Nebraska volleyball’s reach continues to extend far beyond Lincoln. After drawing a record crowd at DePaul, the Huskers head to Wrigley Field for another showcase of just how much the sport — and Nebraska’s place in it — continues to grow.
Dani Busboom Kelly already knows what volleyball in Nebraska looks like.
Back in the early 2000s, she played in front of the crowds, experienced the expectations and then spent enough years away from the state to understand that the program she was returning to was unlike almost anything else in the sport.
What she didn't expect was what Nebraska volleyball had become everywhere else now that she’s a coach.
“The biggest surprise about coming back to Nebraska after being gone is the road games,” Busboom Kelly said.
Friday afternoon offered the latest example.
A school-record crowd of 8,786 packed Wintrust Arena to watch top-ranked Nebraska sweep DePaul 25-19, 25-13, 25-15, turning a September nonconference match into an event that required considerably more than simply opening the doors to DePaul's usual home venue.
The Blue Demons moved the match to the home of DePaul's men's and women's basketball teams, and Nebraska's first appearance there became the largest home crowd in DePaul volleyball history. For Busboom Kelly, scenes like that are becoming both familiar yet difficult to comprehend.
“A lot of these places, it's like a little bit of a pinch-wing moment,” Busboom Kelly said. “Fans are so grateful to be here. The signs are awesome. They are so excited to even get to see our players, then breaking records, and hopefully some of the people that were here tonight will come back and watch more games.”
Nebraska has spent the past few years demonstrating how large women's college volleyball can become when given the right stage. It’s impossible to forget the Huskers’ Volleyball Day in Nebraska match at Memorial Stadium in 2023, which famously pushed the boundaries of what anyone thought possible for the sport.
Now Nebraska is seeing some of that enthusiasm follow them on the road.
Another match, another attendance record for the Nebraska volleyball team. | DePaul AthleticsFriday's match served as the opening act for something even more unusual. Nebraska will now head across Chicago for Sunday's match against Missouri at Wrigley Field, trading a basketball arena for one of the most recognizable venues in all of American sports.
“We're just excited,” Teraya Sigler said after Friday's sweep. “I think when we were walking over here, it was super cool to take in the city and just where we are right now and just how big this arena was.”
Now comes Wrigley.
“I think it's just super exciting for our team,” Sigler continued. “We get to celebrate that at Wrigley, and I think we're just super excited because we treat this like a celebration that we work so hard to get here and do these things.”
The celebration won’t be limited to Nebraska either. DePaul coach Marie Zidek opened her postgame press conference Friday by talking less about the final score than what it took to make the afternoon possible.
Despite falling victim to a sweep, DePaul volleyball coach Marie Zidek knew she'd be remiss to not talk about the special night. | DePaul Athletics“This is a first for our program, and I couldn't be more humbled and honored to be sitting here,” Zidek said. “It took an entire athletics department, university campus, the City of Chicago to get behind this match. I think we just put on a first-class event in collegiate sports.”
The result was never particularly close after the opening set. Nebraska hit .434 for the match and committed just seven attacking errors, while DePaul finished at .060. Yet Zidek didn't talk afterward like a coach eager to put the experience behind her. She wanted more of it.
“This is going to be the first of many,” Zidek said she told her team afterward. “This isn't going to be a one of one. This isn't a, ‘Hey, we participated. Let's get our Girl Scout patch and go back to work next week.’ This is a really big moment for this program.”
That's part of what Busboom Kelly hopes comes from nights like Friday.
Nebraska is becoming quite the roadshow in the world of college volleyball. | Nebraska AthleticsNebraska can bring the crowd, attention and expectations that come with one of college volleyball's most recognizable brands, but the impact doesn't necessarily have to disappear when the Huskers leave town.
Perhaps some of the 8,786 people who filled Wintrust Arena will come back to see DePaul again. Maybe some experienced a college volleyball match in person for the first time. Maybe a program that just established its attendance record can begin imagining what the next one might look like.
“Hats off to DePaul,” Busboom Kelly said. “They did everything they could to make this first class. It was a really awesome venue and the attendance record, I think, reflected the work they did.”
The Huskers have seen plenty of those records fall. They've played before massive crowds at home, helped fill opposing arenas on the road and become one of the programs capable of turning an ordinary date on the schedule into something much larger.
Busboom Kelly is experiencing that phenomenon from a different perspective now, and on Sunday, another big crowd will gather. Another unconventional volleyball venue will open its doors. Another group of fans will get the opportunity Busboom Kelly keeps noticing on the road — the chance simply to see Nebraska's players in person.
The venues keep getting bigger because, increasingly, the sport seems capable of filling them.
And for Nebraska, what once felt extraordinary is becoming the new norm.
