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Big Ten Announces Home, Away Opponents for 2026 Volleyball Season

The Huskers will host nine matches this fall and travel for eight in the new schedule format.
Lincoln Arneal|
The Huskers will host nine Big Ten matches this fall while traveling for eight league games. The new 17-match conference schedule will make room for an end-of-season Big Ten Tournament
The Huskers will host nine Big Ten matches this fall while traveling for eight league games. The new 17-match conference schedule will make room for an end-of-season Big Ten Tournament | Nebraska Athletics

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Nebraska CornhuskersNebraska CornhuskersWisconsin BadgersWisconsin BadgersPurdue BoilermakersPurdue BoilermakersUSC TrojansUSC TrojansIndiana HoosiersIndiana HoosiersMinnesota Golden GophersMinnesota Golden GophersPenn State Nittany LionsPenn State Nittany LionsUCLA BruinsUCLA BruinsMichigan WolverinesMichigan WolverinesIllinois Fighting IlliniIllinois Fighting IlliniMichigan State SpartansMichigan State SpartansOregon DucksOregon DucksWashington HuskiesWashington HuskiesNorthwestern WildcatsNorthwestern WildcatsIowa HawkeyesIowa HawkeyesOhio State BuckeyesOhio State BuckeyesRutgers Scarlet KnightsRutgers Scarlet KnightsMaryland TerrapinsMaryland Terrapins

Another piece of Nebraska’s 2026 schedule puzzle is coming together. 

The Big Ten Conference announced the home/away matches for each school on BTN on Monday. To accommodate the addition of the first-ever end-of-season Big Ten Tournament, the conference reduced the league schedule from 20 matches to 17. In the new format, the Huskers will play at home nine times and travel for league matches eight times. 

The Huskers play five of the top seven teams that finished the 2025 season behind them in the league standings at home next season. Wisconsin (second, 17-3), Purdue (tied third, 15-5), USC (tied third, 15-5), Minnesota (tied sixth, 12-8), and UCLA (tied sixth, 12-8) will all travel to Lincoln. 

Nebraska volleyball coach Dani Busboom Kelly walks off the court after losing to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament Regional Fi
Dani Busboom Kelly is heading into year two as the head coach at Nebraska. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

NU will also host three of the bottom four teams in last year’s standings in Iowa (6-14), Ohio State (3-17) and Rutgers (3-17). Illinois (8-12) will also play at the Devaney Center.

For the road matches, the only top-five team from last year that Nebraska will visit is Indiana (14-6). After sweeping Penn State (12-8) twice in the regular season in 2025, the Huskers will return to Happy Valley this season.

NU will make a trip to the Pacific Northwest to play Oregon (8-12) and Washington (8-12) and play at both Michigan-based schools: Michigan (11-9) and Michigan State (8-12). NU will also go to Northwestern (7-13) and Maryland (1-19). 

Specific dates, times and television coverage of each match will be announced at a later time. In recent years, league schedules have been announced in the last week of May or early June. 

The ninth conference home game will benefit the Huskers this season, as they will play a travel-heavy schedule early in the season. NU coach Dani Busboom Kelly said when they are on the short side of the home/away match split in the future, they will be intentional about their scheduling and play more games at the Devaney Center early on.

“The years we lose one game, versus years we lose two, we’ll probably take into consideration how many games we’re playing at home in a nonconference,” she said. “There are so many opportunities now for our sport that we’re going to do what’s best for that year’s team and financially, and consider both those things as we build our schedule.”

The Huskers’ 2026 schedule has been slowly coming together over the past few months. NU will open the season against Texas, which has been speculated to be in Las Vegas. In addition to the Red-White scrimmage, NU is likely to play another exhibition at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, before the season starts. 

Manaia Ogbechie celebrates a point against Northern Colorado Saturday in Chadron.
Manaia Ogbechie celebrates a point against Northern Colorado in Chadron. The Huskers won all four sets to close out their spring season. | Nebraska Athletics

The Huskers will also travel for nonconference matches at South Dakota State, and go to Chicago to play at DePaul in WinTrust Arena and against Missouri at Wrigley Field.

NU will host matches in September against Baylor and New Mexico at the renovated Devaney Center and against Creighton at Pinnacle Bank Arena. 

The season will end with a 15-team conference tournament in Fishers, Indiana, to cap off the regular season. 

Nebraska Home Opponents

  • Wisconsin
  • Purdue
  • USC
  • Minneosta
  • UCLA
  • Illinois
  • Iowa
  • Ohio State
  • Rutgers

Nebraska Road Opponents

  • Indiana
  • Penn State
  • Oregon
  • Washington
  • Michigan
  • Michigan State
  • Northwestern
  • Maryland

ILLINOIS
Home: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
Away: Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, Washington

INDIANA
Home: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, USC
Away: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Rutgers, Washington, Wisconsin

IOWA
Home: Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
Away: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon, Penn State, Washington

MARYLAND
Home: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, UCLA, USC
Away: Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, Washington, Wisconsin

MICHIGAN
Home: Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Washington
Away: Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan State, Northwestern, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin

MICHIGAN STATE
Home: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Washington
Away: Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin

MINNESOTA
Home: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon, Penn State, Washington, Wisconsin
Away: Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC

NORTHWESTERN
Home: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Rutgers, UCLA, USC
Away: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Washington, Wisconsin

OHIO STATE
Home: Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, Washington, Wisconsin
Away: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, UCLA, USC

OREGON
Home: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, Washington
Away: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin

PENN STATE
Home: Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, Washington
Away: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin

PURDUE
Home: Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
Away: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Washington

RUTGERS
Home: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
Away: Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Washington

UCLA
Home: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC, Washington, Wisconsin
Away: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers

USC
Home: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Washington, Wisconsin
Away: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA

WASHINGTON
Home: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers
Away: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin

WISCONSIN
Home: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon, Penn State, Washington
Away: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC

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Lincoln Arneal
LINCOLN ARNEAL

Lincoln Arneal covers Nebraska volleyball for HuskerMax and posts on social media about the Big Ten and national volleyball stories. He previously covered the program for Huskers Illustrated and the Omaha World-Herald and is a frequent guest on local and national sports talk shows and podcasts. Lincoln hosts the Volleyball State Podcast with Jeff Sheldon.

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