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Nebraska volleyball commit Bergen Reilly still has work to do at O’Gorman
Reilly helped the Knights to an undefeated season last year that ended with a state championship. (Courtesy: Bergen Reilly)

Nebraska volleyball commit Bergen Reilly still has work to do at O’Gorman

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (BVM) — Bergen Reilly is happy to be back with her Sioux Falls O’Gorman volleyball team.

“Being away from my team was definitely tough,” Reilly said. “I watched almost every game on a live stream, but I missed all of them so much and I am so happy to be back.”

Since returning to the team, the Knights have looked stronger than ever. Not having the No. 14-ranked volleyball player in the Class of 2023, according to Prepvolleyball.com, means others have to step up. O’Gorman did just that, only losing two games during a one-day invitational while Reilly was away. However, the Knights aren’t satisfied.

Reilly has been playing volleyball since she was a little girl and it has always been her favorite sport. (Courtesy: Bergen Reilly)

“We are still growing and hoping to hit our peak in November when state comes around,” Reilly said.

With a collective goal to repeat as state champions, it took something special to keep Reilly away from her team and it came in the form of an opportunity to play for Team USA.

In August, Reilly was invited to play for the U18 U.S. National team in the FIVB World Championship that took place in Mexico. The team went 7-1 in the tournament and left with a bronze medal.

“The experience was unlike anything I have ever done,” Reilly said. “It was so cool to be around a bunch of other players that have the same mindset and same goals as me and winning that bronze medal was just the icing on the cake for all the hard work that we as a team and individually put in.”

It was also a chance for Reilly to play with some of her future teammates. The national team featured three other future Cornhuskers who will be heading to Nebraska in 2022 or with Reilly in 2023.

“It was super exciting to get to play with the other Nebraska commits,” Reilly said. “It just made me that much more excited for the future because it gave a little taste of what college volleyball is going to be like.”

Reilly announced her commitment to Nebraska in the summer only a month after she was eligible to do so.

“Ultimately, I chose Nebraska because of the relationships that I had made with the coaches,” Reilly said. “Everything was so easy and so natural with them, and I just felt like everything they had to offer was perfect for me. I had always had other schools on my radar, but once the recruiting process got into full swing, Nebraska was always at the top.”

Her decision ended a recruiting process that had begun back in eighth grade and means that Reilly can now just focus on volleyball rather than where she will be attending college.

“I started receiving emails from colleges about the middle of my eighth grade year,” Reilly said. “It was crazy to me, because at that point I had always just thought of volleyball being something fun that I loved to do, never being something that I could make a life out of.

“The recruiting process was definitely a tough and stressful process. It’s a big decision, so it was constantly on my mind.”

With the decision made, Reilly has been able to continue building on the impressive career she has already had. Along with helping the Knights to an undefeated season and a state championship last year, the setter was named the 2020-21 Gatorade South Dakota Volleyball Player of the Year as a sophomore.

The team aspect of volleyball has been one of Reilly’s favorite parts of the sport. (Courtesy: Bergen Reilly

“It was an unreal feeling,” Reilly said. “I really didn’t think I was going to win being an underclassman up against some really good older candidates, but when I did it was just super reassuring for me and helped me to gain confidence.”

That confidence has been growing for a while now. She had always loved volleyball, but the realization that she could take volleyball and turn it into something where she would be receiving interest from colleges as an eighth grader or winning Gatorade state player of the year as a sophomore began with an invitation to a national camp.

“I think the first time I was invited to a USA camp was when I realized that I could do something special with my talents,” Reilly said. “I had been recognized by a lot of people in South Dakota, but that was the first time that I was recognized nationally, and I think that was when I realized that if I put the work in, I could be a very high-level player.”

However, that wasn’t the only reason she has trained hard. Reilly’s love for the game has always kept her in the gym working, but a part of that love is the team aspect of the game. Not letting her teammates down and being there for them has always been a huge motivator for her.

“You always have to trust that your teammate is going to make the play,” Reilly said. “This leads into why I train so hard. Being the setter, a lot of people look to you to lead the team, and I never want to let my team down.”

Now that she is back with O’Gorman, she doesn’t plan to, which means the Knights will have a strong chance not just to repeat this year, but be contenders once again next year when Reilly is a senior.