Announcements

Volleyball Day In Nebraska Is Here

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MATCH PREVIEW
• After a six-month wait, Volleyball Day in Nebraska is finally here. The fourth-ranked Nebraska volleyball team will play in front of one of the largest crowds all-time for a women’s sporting event when it hosts Omaha on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. 
• To begin the day, UNK will play Wayne State in an exhibition at 4:30 p.m. Memorial Stadium gates will open at 3:30 p.m.
• Fans are encouraged to visit Huskers.com/VolleyballDay for all the latest information leading up to the historic event. 

HOW TO WATCH AND LISTEN
• Wednesday’s Nebraska-UNO match will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network and streamed on FoxSports.com. The UNK and Wayne State exhibition will be televised on Nebraska Public Media and will be best of three sets.
• The Huskers Radio Network will broadcast all the action on their radio affiliates, including 107.3 FM in Lincoln and AM 590 in Omaha. A live audio stream will be provided at Huskers.com and on the Huskers app. 
• John Baylor is in his 30th season doing play-by-play for the Husker volleyball program. Lauren (Cook) West, a former All-America setter for the Huskers, will provide color commentary.

HUSKERS AIM TO SHATTER ATTENDANCE RECORD
• The largest NCAA volleyball regular-season attendance is 16,833 when Wisconsin hosted Florida at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., on Sept. 16, 2022.
• The largest-ever crowd for any NCAA volleyball match is 18,755 when Nebraska played Wisconsin on Dec. 18, 2021 in the NCAA Final at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. 
• The American record attendance for a women’s sporting event is 90,185 for the USA vs. China FIFA World Cup final on July 10, 1999 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. 
• The world record attendance for a women’s sporting event is 91,648 for the Barcelona vs. Wolfsburg UEFA Champions League match on April 22, 2022 at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain. 
• The Husker volleyball program has sold out 306 consecutive regular-season matches, though the Memorial Stadium match would not count toward the streak as it is being played outside the Huskers’ main home facility, the Devaney Center. Nebraska’s sellout streak is an NCAA women’s record. The Huskers have led the nation in attendance every season since moving into the Bob Devaney Sports Center in 2013.
• Eight of the top nine crowds in NCAA volleyball history are matches that have involved the Huskers. 
• Of the 14 largest NCAA volleyball regular-season crowds, 13 have been Nebraska matches.
• When Nebraska played at Creighton on Sept. 7, 2022 at the CHI Health Center, a then-regular-season NCAA record crowd of 15,797 turned out to watch the Huskers defeat the Bluejays, 3-2. It shattered the previous regular-season record of 14,022 (set by Nebraska and Creighton in 2018). The record lasted nine days, however, as Wisconsin and Florida drew a crowd of 16,833 to the Kohl Center on Sept. 16.

ABOUT THE HUSKERS
• Nebraska is coming off a successful opening weekend, going 3-0 with three sweeps at the Ameritas Players Challenge. Harper Murray (most outstanding player), Lexi Rodriguez and Laney Choboy were all named to the All-Tournament Team. 
• Murray was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after averaging 3.67 kills per set with a .343 hitting percentage. She also posted 2.33 digs per set and totaled six blocks, five aces and four set assists. 
• Merritt Beason contributed 3.11 kills per set and 2.00 digs per set. 
• Andi Jackson averaged 2.17 kills per set with a team-best .526 hitting percentage and put up 11 blocks in two matches played. Bekka Allick had 2.00 kills per set and a .304 hitting percentage and also had 11 blocks in two matches as the Huskers rotated their middle blockers all weekend. 
• Freshman setter Bergen Reilly became just the second true freshman setter to be a day one starter under John Cook (Nicklin Hames). Reilly had 9.33 assists per set and 2.78 digs per set in the three wins. 
• Libero Lexi Rodriguez led the NU back row with 3.67 digs per set.
• The Huskers, who led the nation in defense in 2022, held their three opponents to a combined .064 hitting percentage, which ranks fifth in the nation. 
• The Big Red averaged 3.11 blocks per set on opening weekend, good for a tie for 18th nationally.    

SERIES HISTORY
• Nebraska is 17-1 all-time against Omaha. The lone UNO win was on Sept. 2, 1986. 
• The teams last played on Sept. 3, 2021, a 3-2 Husker win at the Devaney Center after the Huskers trailed 2-1. 
• Nebraska is 2-0 against Omaha both in the John Cook era and in UNO’s Division I era. 

SCOUTING REPORT: OMAHA
• Omaha went 0-2 on the first weekend of the season. The Mavericks hosted a four-team tournament at Baxter Arena, falling 3-1 to Texas A&M and 3-0 to Kansas. 
• Kali Jurgensmeier and Shayla McCormick led the Mavs with 2.86 kills per set in the two matches. McCormick hit a team-best .237 and added 2.00 digs per set. 
• McKenna Ruch had eight blocks to lead the Mavericks defensively. 
• Omaha is coming off a 20-11 season and 14-4 record in the Summit League last year. That came one year after the Mavericks won the Summit League regular-season title with a 16-2 conference record. Head Coach Matt Buttermore took over the program in 2019 and has led the Mavs to back-to-back 20-win seasons, their first since making the transition to Division I in 2011.