"I am my own player" - Nebraska Volleyball’s Laney Choboy shows confidence as she contends for Lexi Rodriguez’s role

Nebraska Volleyball player Laney Choboy opened up on stepping into the role of libero previously held by alumna Lexi Rodriguez and how she is approaching it. While she acknowledged the pressure of the challenge, she stated that she is using Rodriguez as a resource and guide while approaching it.

In the first weekend of the regular season opener, Choboy was chosen as the main libero, who also contributed majorly to their back-to-back wins, first against Pittsburgh by 3-1 and then against Stanford by 3-0.

Ahead of the Nebraska Volleyball’s first away game against Lipscomb in Nashville on August 29, Friday, Laney Choboy was asked about how she is handling replacing the 22-year-old’s position. Reacting to it, she expressed confidence in her abilities while showing respect to Rodriguez’s legacy (5:52 onwards):

“Yeah, I think it can be hard when I think about it in a way of taking over Lexi's job and she did such an amazing job here. I think it would be hard if I was to think like that."

"I think how I'm kind of going into it is I learned from Lexi and I'm going to continue to use her as a resource of mine but also like I am my own player and I can do this and, you know, while I am stepping into the role that she left behind, like I am coming into it on my own as well," she added.

At present, Lexi Rodriguez is on international duty as she is a part of the United States squad at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship 2025. Some of Rodriguez’s prominent accomplishments include becoming the AAU Sullivan Award Winner for 2024-25 season and finalists of the Honda Sport Award and AVCA National Player of the Year among others.

Meanwhile, besides Choboy, the Nebraska Volleyball team also has players like Olivia Mauch, Maisie Boesiger and Keri Leimbach, making the libero position even more competitive for the season.

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Nebraska Volleyball’s Laney Choboy reflects on how she has grown over the years

Nebraska Volleyball’s Laney Choboy at 2023 Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. Source: Getty

Nebraska Volleyball junior Laney Choboy opened up on her personal growth as an athlete, sharing how the biggest improvement she experienced was mental rather than technical. She added that her approach to the game and how she handles challenges has been different.

In the same interview, Choboy talked about her growth, saying (5:15 onwards):

“I think probably mentally the most. Some people will say, ‘Oh, you've improved so much.’ I think that it wasn't really my skill that I improved in necessarily.”

“It was more my mentality and just how I was going to go about things and what I was going to let affect me, what I was going to let into my body and my heart and how I was going to play rather than like me working on the technical side, which obviously I did too,” she added.

Some of Choboy’s impressive achievements are making it to the Ameritas Players Challenge All-Tournament in 2023 and being named the Best Receiver of the tournament while representing the USA U19 girls team at the Pan American Cup 2022.