Creighton/Nebraska Crowd is Largest Ever for Volleyball Only Regular Season Event

In a match that brought together two Top 15 teams that reside within an hour of one another, fans of No. 8 Nebraska and No. 14 Creighton packed the CHI Health Center in Omaha on Thursday.

A record 14,022 fans saw the match live in Omaha as Nebraska rallied from two sets down to defeat Creighton in five sets.

The crowd was the largest ever volleyball specific crowd to see a regular season NCAA volleyball match, surpassing the Huskers own record of 13,870 from the Sept. 13, 2009 match vs. UCLA in the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln. The NCAA separates out combined events with basketball or other sports, such as midnight madness activities.

Thank you fans, you are a part of the largest regular season, single match crowd in NCAA Volleyball history. Tonight’s record attendance is 14,022!@NCAAVolleyball @NCAA @AVCAVolleyball #GoJays pic.twitter.com/L7SVyGrycT

— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) September 7, 2018

The top five all-time volleyball only regular season matches are:

1. 14,022 – Nebraska at Creighton; CHU Health Center – Omaha, Nebraska; Sept. 6, 2018
2. 13,870 – UCLA at Nebraska; Bob Devaney Center – Lincoln, Nebraska; Sept. 13, 2009
3. 13,412 – LSU at Nebraska; Bob Devaney Center – Lincoln, Nebraska; Sept. 12, 2008
4. 13,396 – Hawaii at Nebraska; Bob Devaney Center –  Lincoln, Nebraska; Oct. 21, 2007
5. 13,081 – Cal Poly at Creighton; CenturyLink Center – Omaha, Nebraska; Sept. 2, 2007

In addition to being a part of four of the largest regular season crowds, Nebraska also played in front of the largest postseason crowd ever at the 2017 NCAA final. In the 2017 national championship, 18,516 fans packed the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, to watch the Huskers take on Florida. Nebraska won 3-1 to claim its fifth national title and fourth under head coach John Cook.

The largest crowd for a volleyball match held in conjunction with a special promotion of another athletics event came last year when 19,256 fans came to the volleyball match at North Carolina ahead of the men’s basketball team’s season opening practice.