The much-awaited moment finally arrived just a couple of days ago. Nebraska Huskers alum Lexi Rodriguez made her pro volleyball debut for LOVB Omaha against LOVB Salt Lake on Saturday. Thankfully, she had some incredible stars in the locker room to help ease the pressure of playing her first game of the tournament. While Lexi was determined to show her appreciation to a veteran after the match, it wasn’t meant to be.

Jaali Winters, a Pan American Cup medalist, is one of the more senior athletes in the LOVB Omaha dressing room. A Creighton alum, Winters is the most decorated athlete of the program ever. And still, even the 4x All-American honoree isn’t up for considering herself on par with some of her teammates, despite what Lexi Rodriguez might claim.

In a YouTube upload from February 8 by the official LOVB channel, Winters and Rodriguez could be seen discussing the game against Salt Lake in a post-match presser alongside head coach Suzie Fritz. During the conversation, the Huskers grad highlighted how the team has some “incredible leaders” who helped to bring out the best in her. She mentioned teammates, and Olympic gold medalists, Jordan Larson and Justine Wong-Orantes, and subsequently noted Winters as an equally incredible leader.

However, Jaali wasn’t sure she should be seated in the same row as her Olympian colleagues. Shaking her head, Winters refuted Rodriguez’s claims with a smile, saying, “I love getting to be a follower on this team. It’s so much less stressful,” humbly transferring all the credit for anchoring the team to the likes of Larson and Wong-Orantes.

But Rodriguez knew what she was talking about and stuck to her opinion. “I think just all three of them like, hold down the fort, and are so consistent…they make you better, and they make the people around them better,” Lexi went on with her praise despite Winters’ reluctance to accept them. Instead, Jaali believed that Lexi did what she does best, and she didn’t have much to do with the Huskers alum’s performance. “…none of us were nervous when she came in. Like, she’s doing the same great stuff at practice every day, so she came in and did what she does every single day,” the ex-Creighton star said. And yet, despite her teammates’ confidence, Rodriguez was startled when Coach Fritz called her up on Saturday.

Lexi Rodriguez is still in disbelief about her dream debut

LOVB Omaha won its latest match by a margin of 3-2 (25-17, 25-21, 18-25, 19-25, 15-12) against Salt Lake. Lexi came on in the fifth set, albeit not entirely prepared for it. “Fifth set, my name gets called. I’m gonna do whatever I can to try and help this team get a win. So, yeah, it’s definitely a crazy moment. Can’t even remember really what happened, but it was a lot of fun,” she was heard saying with glee in a recent TikTok upload by the team’s official account.

Such was her disbelief at the news that Fritz had to repeat herself to reassure her. “Beginning of the match, I said, ‘Lexi, you’re gonna be serving some. And for Kimmy.’ And she goes, ‘me?’ I went, ‘yeah, yeah, you,’” recollected the coach.

For a long time, fans have been complaining about Omaha opting to play Wong-Orantes instead of Lexi in the inaugural season of the LOVB tournament. “She deserves better,” was the general consensus when it came to the feelings of the community about missing out on the incredible action of Rodriguez. Boasting 1897 career digs during her time in Lincoln, the John Cook‘s student has a lot to offer her pro team. And with a terrific ace serve on her debut, Lexi showed exactly why fans were right to be impatient for her pro debut.

Rodriguez fans will now hope to see more of her on the court in the coming weeks. But will the HC see things the same way as well? What do you reckon?