport coaching.
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