How Elena Oglivie Found Her Place in Omaha
MLV Omaha Supernovas

How Elena Oglivie Found Her Place in Omaha

Published on April 9, 2026 under Major League Volleyball (MLV)
Omaha Supernovas News Release


Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
(Omaha Supernovas)

It took a few weeks with the Supernovas before Elena Oglivie finally felt at home.

When she first arrived in Omaha, time felt slow for Oglivie as she adapted to her new surroundings. But she couldn't dwell on the situation as she jumped right into practices, integrated into a new team culture and broke several records along the way.

Since being traded to the Supernovas on Feb. 13 from Grand Rapids, Oglivie has gotten to know her teammates, learned the on-court system and even had her car shipped to Omaha from Michigan. However, Oglivie didn't feel fully settled in until she went shopping.

"I had to get groceries, buy my condiments and weird things you never think of," she said. "Once I got that settled down in my apartment, I felt a little bit more at home and more comfortable to go out there and be myself with the team."

Since the trade, the 5-foot-10 libero has helped stabilize Omaha's defense. Oglivie arrived in the middle of a six-match losing streak, but she sparked a turnaround that led to three straight wins and four victories in the last six contests. Now, the Supernovas sit in third place in Major League Volleyball at 11-11 with six matches remaining.

"She's just been seamless into it, and she's just so smooth and natural and has a great platform," setter Sydney Hilley said. "She's a great fit for our team."

This all was a situation Oglivie didn't imagine herself in at the beginning of the season when she was embarking on her second year with the Rise.

After starting every match during her rookie campaign, Oglivie returned to Grand Rapids and again established herself in the starting lineup. The Rise struggled out of the gates and were 2-7 by mid-February. However, Oglivie was doing her part, averaging a league-best 3.86 digs per set and a 61 percent positive pass rate.

Then her world got flipped on a Friday morning. Oglivie was getting ready for practice when she received a text from Coach Cathy George to swing by her office. She didn't think much of it, as she often met with the coaching staff one-on-one before matches.

But when she arrived at the practice gym, an assistant coach joined the meeting, and Oglivie knew this was different. The coaches told the second-year libero that she was being traded to the Supernovas. She was in shock and quickly tried to process everything. Then came the hard part: telling her teammates she was leaving them.

"I got pretty emotional because I was really just going to miss the girls there," Oglivie said. "I created a super, super close bond with a lot of them, and that was really what was hurting me in that moment."

She didn't have much time to deal with the emotions right away because she had to go home, pack and fly to Omaha the following morning.

On the other side of the trade was a familiar name to Oglivie - Morgan Hentz. The two both played libero at Stanford, but never overlapped. Hentz was the starting libero on three Cardinal national championship teams in 2016, 2018 and 2019. After her eligibility ended, Oglivie stepped in and took over the position for the following five seasons and was a two-time Pac-12 Libero of the Year.

While she looked up to Hentz at Stanford, Oglivie and the Cardinal coaching staff ensured she was just playing libero and didn't pressure her to replicate Hentz's playing style or personality.

She still admires Hentz, who was the league's libero of the year in 2024 and 2025, and hopes to continue to create her own path.

"It's a compliment for me to be in a category with her. I think she's one of the best liberos out there. So for my name to even be a little associated with hers is super cool for me," Oglivie said. "It's a weird situation, but I think that she handled it gracefully. I hope I handled it gracefully, and so there's no bad blood between us."

When Oglivie arrived in Omaha, she had to adjust to new teammates and dynamics quickly. The Supernovas faced Orlando two days later with Oglivie on the bench. She didn't get in the match as the Novas used Allison Holder at libero.

Oglivie said the immediate turnaround helped limit the reality of all the changes happening around her. She said she approached it with a growth mindset and tried to compartmentalize everything.

"I feel like it was almost better that way, to not have a moment to kind of be like, 'Whoa, what's going on,'" she said. "After talking to my family and super important people in my life, I came to the conclusion that this was a blessing in disguise, and I'm right where I need to be. It was definitely an emotional beginning, but I really wanted to come out on the better side of it."

In her second match, Oglivie moved into the starting lineup and settled in on the court. However, wins remained elusive for the Supernovas, as they dropped their first four matches with Oglivie as the libero.

During the losing streak, the team held tough discussions to figure out how to end the skid. As a newcomer, Oglivie listened a lot, and despite the frank talks, she didn't think the team was in dire straits. She tried to stay positive and reinforce that they would get through the rough patch.

"I noticed that they had a good vibe in the practice gym, very competitive, acknowledging that if something wasn't going well, they wouldn't let it fester," she said. "They would acknowledge it like, 'Hey, we need to do better than this.' This seems like a really, really good environment to grow and be a good volleyball player and be better."

While coming into a new locker room can be challenging, Oglivie knew outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller from their days battling in the Pac-12. She also trained with opposite Emily Londot and outside hitter Reagan Cooper as part of the national team program.

Holder also helped catch her up on the team dynamics. She provided insight into playing libero on the Supernovas- what each teammate needs, how to call out shots, the best way to cover attackers, and how to play next to others in the back row.

Overall, Omaha's system was an easy transition for Oglivie as it was similar to what Head Coach Kevin Hambly ran at Stanford.

After some one-on-one sessions with the coaching staff, Oglivie had the basics down and then began learning her teammates' passing tendencies. In addition, the coaching staff said Ogilvie's calm personality has been a welcome addition to the team, which they credited to her Hawaiian upbringing.

"I can't stress enough how welcoming the girls have been, literally every single one of them," she said. "The girls made it super easy for me to be myself and play my game and just work around each other and work well together."

Just three weeks after the trade, Oglivie went back to Grand Rapids to play the Rise. The trip was a bit weird to be an outsider in a place she called home. While it was strange to stay in a hotel and be in the visitors' locker room, she got to reconnect with her teammates.

When the Rise came to Omaha, Ogilvie played one of her best matches as a professional. She set a Supernovas franchise record with 20 digs in a three-set victory. Interim head coach Thomas Robson credited Oglivie's time with Grand Rapids for her stellar performance.

"She got to know tendencies inside out, and she proved it there," he said. "We trusted her a lot in the scout, and we leaned on her a lot leading up to the match. She was in the right place at the right time."

In the six weeks since the trade, the Supernovas have bounced back from their early struggles and are back in playoff position with less than a month left in the season. Oglivie posted another record breaking performance last week at Atlanta. She tied the best single-match performance in league history with 32 digs in a match, including 12 in the fourth set. She's played so well, in fact, that she still leads the league in digs per set (4.03) and is the only player to have that mark above four.

Oglivie has continued to settle in as well. She's been able to explore the town a little more, played in front of a U.S. professional volleyball record crowd and has gotten to know Omaha as well.

After an unexpected change in the middle of her second professional season, Oglivie is back to her routine and enjoying it all again.

"It's been amazing since I've been here," she said. "I've had a great time here so far, and adjusting has been a lot easier than I thought it would be from the beginning. It's been a lot easier."

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Images from this story

Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
 Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
 Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
Omaha Supernovas libero Elena Oglivie
   



Major League Volleyball Stories from April 9, 2026


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