After winning the Brazil Superliga, former Nebraska volleyball player Callie Schwarzenbach returns to the United States with a pro league announcement

Former Nebraska volleyball star Callie Schwarzenbach is set to return to the US, joining League One Volleyball (LOVB) after a successful international run. The middle blocker has two years of professional experience and led Brazil’s Osasco to win the Brazilian Superliga and the Brazilian Cup in 2024.

Callie Schwarzenbach joined the Nebraska Volleyball team in 2018 and made her mark by setting a freshman record with 177 blocks. She played in 33 matches in her sophomore year and recorded 1.24 kills and 1.11 blocks per set with a .263 hitting percentage.

In her junior year, she appeared in 10 matches with 24 blocks and 19 kills, and in her senior year, 17 matches. She also helped the Huskers reach the NCAA Championships finals in 2018 and 2021.

Throughout Schwarzenbach's collegiate career, she earned multiple accolades, including the All-Big Ten Freshman Team, Big Defensive Player of the Week, Academic All-Big Ten, and the Tom Osborne Citizenship team. She is now coming back to LOVB and hopes to make her mark in the States once again.

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Callie Schwarzenbach’s journey through and beyond Nebraska Volleyball

In 2022, Callie Schwarzenbach transferred to Long Beach State University for her final year and wrapped her collegiate career by helping lead the Beach to a dominant 3-0 sweep of UC Riverside on senior night. She recorded eight kills and four blocks to bring her Division I career total to 500 blocks.

After ending her collegiate career, Callie Schwarzenbach turned pro and played for Atenieses de Manati in Puerto Rico. Later, she moved to Osasco Voleibol Club, one of the top teams in the Brazilian Superliga.

In an appearance on the Up Close podcast, Schwarzenbach reflected on her Nebraska journey.

"It was a lot of recruiting. I didn't really start getting recruited until about my eighth-grade year. I kind of started volleyball a little bit later, but yeah, it was super weird. There was just a lot of recruitment that I wasn't really used to, and once I moved to, like, a more known club team, it was a little bit more familiar. My coaches helped me out a lot more", she said.

She further added that Dani Busboom Kelly played a major role in her recruitment process.

So, Danny Busboom Kelly, at the time, was one of the assistant coaches and the head recruiter for Nebraska, and I'm pretty sure her dad was at a gas station and had heard about me — I don't know how — and just relayed that back to Danny. And yeah, I guess that's how she kind of heard about my name. Kind of started watching me then, and now I'm here. So I don't really know how it all worked out, but I guess gas stations do more than you think."

Currently, Dani Busboom Kelly serves as the head coach of Nebraska Volleyball, following the retirement of legendary coach John Cook.