Tears streamed down Ally Batenhorst’s face minutes before the No. 20 USC Trojans took on her former teammates from the No. 2 Nebraska Huskers on Sunday night at the Devaney Sports Center.

Batenhorst, originally from Omaha and a former Husker, received a thunderous ovation during the starting lineups. As the applause continued, she covered her mouth in disbelief at the warm welcome.

She started to shed tears as Lexi Rodriguez, Kennedi Orr and Harper Murray gave Batenhorst their starting ball with handwritten messages from the team.

Several fans waved homemade signs at the outside hitter who transferred to USC for her final collegiate season after graduating from NU in the spring.

“I graduated from here, so I’ll always be a Husker. It feels like home here and it’s something really special and I just love the people here.”

Batenhorst finished with a match-high 13 kills with a hitting percentage of .242.

“They always say there’s no place like Nebraska. Everyone is just more than supportive. … You don’t see that at other schools. When I transferred, I wondered about things like that, but I never really realized how much support I actually got going. It was overwhelming.”

Batenhorst never felt uncomfortable or unwelcome. When the team’s charter flight landed in the city on Saturday, Duncan Aviation’s digital display showed a message welcoming Batenhorst back to Lincoln.

USC head coach Tyler Hildebrand joined Batenhorst on his return home. The entire game felt “weird” to Husker head coach John Cook, but he was happy his team came away with another top-25 win.

“First of all, this was kind of a weird match to play with Tyler there and Ally,” Cook said afterward. “You see how close Ally still is to these guys. I don’t know, it was weird.’

Batenhorst trained with the Huskers all spring, despite announcing her intention to transfer to USC before the end of the school year.

That doesn’t happen with most programs, Nebraska is family.

“She’s a Husker,” Cook said. “I think people enjoy watching her play. She’s done a great job on social media and you can see how close she still is with our players. There’s an emotional connection there. She’s been with us all spring trained. She’s part of our family. I think our fans know that… She played well for her.”

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