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Former Nebraska volleyball national champion setter Kelly Hunter will join the coaching staff as a graduate assistant for the 2019 season.
Hunter, a two-time national champion with the Huskers in 2015 and 2017, will help coach the setters while finishing her accelerated master’s degree in business administration. After graduating from Nebraska in 2018, she played one season professionally in Turkey with Beylikduzu.
“One of the greatest joys in coaching is having a former player come back and coach in your program,” Head Coach John Cook said. “Kelly has decided to finish her master’s degree and work with our program this season. Nicklin (Hames) and Nicole (Drewnick) are two of the luckiest setters in the country, as they’ll be able to train with her. Not only will Kelly be in the gym every day, she’ll also be helping us develop leaders in our program. She was one of the best captains we’ve ever had, and now after her experience being away from the program and playing professionally, she’ll have a lot of wisdom to share with our players.”
“I’m so excited to be back with Nebraska volleyball and working as a graduate assistant,” Hunter said. “It’s awesome to be a part of a program that supports their former athletes so much. I’ll be working every day with the setters at practice. I’m looking forward to a great season.”
Hunter was named a first-team AVCA All-American, the Big Ten Setter of the Year and an All-Big Ten selection for the second time in her career following her 2017 senior season. She received numerous honors from volleyball publications, including National Player of the Year and All-America first-team honors from PrepVolleyball.com and VolleyMob.com. Hunter was also named co-Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Championship with teammate Mikaela Foecke after the Huskers beat Florida in the national title match in 2017.
Hunter earned CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team accolades and was named a semifinalist for the Senior CLASS Award. She ended her career with 4,125 assists, the second-most in Husker history, and she totaled 699 career postseason assists, the highest total in school history. Hunter finished her career with a 16-1 record in the NCAA Tournament as Nebraska’s starting setter, posting the most wins and highest postseason winning percentage by a starting setter in Husker history.