Texas A&M Aggies are 2025 NCAA women’s volleyball champions
From Kansas City, USAT’s Meghan Hall shares how Texas A&M brought home their first championship in program history.
Sports Pulse
CHICAGO — The historic women’s college volleyball match at Wrigley Field between Missouri and Nebraska was delayed twice and finally suspended because of excessive moisture on the court.
The match, part of the Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge, was the first to be played at the iconic baseball stadium. It cannot be rescheduled at Wrigley, and the conferences will make a decision at a later date on whether the match can be made up elsewhere.
“We’re so sorry from the bottom of our hearts,” Nebraska star Harper Murray said after the announcement was made.
More than 43,000 people had turned out for the matches, most of them Nebraska fans. Though there were a few boos when the announcement was made, most fans seemed to take the news in stride, understanding players’ safety would have been at risk if the match had continued.
No. 3 Kentucky beat Penn State in the opening match, and players from both teams had said the court got increasingly slippery as the night wore on.
“Just from the heat, the condensation,” Kentucky outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye said. “Just a cool thing that we were able to play in it, but there were definitely factors that were challenging.”
The court was mopped between the matches, to little effect. The first delay in the Nebraska-Mizzou match came after just three points were played. After workers spent several minutes using mops on the court laid down on a platform atop the Chicago Cubs’ field, players from both teams got on their hands and knees with towels to try to dry the playing surface.
Several Nebraska players took a break for a brief dance party when the P.A. started playing Justin Bieber’s “Baby” before resuming their efforts to get the court playable. At least two people with leaf blowers eventually came out to help with the efforts.
The match resumed after about 20 minutes only to be paused again after another 15 points were played.
This time, Nebraska coach Dani Busboom Kelly and Missouri coach Dawn Sullivan huddled with officials, presumably discussing whether the match could be played safely. The Nebraska and Mizzou players made the best of the situation, holding a dance off while the coaches and officials talked.
Both teams eventually left the court while another attempt was made to sop up the condensation. The Missouri players eventually came back out and were dancing in front of the visitors’ dugout but the Nebraska players stayed in the clubhouse until the match was called off.