It was a historic night in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Wednesday.
The University of Nebraska volleyball team played in front of a record-setting crowd at Memorial Stadium, home of the Cornhuskers' football team. A total of 92,003 fans came out to see the outdoor volleyball match between No. 4 Nebraska and Omaha, breaking the world attendance record for a women's sporting event.
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The previous record of 91,648 was set during a Champions League match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou Stadium in 2022. The prior American record for a women's sporting event was 90,185 at the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl.
The Cornhuskers treated the 92,000-plus in attendance to a victory in straight sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-13).
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Why did Nebraska play a volleyball match outside at its football stadium? Well, it started last year when Big Ten rival Wisconsin broke the NCAA regular-season volleyball attendance record with 16,833 fans at a match against Florida. The top two previous record marks were both Nebraska road matches against Creighton.
"Wisconsin, being as competitive as they are, went and took one of our attendance records away," Cornhuskers volleyball coach John Cook told USA TODAY Sports. "So we’re like, ‘How are we going to get it back?’"
The Cornhuskers got it back and then some.
Nebraska sold nearly 83,000 tickets within a three-day span in April. Memorial Stadium has a listed capacity of over 85,000, but that number has been exceeded by several thousands in the past. And the volleyball court only taking up a portion of the football field allowed Nebraska to add seats and standing-room only sections on the field.
Nebraska has sold out 306 consecutive regular-season volleyball matches and has led the nation in attendance every year since 2013, according to The Associated Press. The Cornhuskers have won four of their five national titles since Cook took over as head coach in 2000, finishing as the national runner-up three times during that span.
