Fan-favorite aka Nebraska volleyball. The Huskers have been on a mission to convey house the glory and followers in every single place have been buzzing with excessive hopes, dreaming of the workforce conquering the Last 4 and marching into the finals. However, oh, destiny had a special script written. Only a day in the past, the Huskers clashed with their fierce rivals, Penn State, in a battle that might solely be described as volleyball poetry. It was a heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat thriller, and ultimately, the No. 3 Huskers fell to No. 2 Penn State in a 3-2 nail-biter (25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 26-28, 13-15).
The showdown unfolded earlier than a record-breaking crowd of 21,726 on the iconic KFC Yum! Middle—the most important ever to witness an indoor NCAA volleyball match. However maintain up, that wasn’t the one file this historic recreation set! Nope, this wasn’t simply concerning the crowd within the enviornment; one other epic second was being written within the volleyball historical past as Nebraska Volleyball confronted a troublesome loss.
Nebraska Volleyball shatters file off the court docket!
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Abby Barmore, Nebraska’s go-to insider and workers author for Husker On-line and On3Sports, had some juicy tea to spill on December 20. She hopped on X to share a jaw-dropping replace concerning the Nebraska Volleyball-Penn State volleyball conflict. Abby reposted ESPN’s mic-drop-worthy announcement: “Thursday night time’s 2024 @NCAAVolleyball Nationwide Semifinals have been the MOST-WATCHED ON RECORD! 1.1M avg. viewers, up 4% year-over-year. @PennStateVBALL vs @HuskerVB turned the most-viewed #NCAAWVB Nationwide Semifinal EVER. Development amongst P18-34 (up 51%) & Ladies (up 14%).” And Abby added her personal spark to the submit, writing: “Nebraska vs. Penn State was the most-watched Nationwide Semifinal ever with 1.2 million views and peaking at 1.4 million. The Last 4 viewership elevated 4 p.c from 2023.”
Nebraska vs. Penn State was the most-watched Nationwide Semifinal ever with 1.2 million views and peaking at 1.4 million.
The Last 4 viewership elevated 4 p.c from 2023. https://t.co/zWF4gybxpB
— Abby Barmore (@Abby_Barmore) December 20, 2024
However dangle on, it doesn’t cease there! The opposite semifinal showdown between Louisville and Pitt wasn’t about to be left within the mud. That match pulled in a formidable 1 million viewers on ESPN and even hit a peak of 1.4 million. Volleyball fever is clearly actual, of us, and these Last 4 matchups? They’ve formally turn into iconic moments, not simply on the court docket however in dwelling rooms throughout the nation. Louisville volleyball introduced the home down on Thursday night time, clinching their spot within the NCAA Nationwide Championship for simply the second time ever!
Going through their ACC rival and No. 1 seed Pittsburgh, they battled it out in an electrifying four-set showdown on the KFC Yum! Middle. With scores of 21-25, 25-23, 29-27, and 25-17, UofL turned the tides and punched their ticket to the finals, leaving the group buzzing with pleasure. However maintain on—let’s swing again to Nebraska Volleyball for a second. Setting information? Oh, that’s simply one other day on the workplace for the Huskers, and this isn’t their first rodeo in making historical past and leaving a legacy.
Huskers and their information!
Earlier this 12 months, Nebraska Volleyball took on Louisville in a match that not solely wowed followers however shattered information. Averaging a jaw-dropping 684,000 viewers, it became the most-watched regular-season volleyball game on any ESPN platform. Oh, and that’s not all—it additionally snagged the second-highest viewership spot throughout all platforms. Sports activities Illustrated even dropped an article on September 24, calling the 2023-25 NCAA volleyball season a fan favourite.
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The cherry on high? Viewership peaked at 808,000, with almost half the viewers being girls—a testomony to only how a lot girls’s collegiate volleyball is adored throughout the USA. And sure, Nebraska took the win in model, sweeping Louisville 25-16, 25-17, and 25-20. Traditional Huskers, proper? However wait, the plot thickens! On October 19, 2024, the Nebraska vs. Ohio State recreation served up extra historical past—it became the first-ever collegiate volleyball match to air on NBC. This wasn’t simply any recreation; NBC rolled out the pink carpet and made it their ‘marquee match,’ marking their massive debut within the sport.
And NBC wasn’t the one one catching volleyball fever this season. A whopping 83 Huge Ten Convention matches (probably the most in historical past) lit up TV screens in every single place. Of these, 68 aired on the Huge Ten Community, with extra broadcasts on FOX, FS1, and Peacock. The Huge Ten? Unstoppable, in dominating the volleyball court docket. All this airtime wasn’t only a fluke—it’s the Huge Ten’s legacy of success within the sport, and Nebraska? They only stored doing what they do finest—setting information, turning heads, and proudly owning the volleyball highlight.