The Week That Was – Nov. 9
Nebraska travels the country and leaves attendance records behind, plus Texas's struggles, Western Kentucky injuries and Leimbach goes for four straight
If you host it, they will come.
Over the last few years, volleyball has experienced an attendance boom. Leading the way is Nebraska. The Huskers have sold out more than 330 home matches in a row and led the nation in average attendance since 2013, when they moved into the Bob Devaney Center. Even with a capacity of more than 8,300, tickets are still hard to come by.
The cheapest ticket for the Wisconsin match on Nov. 21 is $238, and that’s for standing-room only. You’ll have to pay $272 if you want an actual seat. If you're going to attend the NU-Wisconsin football game earlier that day, you could have club seats for the same price.
As a result, Nebraska fans have invaded volleyball arenas nationwide, filling the stands and creating new exciting environments from coast to coast. For some NU volleyball fans, getting tickets away from Lincoln to watch the Huskers is easier, so they travel. They go to Lansing, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; East Rutherford, New Jersey; and, this week, the Pacific Northwest.
NU played in front of a record crowd of 8,566 in Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday against No. 12 Oregon. Radio play-by-play announcer John Baylor estimated that about 40 percent of the fans wore red. They will likely set another record Saturday night when they play at Washington. The Huskies' attendance record is 8,646, set at a 2014 match against Stanford.
Not only are the Huskers’ hosts setting new records, but they are profiting from it, too. Washington is charging $30 for general admission tickets for the Nebraska match, twice as much as they do for other matches. Reserved seating for other matches costs $20. When Nebraska played at SMU earlier this year, SMU charged admission for the first time in program history and drew 6,673 fans. It isn’t unusual that schools don’t sell single-match tickets for Nebraska games. Instead, they can only be bought as part of the season or group packages.
Dave Feit compiled a list of all the arenas where Nebraska was part of the attendance record. They host the largest crowd in Memorial Stadium and are part of huge numbers at national championship matches and Big Ten opponents. The Huskers have set five arena records this season alone.
Here’s the list of where Nebraska was part of program records:
That list doesn’t include Washington and Maryland, where they will play in the main Xfinity Center Arena. The Terrapins usually play in the much smaller Xfinity Center Pavilion, which holds just over 2,000 fans. The record for the main arena is 4,522 from a 2014 match against Penn State.
If the Huskers keep winning this season, record crowds could also show up for matches against Iowa and Penn State, where the Big Ten title could be on the line.
Nebraska isn’t the only fan base that travels well to fill arenas. Texas had record crowds at Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, San Diego and several others. Wisconsin has filled arenas in Milwaukee, West Lafayette, Indiana and Gainsville, Florida. However, no one can match NU's geographic diversity.
Where the Huskers go, the fans will follow.
Here are some other things that caught my eye this week:
Something strange is going on with Texas. The Longhorns suffered their third straight loss to an unranked conference opponent on Sunday. UT fell short in home matches against Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma, which all went five sets. How strange is the losing streak? Texas hasn’t lost three matches in a row since 2011, and it hasn’t lost three matches in a row at home since 1994. The Longhorns beat Mississippi State on Thursday and still have a few weeks to get right, but these are ominous signs. Texas has been experimenting with a 6-2 offense, but it hasn’t helped it get on track as it trails Kentucky and Missouri a game in the SEC standings.
The Big 12 race also flipped this week as Kansas suffered defeats against No. 11 Arizona State and Arizona, its first league losses this year. The Sun Devils are now atop the conference standings, a game ahead of KU.
One of my favorite moments from the Nebraska-Wisconsin game came when they played a cheering/booing game. They would put up pictures on the video screen, and fans would boo anything associated with Nebraska and cheer for anything Wisconsin related. (It featured a lot of logos, maps and mascots. For some reason, they booed corn and cheered cows.) One of the last photos they put up was of a Runza, but the crowd did not react because they had no idea what it was.
After Nebraska defeated Wisconsin while wearing the black jerseys, they improved to 2-0 this season after also breaking them out against Ohio State. We might see them a few more times this season.
The AVCA rearranged its regions for its postseason awards. Nebraska is now grouped with Creighton and schools in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada in the West Region. The change shouldn’t have too significant an impact on the number of Nebraska players who get awarded, but it matters because players must be named to an all-region team to be selected as All-Americans.
Illinois outside hitter Raina Terry became the school’s all-time leader in kills this past week. The fifth-year graduate student then surpassed 2,000 kills on Friday night as the Illini upset No. 20 USC. She is also No. 1 in aces and points in Illinois history.
Creighton setter Kendra Wait broke the program record for double-doubles when she recorded her 66th against St. John’s last Friday. Wait added No. 67 on Sunday against Villanova.
It was a rough week for Western Kentucky coaches. Head coach Travis Hudson suffered a foot injury while playing in a volleyball league, and then assistant coach Craig Bere tore his Achilles 15 minutes later while playing in the same league. Because of the injuries, they could not travel to matches at UTEP. Second-year assistant Jenna Otec, a former Purdue libero, led the Hilltoppers to a pair of wins.
