And Nebraska almost did it.

As a freshman, Reilly helped the Huskers win a Big Title title. She earned second-team All-American honors.

Reilly’s older sister, Raegen, has played a big part in what Bergen has already accomplished as a player and person — and the sisters will share a special night Thursday when they play against each other in a college match.

Raegan is playing her final season for Illinois, where she’s a backup setter and has played as a serving specialist. She transferred there this summer after graduating from South Dakota State, where she was the starting setter last season.

Nebraska’s match at Illinois (8-4, 0-2 Big Ten) is at 6 p.m. on FS1.

The last time the sisters shared a court was when Bergen was a sophomore in high school. They won a state championship at O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Raegan was the setter, and Bergen a hitter.

Bergen is a setter because of her sister.

“I owe a lot of my success and where I’m at today to her,” Reilly said.

Nebraska coach John Cook had previously been looking to see if they could get a match against South Dakota State. In recent years, Nebraska players Nicklin Hames, Lauren Stivrins and Ally Batenhorst played college matches against their sisters.

But when Raegen transferred, they didn’t need to find an open spot in the schedule because Nebraska and Illinois were already scheduled to play twice this season as members of the same conference. Illinois comes to Lincoln in about three weeks.

“I don’t know if she ever really imagined getting to play in Big Ten, and I’m just really excited that she gets to experience some of the things that I have,” Reilly said.

Raegen helped Bergen become one of the top players in the country in her age group. She played on the United States junior national team several times.

“She’s just given me a lot of confidence, and she was kind of like the guinea pig child since she was the first child,” Reilly said. “So she helped me a lot recruiting-wise and going to college and all of those things just making everything as smooth as possible for me.”

And during the pandemic in 2020, the Reilly sisters had a training partner with each other.

“We got to work together no matter what,” Reilly said. “During COVID was huge for us because no gyms were open, and really no one could see each other. But we were just out in the driveway getting setting reps.”

They also played on the high school basketball team together.

The sisters haven’t seen each other since practice began in August. When Nebraska doesn’t have practice on Wednesday or Thursday, they’ll get to spend some time together.

“Her birthday is (in October) so I got her some birthday presents so I’m excited to just see her and get to hang out with her,” Reilly said. “And she gets to show me her home for these six months.”

Parents Brendan and Tiffany Reilly will of course be there Thursday. But so will several others from the family.

“My dad’s whole side of the family will get to come, which will be awesome,” Reilly said. “My dad is from Brooklyn, New York, so a lot of them haven’t been able to come. There is some in Brooklyn, and some in Texas now. Raegan had to gather a lot of tickets to get them all in. I’m really excited to see all of them. I haven’t seen some of that side of the family in a couple of years. It will be a really cool day for us.”

The next round of host cities for the NCAA Final Four was announced this week. In 2026, the event will be in San Antonio, Texas (at the Alamodome). And in 2027 it’s back in Columbus, Ohio, for the third time in 12 years.

This year’s Final Four is in Louisville, Kentucky. Next year is back to Kansas City, Missouri, where Nebraska won its most recent championship in 2017.