‘Red and loud’ crowd expected for Florida-Nebraska NCAA volleyball title game

Months before No. 5 seed Nebraska clinched its spot in the national championship game on Saturday against No. 2 seed Florida, one Husker volleyball player felt bad for her fans.

With the NCAA volleyball Final Four in Kansas City this year, Nebraska’s loyal following told players before the season that they had already purchased tickets to the national semifinal and final games taking place just more than a 3-hour drive away from Lincoln, Nebraska. Then the Huskers (31-4) lost their first two matches of the season.

“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, these poor people,’” Briana Holman, a middle blocker, said. “We improved a lot over the season. We definitely did. They played a big role. There were times when we were down. They honestly helped pick us up.”

That includes on Thursday night, when much the crowd at the Sprint Center was wearing Nebraska red while the Huskers were within a point of elimination before ultimately beating No. 1 seed Penn State in five sets. An announced crowd of 18,374 attended the semifinals at the Sprint Center. That’s a new NCAA record.

The old NCAA record? It was the 2015 national championship in Omaha, Nebraska. The Huskers played in that, too.

In 2016, the Huskers led the nation in average attendance with 8,210. The next closest program, Hawaii, averaged less than 6,800.

Nebraska has won four national championships, and it also has a beach volleyball team that travels as far as Hawaii. Holman said when the Huskers go there, Nebraska fans follow.

“We’re just really honored that Husker nation is following us around like this,” senior outside hitter Annika Albrecht said after the semifinal win. “They were a big part of the game tonight. We could hear them out there.”

She added: “I’m sure it scared Penn State.”

In her opening statement after the Gators’ win over Stanford, Florida coach Mary Wise, said she her team felt “very fortunate” to play in one more “road match.” Then she looked to her right and left, scanning the room to see if anyone picked up on the joke that wasn’t really a joke.

“This is so good for women's volleyball,” Wise said of Thursday’s attendance. “Actually, it's great for women's volleyball to have 18,000-plus and to be televised on ESPN. … This is the growth of our sport. And our sport has grown in much part because of Nebraska. Their fans, their program — they get a whole lot of credit because they've been the standard bearer for years in terms of attendance figures.”

Florida handed Nebraska one of those early season defeats, but the Huskers were without their star setter, Kelly Hunter. So Wise said there wasn’t too much to learn from that win. She knew it would be a different matchup on Saturday.

She is certain what the national championship crowd will be like, though.

“Red and loud,” Wise said.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 4:23 PM with the headline "‘Red and loud’ crowd expected for Florida-Nebraska NCAA volleyball title game."