The Nebraska Women's Volleyball program has made history yet again. The #4 Huskers' September 12 match against #5 Stanford set a new record for women's volleyball viewership on ESPN. The network announced that 466,000 viewers tuned into the top-five match-up, setting a new benchmark for the sport on the platform. This milestone comes just a few weeks after Nebraska broke the record for the highest attendance at a women's sporting event. The Huskers took a 3-1 win over the Cardinal to improve to 8-0 on the season. Their next match is a home game against #21 Kentucky on September 17. The 6-2 Cardinal will travel to #2 Louisville on Sunday for their next match.
A longtime powerhouse of the sport, Nebraska is having one of the best starts to a season in recent memory. Their win over Stanford was their first road win over a top-five team since 2017. That was also the year of the Husker's last National Championship. Meanwhile, the team has opened the season 8-0 for the first time since 2016.
Read More: Mark Dantonio returns to Michigan State
Huskers Riding Highs Of Historic Season
Regardless of the end result, this will be a historic season for the Huskers. That all began with the world record at Memorial Stadium last month. "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," middle blocker Andi Jackson said at the time. The Huskers were 4-0 after that open-air game against Omaha and have only continued to improve. They have dropped just two sets all season and are already putting their name in the contender status hat.
However, can the Huskers ride it to a National Championship? They are currently the only ranked team in the Big Ten. Furthermore, at the time of writing, they currently have no ranked opponents after #21 Kentucky this weekend. It feels like everything is set up to go the Huskers' way this year. They last reached the National Championship game in 2021 but fell to Wisconsin. They missed out on a top-four finish with a home-court National Championship last year. Could 2023 be the season that they end their title drought? Only time will tell.
Read More: Deion Sanders responds to Colorado State trash talk
[via]
