It was an event too good to be true. No. 1 Nebraska volleyball’s match against Missouri at Wrigley Field as part of the SEC/Big Ten Challenge was suspended at approximately 10:35 p.m. Sunday night after two lengthy delays to manage humidity on the court. The Cornhuskers led the Tigers 11-7 in set one.
The first match of the day was played to completion, as No. 3 Kentucky defeated No. 13 Penn State in four sets. But the vast majority of the 43,067 fans at Wrigley Field were clad in red to cheer the Cornhuskers, and piled first into the bars of Wrigleyville, then Wrigley Field itself to see Nebraska before its largest crowd since the historic 2023 Volleyball Day at Nebraska at Memorial Stadium, played before 92,003 fans in Lincoln, Neb.
The length of the first match delayed the start of the Huskers/Tigers match roughly an hour, to approximately 9 p.m. Once the match started, the match was stopped after four rallies to dry the court, as players for both teams were slipping on the Terraflex on a humid night on the lakefront on the north side of Chicago. Both teams went to hands and knees to dry the court and peel sponsor logos from the playing surface. The last two points were disallowed, pulling the first set back to 1-1. The match resumed, and the Huskers pushed ahead. But the court conditions continued to deteriorate, and with the score 11-7 NU, both teams were told to leave the floor as Wrigley Field personnel tried, this time in vain, to make the court playable.
As of 11 p.m. Sunday, plans about possible resumption were yet to be announced.