A significant part of recruiting for the Nebraska volleyball team over the past five years is its Dream Team camp.
That is when the Husker coaches invite some of the top players in the state and nation to come to one of Nebraska’s summer camps at the same time.
Those two days give the players a taste of what it would be like to be a player at Nebraska — they play on center court at the Devaney Sports Center, work with Nebraska’s coaches and interact with current players and commits.
This summer’s Dream Team camp was on Saturday and Sunday and again brought an impressive collection of talent to Lincoln.
Under the updated NCAA recruiting rules, coaches can no longer offer scholarships while players are on campus for camps, as was the case when Nebraska All-American libero Lexi Rodriguez attended. But especially for high school sophomores, the top players spend the summer going to several camps of colleges they may like to attend. That way, when they can be recruited next June, they already are familiar with the program. At Nebraska’s camp, there were several players from Texas.
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Nebraska coach John Cook said this was the best group of players Nebraska has had for the Dream Team camp. Of course, he has said that in prior years also. But it seems in several parts of the country many tall, athletic players are favoring volleyball over basketball.
“We had 30 players in the Dream Team camp,” Cook said. “The oldest group is going to be seniors, and we then had a 12-year-old in there playing. I just think top-to-bottom the level of play, their skill level and their athleticism was great. (Nebraska recruiting coordinator Jaylen Reyes) told me before this was going to be the best Dream Team camp we’ve ever had, and he was right.”
Some years during Dream Team camp when they scrimmage one team is noticeably better, but that wasn’t the case as much this weekend.
“We were mixing them and it didn’t matter,” Cook said. “It was very high level, and very physical volleyball.”
Most of Nebraska’s current commits over two classes were there — Skyler Pierce, Ayden Ames, Olivia Mauch, Campbell Flynn and Keri Leimbach.
Another player attending the camp was Ryan Hunter, a right-side hitter from Charlotte, North Carolina, who is ranked No 11 nationally in the 2025 recruiting class and has yet to announce a college choice.
One of the setters was Malorie Boesiger, a Norris freshman and the sister of current Husker Maisie Boesiger. Last week, Malorie made the all-tournament team at the club volleyball national tournament.
It has only been three weeks since Nebraska could start recruiting the junior class, and Nebraska already had three commits for its 2025 recruiting class with Teraya Sigler, Flynn and Leimbach.
The No. 1-ranked recruit in the nation for that class by Prepvolleyball.com is in the Huskers’ region: right-side hitter Abigail Mullen from Kansas City, Missouri. She previously attended a Nebraska camp, but didn’t this week and has yet to announce her college decision.
NCAA rules prevent Cook from commenting specifically about recruits until they have signed a national letter of intent.
For the 2025 recruiting class, Cook said the position that was probably the most difficult for programs to narrow down its top targets was at setter — where Nebraska quickly got Flynn.
“There are three elite setters,” Cook said.
Several players, including Pierce, came to Lincoln just one day after the club national tournament ended in Chicago.
“They just wanted to be a part of it,” Cook said. “This Dream Team camp, it’s a fun camp.”
Pierce’s KC Dynasty team, which includes Mullen, finished as national runner-up despite having one of its top players out with an injury.
As in the past, Jordan Larson had a Zoom call meeting with the Dream Team players for about one hour on Saturday. The Husker legend and newly hired Nebraska assistant coach is in California training with the national team.
Before leaving on Sunday evening one of the young players at the camp told Cook how great it had been to be there.
“I had a girl come up to me and say ‘Coach, I’m going to be Jordan Larson, and I’m coming to Nebraska,’” Cook said. “It’s, 'Dream big.' If we can inspire somebody like that to feel that way, that’s a great camp.”