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A volleyball match between traditional NCAA powerhouse Nebraska and visiting Omaha became the most-attended women’s sporting event in history, as 92,003 paid to see the contest in Lincoln, Neb., on Wednesday.

The match, which the Cornhuskers won 3-0, was played at Memorial Stadium, normally the university’s football home.

The attendance figure topped the 91,648 present for a Barcelona home UEFA Women’s Champions League match against Wolfsburg in April 2022. The former U.S. record for a women’s sporting event was the 90,185 who saw Brandi Chastain and the U.S. national soccer team beat China in the final of the 1999 Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Nebraska women’s volleyball coach John Cook said, according to USA Today, “We’ve dreamed big here tonight. … (Junior setter) Kennedi Orr wrote me a note today that said, ‘Coach, tonight the impossible will be possible.’ We did it.”

Nebraska freshman middle blocker Andi Jackson said, according to ESPN, “It’s incredible. I don’t have enough words to describe it. We were walking out of the tunnel after the second set, and we heard on the speaker we had just broken the world record. Everyone was trying to stay locked in, but we were also so excited. I can’t describe how grateful I am to be a part of it.”

The Cornhuskers own five NCAA women’s volleyball championships, most recently winning the title in 2017. They also have been national runners-up five times, most recently in 2021.

–Field Level Media