Nebraska beach volleyball plays first-ever outdoor match and has new player

The program is often out of sight for Husker fans. The few matches it plays in Lincoln aren’t open to fans because they’re played in a small corner of the indoor practice field for the football team. Most of the season is played during a spring break road trip to Hawaii and California.

But with record-high temperatures in the 80s, the Huskers played on two outdoor beach courts on the east side of the downtown campus.

In the morning match, Nebraska beat Ottawa (Kansas) 5-0. In the afternoon match, the Huskers beat Wayne State 4-1.

Nebraska’s program became a little more real on Monday. Some students stopped to watch for a moment while walking to class or their residence. Several athletes and staff from other programs took in part of the 2½ hour afternoon match. Music played during the matches.

In previous years the program has been able to have some practices outside, but this was the first time a match was played outside.

“It’s kind of cool to see a different part of campus and do something outside and take advantage of really nice weather,” Nebraska beach coach Jaylen Reyes said.

Beach volleyball is played in pairs, matching up with the opponents’ pair at the flight.

Nebraska’s top pairs early in the season have been Lindsay Krause and Lexi Rodriguez; Ally Batenhorst and Bergen Reilly; Harper Murray and Laney Choboy.

Unlike some beach programs, Nebraska’s team has always been players from its nationally ranked indoor team. But for the first time, Nebraska has one beach-only player, Kyla Kenny from Lisle, Illinois.

Rebekah Allick and Kennedi Orr aren’t playing beach due to previous injuries. And initially, it wasn’t known if Batenhorst would play beach due to her transfer to USC this summer.

You need at least 10 players for a beach match so Reyes asked Nebraska’s graduate managers if they knew any UNL students who might be good to play.

Kenny was an accomplished high school player and had played on the UNL club volleyball team.

“We ended up talking her into joining us,” Reyes said. “She had to give up some stuff. She had to give up playing club for the university. We asked her to make that sacrifice to help us out.”

And, yes, Kenny does get to go with the team to Hawaii.

“That was part of the recruitment process,” Reyes said.

Kenny has played with Maisie Boesiger, both in the No. 5 spot that factors in the team score, and in exhibition matches.

“It’s been cool working with (Kenny),” Reyes said. “I haven’t treated her with kid gloves it all. She’s become another member of the team, which is awesome.”

Nebraska has a 5-0 record, but the matches will get more difficult soon. Teams like LSU, Pepperdine and Hawaii have players who only play beach volleyball and are on beach volleyball scholarships.

For some young athletes, beach volleyball is their No. 1 sport.

“Now there’s club beach, where some of those players don’t even play indoor volleyball anymore,” Reyes said. “They just grow up playing on the beach, and they play beach high school, beach club and USA beach.”