Sunday night’s NCAA Volleyball Championship final was not only an adrenaline-filled match but it was also a record-breaking match. As the underdog Texas Longhorns prepared to take on the fan favorite Nebraska Cornhuskers, there was an arena full of spectators, 19,727 to be exact, watching and cheering on their teams.
This massive crowd set a new attendance record for an NCAA volleyball indoor match, breaking the record set just a few days earlier in the semifinals of the tournament.
For the last four games, as Nebraska faced the Pittsburgh Panthers and Texas faced the Wisconsin Badgers, there were 19,598 people in the stands of Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Meanwhile, more than one million people tuned into ESPN on December 14 to watch the live broadcast of the semifinal matches.
This has been a strong season overall for viewership at the NCAA Volleyball Championships, with multiple records falling over the past few months. In fact, the indoor collegiate volleyball crowd record has been broken three times this season, the first time being on August 30 when more than 92,000 people attended the Nebraska-Omaha game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
This season also saw viewers avidly watch a total of 466 million minutes of live broadcast on ESPN, across 35 matches.
NCAA Volleyball Tournament: Texas Longhorns capture back-to-back titles
Meanwhile, the crowd of 19,727 at Amalie Arena on Sunday got to watch the Texas Longhorns absolutely dominate the Nebraska Cornhuskers to capture their second straight NCAA volleyball title.
Coming into this game, the Huskers looked like the clear favorite to win, having only lost one game the entire season. The Longhorns, on the other hand, lost three of their initial eight games and barely made the playoffs.
Despite the setbacks, Texas got back into the season when it managed to beat Stanford on its home court. From there, the team went on to beat Wisconsin in the semifinals before defeating Nebraska in the finals.
Led by the likes of Madison Skinner and Asia O’Neal, the Longhorns cruised to a 25-22, 25-24, 25-11 victory, marking the first time they had beaten the Huskers in an NCAA matchup.
This marks the team’s fourth overall championship win and the first time it has won back-to-back titles. This is also their third win under coach Gerrit Elliott.