Can You Dig It?

The state of Nebraska isn’t known for it’s big cities or large populations, yet here we sit in the wake of the largest attended women's sporting event in history being held in the rural state. So how did this happen? 92,003 people gathered around in and outside of Memorial Stadium to watch the Nebraska women’s volleyball team take the court under the night lights to face off against Omaha. This wasn’t something that just came up out of the blue either, Nebraska’s women's volleyball team holds five national titles, their most recent being in 2017. Going into the match against Omaha as the 4th ranked team in the country, it was an expected win for the Cornhuskers. But this was more than any one game. 

“I was hearing about it on multiple platforms. It was amazing. I thought to myself how insane it would feel to have the whole stadium cheering for a volleyball game. As a woman, I feel like people often underestimate the game of volleyball, and how a competitive match can be insanely fun and entertaining. I was very happy to see such big support for the Nebraska Volleyball team,” Emerson Flynn, 12 said.

“I watched it and I thought it was really cool to see all the people supporting, especially all the little girls that were there. I didn’t grow up with that sort of empowerment with the sports I love to play and it's really cool that they get to experience that,” Bridget Grow, 10 said.

Never before has there been a women’s sporting event that gathered an amount so great. This record was set. Back in February after the program announced their volleyball day in Nebraska, it took three short days to sell over 82,000 tickets according to CBS. That’s enough to fit 4% of the state’s population! The Cornhuskers volleyball program has sold out for a hefty 306 straight games. This was a much bigger stage though, with the capacity of up to 83,406 people the record was broken because of the court size leaving empty space on the field, as they were able to squeeze in a few more fans to topple over the attendance record.