One Big Ten title is nice, but Nebraska wants two this season. 

On Sunday, the Huskers clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship for the fourth straight year. NU can win it outright by winning at least one of its final three games over the next week. 

For the fourth straight year, Nebraska volleyball wins the Big Ten title. pic.twitter.com/H8QeaG9SY9

— 𝙷𝚞𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚛𝙼𝚊𝚡 (@Huskermax) November 9, 2026

However, for the first time, the Huskers will have a chance to win more Big Ten accolades with the introduction of the end-of-season conference tournament.

“We’re not going to be happy with just regular season champions,” senior Bergen Reilly said. “We want to get the tournament too. It’s going to be really good for us to push us again a couple more times before we get to the NCAA tournament.”

Nebraska’s quest to win the outright regular-season championship starts Thursday at John Cook Arena against Illinois at 6 p.m. CT. Should the undefeated Huskers stumble, they also play Iowa and Minnesota to close out the regular season. 

NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said adding a league tournament doesn’t diminish the regular-season title. While the tournament could be more challenging because teams play three matches in four days (or more for lower-seeded teams), the regular season reflects a body of work over nine weeks. 

“It’s incredibly hard to play consistent from the start to the finish, and it’s a true regular season champion — everybody played everybody one time,” she said.

ICYMI: Huskers swept the No. 18 Huskies on the road! 🧹

🎞️ Husker Highlights | @DriveToyota pic.twitter.com/PZTMRc5IhQ

— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) November 9, 2026

The Huskers celebrated the title briefly after sweeping Washington. The accomplishment may have caught some of them off guard, as it was only made possible by Penn State’s five-set win over Wisconsin, which finished shortly before first serve in Seattle. During a long season, Busboom Kelly has talked about finding joy and celebrating all their milestones, and they will do the same when they win the league outright. 

“You want to celebrate it and be fired up about it,” she said. “We’ll celebrate it here with our fans at some point, but not look ahead too much or feel like anything’s complete.”

The tournament’s one benefit is not sharing the title. The Huskers split the championship with Penn State in 2024. NU would join Wisconsin (2019-22) and two other Penn State teams (96-99 and 2003-10) as the only schools to win at least four Big Ten titles in a row.

Nebraska has a lot of experience stringing together titles in its old leagues. The Huskers won at least four titles in a row in the Big 12 from 1998-2002 and 2004-09. They also won the Big Eight every year from 1976 to 1992. The league also hosted a conference tournament for 20 years, with NU winning 17. 

Busboom Kelly was on three teams that won the conference crown at Nebraska and also won seven as a coach at Louisville and Nebraska. She said winning four titles in a row is just another part of the legacy that the seniors leave on the program. However, she added that winning the Big Ten is not their ultimate goal. 

“To cap it off with the four straight, it’s pretty exciting,” Busboom Kelly said. “Now they get a chance to do something that’s never been done before: win the first-ever Big 10 volleyball tournament, which would be pretty cool. I do think they’re more motivated to win an NCAA tournament championship than a Big 10 tournament championship because they’ve done that. We have to do what we haven’t done before.”

Week 11 @AVCAVolleyball / Taraflex Dl Women’s Volleyball Top 25 🏐 #NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/c8rLCxRZQ0

— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 9, 2026

Still Not Peaked

A few days after a pair of sweeps over two Top 20 teams and posting hitting percentages of .425 and .477, two of the three top marks of the season, Busboom Kelly still doesn’t think Nebraska is performing at their best. 

She said NU had one of its best overall weekends of matches, especially given the travel and level of competition, but they aren’t satisfied yet. 

“I truly believe our team feels like we can get better yet. That there’s still more left in the tank, and they’re excited to continue to try to achieve that,” she said. “They’re more excited that we keep getting better and to play that well on the road in mid-November is a pretty big accomplishment.”

Reilly echoed the sentiment. She said their ball control has been excellent, which allows their offense to stay in the system and run their transition offense efficiently. However, they still have things to work on, such as playing more consistently, and they backed off on the intensity and cleaning up stall details. 

“Hopefully there’s not any big outlying issues in November,” she said. “It’s really: how are we gonna hammer home the little things and not get satisfied with where we’re at right now?”

Brought out the brooms in Bloomington 😎 pic.twitter.com/QphO48lGUm

— Illinois Volleyball (@IlliniVBall) November 8, 2026

Upset-minded Illini

No. 25 Illinois has been a dangerous team for ranked Big Ten teams this season. The Illini have five victories in league play this season, including a sweep over No. 21 Indiana in Bloomington on Sunday. 

The Illini are led by Tennessee transfer Paityn Chapman. The junior opposite is averaging 3.48 kills per set on a .235 hitting percentage. Sophomore Alyssa Aguayo and freshman Madi Miles also provide a spark at outside hitter. The trio all recorded at least 14 kills at a .380 clip against the Hoosiers. 

Busboom Kelly is quite familiar with Illinois head coach Chris Tamas after they were both assistant coaches at Nebraska a decade ago. She said the Illini will be a challenging and tough serving team.

“They’re pretty complete,” she said. “Their pins are playing well. They’ve got some really fun middles. They’re just a really good team that is pretty battle-tested, and they fight really hard.”