Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, lived up to its nickname as the “Sea of Red” on August 30th, 2023, when fans flooded the stands to watch the University of Nebraska-Lincoln women’s volleyball team take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha women's volleyball team.
A New Record
With 92,003 fans in attendance, this match broke the national and world attendance record for any women’s sporting event. The record was previously held by a 2022 UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final soccer game between Barcelona and Wolfsburg, where 91,648 fans were in attendance.
Not only did this match make history for women’s sports, but it also broke a record for Memorial Stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 90,000 people and was first opened in 1923. This is the largest crowd Nebraska has seen in the 100 years this stadium has been opened.
The Match
Nebraska had a clean sweep against Omaha in a 3-0 outdoor volleyball match. All three sets were won by double digits. Set one was 25-14, then set two was 25-14, and finally set three finished with 25-13.
During the first set, outside hitters, Harper Murray and Lindsay Krause had a combined six kills on seven swings that broke the early tie and gave Nebraska a 10-4 lead. The teams continued playing and trading side-outs until Nebraska had a 6-1 run bringing them to a 23-10 lead. The Huskers had 11 kills in the first set and seven of them were by freshman.
The start of set two was similar to set one with an early tie then a 6-0 run leading to a 10-4 lead soon followed by an Omaha timeout. Nebraska then went on to win 4 of the next 6 rallies causing Omaha to take another timeout. After that, the lead grew faster in the Huskers’ favor giving them their second set win of the night.
Finally, in set three, Nebraska had an early lead of 5-2 before Omaha got back within reach. Yet, the Huskers answered with a 5-0 run taking the lead to a 12-6 lead. The Huskers pulled off a 25-13 win after winning 9 of the last 11 rallies.
The Huskers are currently undefeated this season with a 6-0 record and their next game is on September 9th, 2023 at 7 pm CDT against Long Beach State.
All photos courtesy of https://huskers.com/volleyballday