Nebraska volleyball signs five in No. 1 recruiting class
Nebraska volleyball signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation on National Letter of Intent day on Wednesday. Five class of 2023 student-athletes inked their names and are officially Huskers.
Husker Head Coach John Cook got commitments from the outside hitter Harper Murray (ranked No. 2), setter Bergen Reilly (4), libero/defensive specialist Laney Choboy (5), opposite hitter Caroline Jurevicius (7) and middle blocker Andi Jackson (13). All the rankings are according to PrepVolleyball.com.
“The class of 2023 is a special class,” Cook said in a statement. “We fill our needs at every position, and they all have very high-level international experience representing the USA. The bonds they formed on those teams have run deep and they all plan to start school in January. All five of them are also exceptional students.
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“We have been inspired being around them as they have big goals and they ‘Dream Big’. This group of athletes are super competitive, fun to watch, and they will raise the level of our gym. I want to thank Kelly Hunter and Jaylen Reyes for their hard work on this class, along with all the people at Nebraska who work with our program. This is why we say, ‘There is No Place Like Nebraska!'”
All five players were a part of USA volleyball’s 2022 U19 National team that won Gold at the Pan American Cup in July. The entire group was also selected for the Under Armour All-America game in January in Orlando, Florida.
Choboy, Jurevicius, Murray and Reilly were on the U.S. Girls U18 Team that won the bronze medal at the 2021 FIVB World Championships in Mexico. Husker freshmen Maggie Mendelson and Bekka Allick were also on that team.
The Huskers’ 2022 class was ranked No. 2 nationally and its 2021 class was the best in the country.
Here is a breakdown of Nebraska’s official class of 2023:
No. 2 Harper Murray:
Outside hitter Harper Murray spent a lot of her time as the top-ranked player in the class. Purdue commit Chloe Chicoine took over as the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2023 this summer.
Murray is from Ann Arbor, Michigan and goes to Skyline High School. Her older sister Kendall Murray is a junior opposite/outside hitter for the Michigan Wolverines. Their father, Vada Murray, played football for the Wolverines from 1987-1990 and played in three Rose Bowls.
Harper will be wearing No. 27 at Nebraska to honor her father who passed away in 2011 after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.
“We have recruited Harper for a very long time, going back to when she was 13 years old. From a young age, she has been one of the top six-rotation outside hitters in this class,” Cook said. “Coming from a Big Ten family, she understands and thrives in a space where there are high expectations.”
At Skyline High School, she is finished her career with 2,425 kills, 1,423 digs and hit .381 over her four seasons on varsity. She added 362 aces and 130 blocks. As a senior, Murray had 663 kills, 372 digs, 73 aces and hit .410. Skyline lost in the playoffs in a five-set battle.
Murray’s club team, Legacy, finished the season ranked No. 7 in the nation and won back-to-back national championships. The outside hitter was named the best spiker of the USA’s U19 National team during the Pan American Cup.
“Harper has played on the U.S. Under 18 and Under 19 Teams the past couple of summers, so she is coming to Lincoln with some valuable international experience,” Cook said. “We expect Harper to come in right away and push to be a six-rotation outside hitter from the day she steps on campus.”
No. 4 Bergen Reilly:
Setter Bergen Reilly had a unique road to becoming a Nebraska volleyball player. The 6-foot-1 athlete from Sioux Falls, South Dakota was named the best setter and the tournament’s MVP on USA’s 2022 U19 national team.
Because she was on the U19 team, she was able to join the Senior National Team in the Dominican Republic when its second setter was unable to make the trip. Reilly started and lead Team USA to a sweep over Canada. She was the second string setter behind former Louisville setter Tori Dilfer.
“She also got to compete with the U.S. National Team in the Dominican Republic, which is extremely rare for a high school player to be called up to the senior national team,” Cook said.
Back at O’Gorman High School, Reilly surpassed 1,200 kills, 1,100 digs and 1,600 assists in her fifth years on varsity. She played varsity as an eighth grader. Even though she was recruited as a setter, she played at outside hitter during her senior year.
The No. 1 setter in the 2023 class served 58 aces during her senior season and 252 during her career. She added 174 blocks and averaged a career-high 2.4 blocks per set during her sophomore season.
