Nebraska Cornhuskers match against Kentucky nearly most watched ever

Earlier this month, Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball fans heard about the down sides of the Huskers being as popular as they are. Earlier this week though, Harper Murray, Merritt Beason, John Cook and the rest showed off the up sides.

During a season opening match against ninth-ranked Kentuky, the Huskers won three sets to one. As it turns out, that tilt was one of the most watched women’s volleyball matches of all time. 

Of course, at this rate, it appears that any time the Nebraska Cornhuskers set foot on the volleyball court, records are near getting broken. This time, it was ESPN that logged just how many people tuned in to see NU begin their march back to the National Championship Game at the same place they started the 2024 campaign.

Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball sets near historic opening ratings

On Thursday, ESPN released its television audience viewing details regarding the AVCA Volleyball First Serve Showcase that kicked off the season Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. 

Over 344,000 viewers tuned in to the Cornhuskers victory over the Wildcats. The season opener for NU came around 120,000 viewers shy of the viewing record on the network. 

Of course, John Cook’s squad also holds the record for ESPN viewership. It set that record last year when 466,000 viewers tuned into an NU match versus Stanford, which they coincidently also won 3-sets-to-1. 

Just in case you thought it was all about people wanting to watch any old women’s volleyball match, ESPN also reported that quite a few people stuck around to watch Wisconsin lose to Louisvile, however the numbers dropped from the Nebraska Cornhuskers outing to 210,000 sets of eyes for the second matchup.

The Huskers next take the court on Friday night against Texas A&M Corpus Christi at The Bob.