The quest for perfection ended on Thursday night as the final undefeated team fell. South Dakota State won its first 22 matches of the season before dropping the fifth set against St. Thomas. The Jackrabbits didn’t go easy, fighting off six set points in the fifth set before finally falling 16-14.
Wild finish in the Arkansas-Auburn match: Auburn won the first two sets and then led 14-5 in the third set. The Razorbacks scored five points in a row but still trailed 18-11 before rallying to tie the set at 23-all. Arkansas won the final two points of the set and then claimed the following two sets 25-20 and 15-11 to pull off the reverse sweep. The win probability chart is a wild ride.
Good news from former Husker Nicklin Hames Hickman, who shared that she is cancer-free after several months of health issues.
Commit Corner
Keri Leimbach is having a big final week of her prep career. The Lincoln Lutheran libero notched her 2,000th dig in Thursday's first round of the state tournament. She will play in the Class C2 championship match at 1 p.m. on Saturday against Thayer Central. Leimbach is trying to wrap up her career with four state titles.
The AVCA named its All-Region teams for the high school ranks, and four Nebraska commits made the list. 2025 commits Campbell Flynn and Leimbach and 2026 commits Jayden Robinson and Gabby DiVita were honored.
Another 2025 commit, Manaia Ogbechie, was named to the third team of the AVCA Best and Brightest list earlier this fall. The award recognizes academic and athletic achievement.
On the Radio
Kelly Hunter filled in for John Cook on the weekly Husker Volleyball Coaches radio show. Here is what she discussed:
Hunter talked about her perfect record against Penn State. She went 7-0 as a player and is 7-0 as a staff member against the Nittany Lions.
According to Hunter, the back row trio of Lexi Rodriguez-Laney Choboy-Olivia Mauch is one of the best in the nation. “When it comes to passing, defense and how they fly all over the court, and even just their setting, that’s part of being a back-row specialist. You have to step in a set sometimes, too,” she said.
Hunter said seven teams can win a national championship this year. She included Pitt, Nebraska, Penn State, Louisville, Creighton, Stanford and Wisconsin as teams that could get hot and make a postseason run.
Skyler Pierce is training on both the left and right sides. While most of her swings are coming at the left pin, she backs up Merritt Beason. “She’s sneaky because she’s not built like other people, but she can jump high, and her range is really good, and she can hit the angles.”
Speaking of the opposite position, with Beason departing next year, it is up for grabs. Hunter said they have a strong recruiting class, including opposite Ryan Hunter (no relation). She said the incoming freshmen are all capable of stepping in right away.
It was a busy week for Hunter as she also appeared on this week’s episode of The Dig. Here are some highlights of what she discussed:
Hunter said Wisconsin is one of the most challenging environments they play in, but Nebraska didn’t shy away from the pressure. She said earning their first victory in Madison since 2013 was more of a mental win than a physical win.
She said setter Bergen Reilly had a great match. She made adjustments to what Wisconsin was doing and took advantage. She said the Badgers were keying on Rebekah Allick in the middle, which opened up Beason on the right pin.
Hunter said Wisconsin was the best Nebraska has played this season, especially mentally. However, she doesn’t think they are peaking quite yet.
Volleyball State Podcast
Jeff Sheldon and I discussed Nebraska's big win over Wisconsin and its sweep of Northwestern. We also talked with Chad Gordon of VolleyDork.com about the statistical revolution in volleyball and what stats he finds the most helpful in understanding the game.
This Week’s Stories
Reading List
Here are some of the best stories I read this week:
Volleyball: It’s high school state championship week in Nebraska. It’s fun to see the fans filter into Lincoln from all parts of the state to play for trophies and medals. While I have mixed feelings about the double-court setup on the floor of Pinnacle Bank Arena, playing the finals at the Devaney Center is magical. Mike Patterson of the Omaha World-Herald profiled defending champion Minden, who will go for back-to-back titles on Saturday.
Non-Volleyball: In European soccer, it’s not uncommon for teams from different financial worlds to meet on the pitch. It’s one of the charms of the FA Cup and other similar competitions. Upstart FC Noah from Armenia played against English giant Chelsea this week in the UEFA Conference League. The two teams are separated by 800 spots in the UEFA rankings. The match ended as one might expect (8-0 Chelsea), but for FC Noah to play on the stage was still exciting.
Looking ahead
Here are some of the best matches coming this week:
No. 3 Penn State at No. 7 Wisconsin, 11/9, 2:30 p.m., NBC
No. 16 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Stanford, 11/9, 9 p.m., ACCNX
No. 12 Oregon at No. 14 Minnesota, 11/9, 3 p.m., BTN
No. 5 Creighton at Marquette, 11/10, 2 p.m., FS1
No. 18 TCU at No. 8 Kansas, 11/13, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+
No. 14 Minnesota at No. 2 Nebraska, 11/14, 8 p.m., BTN
No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 20 USC, 11/14, 10 p.m., BTN
No. 24 Florida State at No. 1 Pitt, 11/15, 4 p.m., ACCNX
Until next Saturday...
Would it be possible to include the times of the games that you list at the end?