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On Wednesday, August 30th 2023, world history was made at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Kaelyn Anderson, a former Elkhorn High School student and athlete, was part of this unprecedented gathering for women’s sports.
According to KETV.com, a crowd of over 92,000 gathered to watch the Nebraska Volleyball game at 7 pm on the makeshift court in the middle of memorial stadium. Before the Nebraska game, Wayne State played the University of Kearney at 4:30 pm.
After finishing her senior season at Elkhorn High, Anderson committed to Wayne State college to play volleyball and attend school. This fall has been her first year playing on the team. Although the Wayne State versus the University of Kearney game didn’t seat all 92,000 viewers, the majority of that record-breaking number had still gathered to watch the match.
“There were probably 70,000 people at our game,” said Anderson. “I can’t even put my head around it.”
The massive crowd at first intimidated this defensive-specialist player, but Anderson was able to overcome her nerves once the game officially started.
“Once I was on the court, I really didn’t feel like anyone else was out there besides my team,” said Anderson.
Going from playing in front of a student section of her peers to tens of thousands of strangers is just one difference Anderson experienced in the shift from high school to college athletics. Although she had an eventful senior year, in which she achieved over 1,000 digs, Anderson faced a major shift at the start of her college career.
“My first week of pre-season was very high intensity, very fast, so it took me a few practices to get used to it,” said Anderson. “It’s definitely a lot different than high school and club for sure.”
Just like the shift from high school to college, playing in a football stadium is a lot different than the average volleyball court. Since the game took place outside during the afternoon, there were new challenges to face that aren’t usually considered in standard collegiate volleyball.
“The wind played a huge factor,” said Anderson. “If there was a lot of wind, you had to angle your platform a different way,”
Although this game was challenging, the sheer number of crowd attendees set a new precedent in the world of women’s sports. For Anderson, it was a match that will not be forgotten.
“I think that will forever be the coolest day of my life”
