The University of Nebraska now holds the world record for the largest to ever attend a women’s sporting event.
92,003 people filled Memorial Stadium on Wednesday for Volleyball Day in Nebraska.
The old record was 91,648 for a soccer match last year in Spain..
UNL AD Trev Alberts says the original idea was to retake the NCAA volleyball record, held by Nebraska for several years before being claimed last year by Wisconsin, but quickly grew into an attempt for the overall world record.
After a summer filled with both scorching temperatures and strong storms, the weather couldn’t have been better for Volleyball Day. At game time, it was 83-degrees with clear skies and a 4 mph wind at court level with gusts sometimes moving the ball.
Conditions were 83 degrees, clear skies and a south wind listed at 4-mph at court level with gusts that sometimes moved the ball in unpredictable ways.
The day-long event began with an exhibition between in-state Division II powers Nebraska-Kearney and Wayne State and was followed by the Huskers’ 3-set sweep of Omaha in a regular-season match.
Memorial Stadium was only a quarter full when the Wayne State-Kearney match began, but gradually filled to capacity as the players for UNL and Omaha were warming up.
There was a flyover during the national anthem and, minutes before first serve, Nebraska Coach John Cook led his team into the stadium via the Tunnel Walk, the longtime tradition of the football team, to synchronized chants of “Go Big Red!”
The success of the day should be a surprise to no one. Nebraska has led the nation in volleyball attendance every season since 2013, and 8 of the 9 biggest crowds in NCAA volleyball history were for Husker games.
Nebraska volleyball has won five national championships and is one of the few Division I women’s sports programs that turns a profit – a million last year, according to UNL athletic department CFO Doug Ewald.