The Rise of Kelly Hunter: A Husker Legend’s Volleyball Journey

Kelly Hunter, a three-time Husker All-American and two-time national champion, was promoted to assistant coach on Dec. 22, 2021. Hunter previously spent three seasons on the Husker staff as a graduate assistant (2019) and a volunteer coach (2020-21). She also served as an interim assistant coach from January to August of 2020. Overall, Hunter has spent 10 of the last 11 seasons with the Husker program as either a player (2013-17) or coach (2019-23). In those 10 seasons, Nebraska has posted a top-10 finish every year, winning two national championships, playing in four NCAA Finals and making five trips to the final four.Primarily working with Nebraska’s setters, Hunter helped freshman Bergen Reilly earn Big Ten Setter of the Year and AVCA All-America Second Team honors in 2023 as the Huskers won the Big Ten title and reached the NCAA Championship match. Reilly was the first freshman to win Big Ten Setter of the Year since the award originated in 2012, and she led all Big Ten setters with 10.51 assists per set.As a volunteer coach in 2021, Hunter helped Nebraska finish as the national runner-up. The Huskers finished with a No. 2 final ranking after a memorable run to the National Championship match as the No. 10 seed. In her first season as a volunteer coach in 2020, Hunter and the Huskers had their season disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic postponed the season until the spring and despite a limited Big Ten-only schedule, the Huskers made an NCAA Regional Final. Hunter was a graduate assistant coach for the Huskers in the 2019 season following a professional playing career overseas.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.The Papillion, Neb., native 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.Hunter earned her bachelor’s degree in management and marketing in May 2017. She graduated with her master’s degree in the arts of business administration from Nebraska in December 2019.