Bergen Reilly finished her bachelor’s degree in business and law in May 2026, then returned to Nebraska volleyball with the same edge that has made her one of the program’s defining players. The All-American setter has already stacked rare honors on the court and now has the academic credential to match them.
That is why her name keeps coming up now. Reilly, who carried a 3.83 cumulative GPA, said school and volleyball feed each other: “School sharpens my brain for volleyball, and volleyball sharpens my brain for school.” She has also benefited from NIL opportunities during her college career, giving her education a direct role in how she handles the business side of being a top athlete.
Reilly’s résumé makes the fit easy to see. She became the first freshman to win Big Ten Setter of the Year since the award was created in 2012, won it again as a sophomore and, by 2025, joined Sydney Hilley as the only three-time recipients. Last season she added Big Ten Player of the Year and AVCA Setter of the Year honors as Nebraska led the nation with a school-record.351 hitting percentage, topping a.331 mark that had stood since 1986.
Her own production has been just as unusual. In 2026, Reilly became the only player in Nebraska history with at least 4,000 career assists, 1,000 digs and 200 blocks. She also helped Nebraska open 25-0 and reach the No. 1 national ranking, then was part of the team when Nebraska clinched a share of its fourth consecutive Big Ten championship on Nov. 8.
The academic side has run alongside that ascent. Reilly was a two-time first-team Academic All-American and was named the Division I women’s volleyball Academic All-America Team Member of the Year after the 2025 season, becoming only the fifth Nebraska volleyball player to get that distinction and the first since Sarah Pavan in 2007. Her father, Brendan, is an attorney who attended Creighton Law School, and her older sister, Raegen, is following a similar path through law school at South Dakota.
Reilly said she did not arrive in college with a fixed career plan, but her family pushed her toward a practical degree. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do coming into college, but my dad always said that the one thing that he wished he had more background on was business,” she said. “So I just figured like the business law major was perfect. It encapsulates a lot, and I can kind of go wherever I want with it at the end of college.”
What remains unclear is the exact shape of the NIL work around her. The opportunities are real, and her education clearly helps her read them, but the specifics of the deals and negotiations are not public here. For now, Bergen Reilly’s next step is less about choosing a lane than proving she can keep one foot in elite volleyball while building the business judgment to decide what comes after it.
