McNair, UNO help set world record for women’s sports

It’s one thing to make the jump from Class C sports to the Division I level.
It’s quite another to be a part of a world record event less than a month into your college career.
Chase County’s Bryn McNair signed her letter of intent with the University of Nebraska-Omaha volleyball last fall.
Last Wednesday McNair and the Mavs were on center stage for Volleyball Day in Nebraska when UNO played Nebraska in front of 92,003 fans in Memorial Stadium.
McNair said the whole experience felt so surreal until they walked out of the tunnel to see that many people in the crowd.
“It was unbelievable how many people were there. I found out last December that this would be happening, and I thought it was a typo because I could not believe it.,” she said.
The event was in response to the Wisconsin/Florida regular season match last fall, attendance 16,833, that broke Nebraska’s NCAA regular season attendance record. Nebraska and Wisconsin still held the record for the biggest crowd ever to see an NCAA volleyball match with attendance of 18,755 at the 2021 National Championships.
Wednesday’s match broke both those records, plus the United States women’s sporting event attendance (90,185)  and set a world record for a women’s sporting event.
The US record came at the iconic 1999 World Cup final between the USA and China.
The world record was set just last year when 91,648 attended a Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Wolfsburg in Barcelona, Spain.
The University of Nebraska-Kearney and Wayne State warmed up the crowd with a 4:30 p.m. match which Wayne State won in three sets.
Nebraska and UNO took the floor at 7 p.m.
Called an in-the-moment type person by her mom Kristi, McNair said she doesn’t like to worry about the future, something she learned from CCS Track Head Coach Troy Hauxwell.
Straight disbelief is how McNair described being part of Wednesday.
Although she’s attended Husker football and volleyball games, the fact that she was the one who got to be the player and not the fan was so, so cool, McNair said.
“They made a lot of comments saying, ‘the impossible is possible’ and it is so true,” she added.
The Huskers came into the match as the fourth ranked team in the country and swept UNO 25-14, 25-14, 25-13..
UNO Head Coach Matt Buttermore told his Mavs that it would take all 18 team members to play in that match and they need to shut out all the outside noise, according to McNair.
“Obviously, it was the biggest crowd anyone has seen, and the cheering vibrated the stage,” she added.
Fans weren’t the only ones soaking in the once-in-a-lifetime moment.
“The feeling was electric. There were so many people there and it was so loud that it was a feeling that I could never experience again,” McNair said.
McNair hasn’t played in a match yet as she adjusts to college volleyball.
“College volleyball is definitely way different than high school volleyball,” she said, highlighting that there is a lot more injury prevention that coaches focus on.
“The speed of the game also has changed so adapting to that was hard. They also are very focused on mentality. We talk about it almost every day at practice and what our goals are. It is so much busier, but I wouldn’t have done it any differently,” she said.