“Not only is Bergen a phenomenal technical setter, but what sets her apart is her demeanor on the court,” Cook said. “She has a very calm presence and is a great leader. The setter position requires a lot of intangible skills, and we can see those in Bergen. We expect her to be the leader and glue of our 2023 class and to fight for the starting setter position next fall.”
No. 5 Laney Choboy:
Nebraska’s newest addition to the class it Laney Choboy. The libero/defensive specialist committed to Nebraska on Nov. 3 after being committed to Minnesota. After Golden Gopher Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon announced he would no longer be leading the program, she reopened her recruitment.
“Laney was a very recent addition to our class, but she’s a very important addition,” Cook said. “All of our best teams the last eight years have had two great liberos on our roster. As a top-five recruit and the No. 1 libero in this class, once Laney decided to re-open her recruiting, we jumped at the chance to get her to Lincoln.”
Nebraska volleyball flips 2023 libero Laney Choboy from Minnesota
The 5-foot-3 libero is from Raleigh, North Carolina and attends Leesville Road High School. She is the No. 1 libero in the 2023 class and the fifth-ranked overall recruit.
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Choboy was named the 2022 U19’s best receiver as their starting libero. She was also on the U.S. Girls U18 Team that won a bronze medal at the 2021 FIVB World Championships.
At Leesville Road, she is an outside hitter. She averaged 3.6 kills per set, 4.3 digs per set and 0.40 service aces per set as a senior.
“As a solid serve receiver and an elite defender, Laney will come in and compete for a spot on the court,” Cook said. “Her competitiveness and work ethic will be contagious to the rest of our team.”
No. 7 Caroline Jurevicius:
Football fans might recognize Caroline Jurevicius’s last name. Her father, Joe Jurevicius, was a defensive end for Penn State that was drafted by the New York Giants in 1998 in the second round. He played 10 years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. His daughter, Caroline, received both of her parent’s athletic abilities as her mom ran track at Princeton.
“Having a mom who was a college track star and a father who played in the NFL, CJ has the physicality to be an international level opposite, and we are excited that she chose to be a Husker so we can help her achieve her goals,” Cook said.
She is the No. 7 prospect in the 2023 class and the No. 1 opposite hitter. Jurevicius was one of the four on this list who competed on the U18 bronze medal team.
2023 commit Caroline Jurevicius determined to “live up to the name of a Nebraska volleyball player”
“Caroline is one of the best opposites in this class,” Cook said. “In recruiting, finding a player who can play opposite at an international level can be difficult.”
At Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School in Chardon, Ohio, Jurevicius averaged 4.7 kills per set with a .350 hitting percentage as a senior. She added 157 digs, 31 blocks and 36 service aces. She has 1,053 career kills, 362 digs and 165 blocks.
“She brings a physicality that will instantly raise the level of our program and we expect her to push to play once she gets to Lincoln,” Cook said.
No. 13 Andi Jackson:
Middle blocker Andi Jackson is the dark horse of the group. Former Nebraska player Christina (Houghtelling) Hudson is the director of coaching at Diff Volleyball club where Jackson plays. She say something special in Jackson and gave Cook a call.
“We discovered Andi when Christina Houghtelling sent me a video of her as she was giving her lessons and told me she could be a special player for Nebraska, but we would have to work to get her,” Cook said. “What is so interesting is she reminds me a lot of Christina and has tons of potential for development just like Christina did.”
Jackson committed to Nebraska in the July of 2021 and was unranked by PrepVolleyball until the summer of 2022. She debuted as the No. 13 recruit in the 2023 class and the third ranked middle blocker.
“Andi comes from a family of elite athletes,” Cook said. “Her mom was a high jumper and her dad played hockey in Alaska where she was born. Andi is a once-in-a-decade type of athlete and has only gotten more and more physical the older she’s gotten. She played outside hitter for both her club and high school teams but has spent time as a middle blocker with the U.S. Under 19 Team this summer.”
At Brighton High School, Jackson averaged 3.5 kills per set, 50 blocks and hit .386. She served 67 aces in 93 sets, averaging 0.70 aces per set. She also played a little basketball during her junior year.
“Andi is a fun player who works hard and does it all with a smile,” Cook said. “We expect her to come in and make a big impact on our team from day one and compete hard for playing time.”
