World Record Crowd at Memorial Stadium Sees No. 4 Husker Volleyball Team Sweep Omaha
LINCOLN–(KFOR/NU Athletics/AP Aug. 30)–The No. 4 Nebraska volleyball team can claim to the world record for largest attendance at a women’s sporting event with 92,003 filling Memorial Stadium for their match against Omaha on Wednesday night.
“We took a chance by playing in Memorial Stadium, and to go for the record and break it. I don’t think anybody could have envisioned that when this whole thing started,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “It feels like a great accomplishment for this sport called volleyball played by women. It’s a state treasure. We proved it.”
The event began with an exhibition between in-state Division II powers Nebraska-Kearney and Wayne State and was followed by the Huskers’ three-set sweep of Omaha in a regular-season match. Country artist Scotty McCreery performed afterward.
Nebraska Volleyball 2023. (Courtesy of NU Athletics)
Nebraska won all three sets by double digits in its 25-14, 25-14, 25-13 sweep. The Huskers hit .263 for the match while holding Omaha (0-3) to a -.080 attack percentage. Nebraska’s defense limited the Mavericks to only 18 kills on 88 attacks. The Huskers recorded seven blocks while forcing Omaha into 25 attack errors.
Seven Huskers had multiple kills on the historic night. Andi Jackson led the way with eight kills on 12 swings, while Harper Murray put down six kills on 15 swings. Lindsay Krause added five kills on 13 swings. Bergen Reilly had 19 assists, seven digs and three kills while Merritt Beason had eight digs, four blocks and a pair of aces to go along with three kills. Lexi Rodriguez added 15 digs and three service aces.
Entering Wednesday night, the largest-ever crowd for any NCAA volleyball match was 18,755 when Nebraska played Wisconsin in the NCAA Final at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 18, 2021. The largest NCAA volleyball regular-season attendance was 16,833 when Wisconsin hosted Florida at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., on Sept 16, 2022.
