Bergen Reilly (Re-Release from June 2025) on her volleyball journey, playing for Huskers powerhouse

There aren't too many athletes who have come out of Sioux Falls with more national and international acclaim and achievement than O'Gorman alumnus Bergen Reilly. And she's not yet 21 years old. (Her birthday is next month). A two-time All-American on two NCAA Final Four teams at four-time national champion Nebraska, Reilly is the first player in Big Ten volleyball history to be the league's Setter of the Year in each of her first two seasons. She's also a four-time member of USA teams, including the 2022 national team as 17-year-old. So what is life like at the top level of her sport in a place where volleyball players are "celebrities" and to come back home a newfound celebrity, spawning thousands of new Nebraska volleyball fans in South Dakota? What kind of NIL deals does she have, and what opportunities — fun and (literally) taxing — has that afforded her? What is it like to play in front of 92,000 fans — blasting the record for the largest crowd to witness a women's sport in United States history — in one of college football's most hallowed stadiums? And how does she feel when people tell her she plays at a "volleyball school?" And how, in any way, are these sorts of experiences similar to her existence at O'Gorman, where Reilly was a three-time Gatorade South Dakota Player of the Year and two-time state champion, plus a state basketball champ her senior season? Reilly remained delightful in answering all those questions in a 42-minute chat with Happy Hour host John Gaskins, but seemed to relish most the chance to talk about her relationship with older sister Raegan, whose Div. I volleyball career just ended with Big Ten rival Illinois in a season that included two showdowns with long-time teammate sisters staring each other across the net.