The sport of volleyball has been in high demand in the U.S. over the past few years, demonstrating the game’s popularity and ability to draw in massive crowds.
While the sport has always had a loyal following globally, it was the record-setting attendance of 92,003 fans who packed Memorial Stadium at the University of Nebraska on August 30th, 2023 that motivated mass media coverage of the sport.
Husker Nation, you’ve done it. The WORLD RECORD for a Women’s Sporting Event lives in Lincoln. Today’s attendance: 9️⃣2️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ There is NO PLACE like Nebraska. https://t.co/lQFguWHyp8
— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) August 31, 2023
That game, Nebraska vs. Omaha, set the world record as the largest crowd ever to watch a women’s sporting event; the previous record, 91,648 fans, was set in 2022 Spain at the UEFA Champions League match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg.
After catching the national media’s attention, outlets like Fox Sports added nationally televised NCAA women’s matches to it’s primetime schedule, including the Inaugural Big Ten-SEC Volleyball Challenge this past September at Wrigley Field.
While the exposure has been great, the games also serve to showcase its popularity with Black women athletes, who have been some of the most dominant players volleyball has seen.
The biggest and most widely recognized name in Black women’s volleyball history is the legendary Flo Hyman.
Hyman led the US Women’s Team to a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games and was enshrined in the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. She passed away on January 24th, 1986 from a ruptured aorta, which was later revealed to be due to Marfan syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder that had basically created a weak spot in her heart at birth.
Her death created awareness about the condition and resulted in athletes being tested for Marfan syndrome.
There were other amazing players like fellow silver medalist and Hall of Famer Rita Crocket, 3x Olympic medalist Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson, 4x Olympian Tara Cross-Battle, 2x Olympians Chiaka Ogbogu and Jordan Thompson.
And current collegiate stars include players like Pittsburgh’s Olivia Babcock and Texas’ Torrey Stafford.
Last week, the OWN network gave us the story of 12 history-making Black women in “We Belong Here: The Story of Team Dream”, a documentary about the first all-Black women’s team to win the USA Volleyball Open national title in 2018.
