It's hard to put into words what Wednesday night meant.
When Volleyball Day in Nebraska was announced back in February, the news was met with as much excitement as there was curiosity. How feasible was it to play a volleyball match inside Memorial Stadium? The idea had been floated around before, but mostly as a pipe dream. Even the main curators of the event had doubts before going full steam ahead including Nebraska Volleyball coach John Cook, Athletic Director Trev Alberts and University President Ted Carter.
Could they sell enough tickets? Cook thought they'd be only able to sell 30,000. The timing could work, but was the support there? Consequently, the answer to that questions came soon enough. Once tickets were live, roughly 82,000 tickets were sold in three days. If Cook and the NU administration didn't have their answer then, they certainly got it Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium.
Hours upon hours of preparation and manpower finally cumulated into a record-breaking extravaganza inside Nebraska's historical sporting venue. A world-record 92,003 people came to watch No. 4 Nebraska sweep in-state rival Omaha 25-14, 25-14, 25-13. With that number, it became the highest attended women's sporting event in world history. That also included shattering the NCAA regular season and postseason record while being the largest crowd to fit inside Memorial Stadium.
"There is a lot of satisfaction in that to know. It's not me, it's a celebration of Nebraska volleyball, all the levels in the state. We took a chance by playing in Memorial Stadium and to go for the record and break it," Cook said. "So now we make a statement to everybody else, how important volleyball is here and we want to record. We did it to the world. I don't think anybody ever could have envisioned that when this whole thing started. So it feels like a great accomplishment for the sport called volleyball. Played by the women in Nebraska. It's a state treasurer, and we just proved it."
The Husker freshman showed why the future of the program is secured as first-year middle blocker Andi Jackson popped off for a match-high eight kills on a .500 clip. Harper Murray continued her excellent start to the season with six kills while freshman setter Bergen Reilly showcased her all-around ability with 19 assists, seven digs and three kills.
Truth be told, not many people cared about that. Yes, the win was fun to see, but this wasn't just a match, it was a celebration. Not a celebration of Nebraska, but how much the state treasures its volleyball and its women athletes. In an era where women's sports is getting more mainstream attention, Nebraska Athletics is at the forefront pushing endeavors that shows off its women athletes — while also breaking records.
"I've been saying it ever since we kind of were considering this to be an option for a game but I've just been saying that it's so huge for little girls to get to see a women's sport and volleyball being played on this big of a stage and having so many people invest into it," Lexi Rodriguez said. "I think it's huge because when you're little you have big dreams and big goals and I think having this to look up to is something that a lot of little girls will kind of keep in the back of their mind when they're pursuing the sport of volleyball."
The event meant so much to so many people. Close to 100 former Nebraska volleyball players came to be celebrated — even causing Cook to shed a tear. Legendary Nebraska high school volleyball coaches were honored in between sets. Nebraska great and former volleyball coach Terry Pettit was recognized.
Wednesday was special not only for those attached to the university, but also for those who dream of being part of the institution. For Neveah – a 10-year-old from South Dakota — it meant being chosen to read out her hand-written note during the Rally at the Coliseum earlier that afternoon. Being so young and surrounded by close to 1,000 people, she got emotional. However, in came Bekka Allick — the subject of Neveah's note — to save the day and give her a hug.
For many parents, it meant bringing their kids to witness a historical event while showing them that women are supported like none other in this state. For Nebraska setter Kennedi Orr, Wednesday meant "making the impossible, possible." That quote alone got Cook to tear up as he attempted to say Orr's note out loud.
Even for Cook — a former football coach — it meant feeling like Nebraska's head football coach during the Huskers' tunnel walk to the court. That's what made Wednesday special. It meant so much to so many people in so many different ways.
Wednesday will go down in history and will be remembered for a long, long time. I'm not an advocate to have an event like this every season. It would inflate and downgrade the importance of nights like Wednesday. People are going to remember where they were when Nebraska Volleyball played in front of 92,003 spectators. And that impact is already far reaching.
Sportscenter led its late-night telecast with Nebraska-Omaha. Social media is filled with content from the event. That's just the immediate impact. Truth is, we won't see the lasting impact right away. If we're lucky enough, we'll get to see it on the court with future generations of little girls growing up in Nebraska hoping to play for the Huskers.
We saw that with Husker legend and Olympian Jordan Larson in small town Hooper, Nebraska. And maybe, just maybe we get to see a a similar story. But this time, one where their dream started at Volleyball Day in Nebraska.
"I think the biggest thing is women's sports are a big deal here and they got to experience what the men get to experience on the same level as all the greatest football teams that have played here," Cook said. "We just got to experience it and maybe in some ways even more, because of how the crowd interacted and the students on the field. I think that's what also set this thing off. I mean, you're just surrounded by this, all these people on the field, and then you got the whole stadium part of it. I just think experiencing a big time event in a big stadium. There's a lot of young kids there that got to see this tonight. I saw them all. A couple hours before the match I took a walk and just saw the kids here tonight young girls. I took about 3000 pictures with them. That's how I know."
