Making History

On Wednesday, August 30, the city of Lincoln had another sea of red present. Not for the football team, but to make history with volleyball. In between sets, it was announced that history had been made when 92,003 fans made up the largest women’s sporting event attendance ever recorded.The Memorial Stadium had scheduled what will forever be known as “Volleyball Day in Nebraska,” featuring four teams across two divisions: DII programs Wayne State and Nebraska-Kearney played an exhibition match followed by a regular season DI match between Nebraska and Omaha.While it has been the home of Nebraska football for 100 years, the pregame announcement made something new clear: “Welcome to Memorial Stadium. Home of Nebraska volleyball.”A number that bested the previous record by 355 people as 92,003 piled in to make it possible. Among the people there, Fairbury was able to make their way into history as Nebraska-Kearney and University of Omaha had some Fairbury alumni in their lineups. A member of Nebraska-Kearney was Fairbury alumni Allison Davis, seeing some playing time in the exhibition match, and finding herself in the starting lineup was Fairbury alumni Emily Huss.It’s an experience that will be hard to duplicate considering the magnitude of it all. However in the moment, keeping the focus was something Emily was more than ready to do. She told FJN, “The experience of playing in Memorial Stadium was definitely once in a lifetime. Obviously, there were 92,000 people there, but once you are on the court and start playing you almost in a sense zone out all the activity going on around you and your main focus is what is happening on the court. The atmosphere was truly electric, walking out of the locker room to the tunnel and then being high-fived by all the fans gave me goose bumps.”Speaking with Huss during a hectic college schedule, she reflected on being a part of history, which is something she’s still in awe over, “As a woman in sports, last night was HUGE! Of course you always get the questions, ‘What was it like?, How cool was it to play in front of that many people?’ and my response at this point is surreal. Coming from such a small town, building the Fairbury program that went from a losing season my freshman year to my junior and senior years winning back-to-back conference championships and district runner-ups, and now onto something that every girl dreams of playing Division I volleyball.”Huss continued, “Never in my craziest dreams did I think I would be here today, getting to play at such a high level in-front of so many people with such a great support system. Getting to play at a D1 level has truly required lots of time and dedication to volleyball, but I definitely wouldn’t change it for the world. It definitely means the absolute world to me, but I wouldn’t be here today without my parents who pushed me to always do my best, all my coaches along the way, and most importantly my UNO coaches who believed in me.”Emily’s mother, Kris, was proud of her daughter’s hard work to get to play and start in the game and attended the game to witness history in the making.“It was a special day for me. The whole atmosphere was one of the coolest ones I have been in,” Kris said. “There really are no words to express it. For the kids, it was such a great experience. For Emily, she has worked hard and loves to play volleyball.”For UNK’s Allison Davis the sentiment was certainly echoed on the experience, “To be able to play in Memorial Stadium in front of thousands of fans was such a surreal feeling. It was an unforgettable experience that I am so grateful to have been a part of! I am so thankful to have been able to be a part of history as August 30th was such an empowering day for women’s sports. Being able to represent Fairbury on the big stage was an incredible feeling because I would not be where I am today without the love and support from everyone back home!”

9.6.23

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