Volleyball is having a moment. Setting the stage for the sport’s next era, an in-state rivalry matchup in Lincoln, Nebraska, drew the largest crowd (92,0003) for a women’s sporting event that felt like a Taylor Swift concert. Two weeks later, Marquette and Wisconsin set an NCAA regular season indoor attendance (17,037) record during the new match at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.  

You don’t need to be one of the combined nearly 110,000 volleyball fanatics at either event to know the sport is booming. 

Sports & Fitness Industry Association statistics show that participation in volleyball is in the same ballpark as basketball—at a time when the NCAA women’s college game and the WNBA are bigger than ever—and ubiquitous soccer. The huge crowds also come at a time when flag football, gymnastics, lacrosse, and more have taken women’s sports to new heights.

While a collective effort, few individuals are as directly tied to the rapid growth as USA Volleyball Director of Events Kristy Cox. About 13 million Americans ages 6 and up played volleyball in 2022, according to SFIA’s most recent figures. While the vast majority are young women, Cox says the spike in popularity is also evident among boys and young men. 

USA Volleyball’s portfolio keeps growing to meet the demand. Team Travel Source, the NGB’s official housing partner, cites these new events added since 2021 as a testament to a new surge:

• A Girls 11’s – 17’s Qualifier in Salt Lake City played over two weekends that draws about 1,000 teams;
• A Girls 18’s Qualifier also played in Salt Lake City;
• A Boys Bid tournament in Denver;
• USA Volleyball’s largest event, the Girls Junior National Championships for ages 11-17, has been split into two events played in two cities.

We talked to Cox about volleyball’s dynamic growth, as evidenced by the record-setting crowds.

Would you agree volleyball is receiving more attention?

I would, especially with this year in Nebraska doing the game inside their football stadium that was huge. Just the sheer amount of people they got to come to the volleyball game was incredible. Also, Wisconsin just broke a record with their match against Marquette inside of Fiserv Forum, where the Milwaukee Bucks play. The sports is getting a lot more TV time. The NCAA moved its final match to a Sunday in December so they could broadcast it to a wider audience. There's a lot of things happening.

What do you attribute to the surge in volleyball’s popularity?

I think that it's a lifetime sport and once girls get exposed to it and boys get exposed to it, they just love it. And I think that they're getting exposed at a younger age now. Everybody's working really hard on the grassroots movement of getting it out there in the form of clinics so that they can get a taste for it. I also feel like everybody's doing a really, really good job with all our junior clubs.

If Nebraska tried five years ago, would they have sold out the football stadium with volleyball?

I would say yes to five years ago but maybe not 10. Nebraska is unique in that they have a population that really supports their volleyball. You can put the volleyball championships in Omaha anytime and it will sell out immediately every single time. They really do support their volleyball regardless of who's playing. Last year, the NCAA championships were in Omaha and even though Nebraska wasn't playing in it, the crowd was incredible.

Do you see some other volleyball hotbeds trying a bit of one-upmanship with large crowds?

I feel like there's already a lot of interest in other colleges or universities trying to do this same sort of thing where they're bringing it into a larger scale arena or larger scale venue than in the past.

Could volleyball ever move to a stadium setting for championships?

I don’t think so. The challenge is that a stadium is so overwhelming. Even in the Nebraska game, the court was on one end of the stadium. So, if you're sitting on that end, you could see it but if you're sitting at the further end of the stadium that was a little bit harder to see a lot of people are watching on the big screens. So, it was the atmosphere they really enjoyed. It was really, really cool and I'm glad they packed it, but I would say that it's better in an arena.

What’s the state of boys volleyball?

For a long time, boys were pretty stagnant. It grew a little bit, but it was always half the size or less than the girls as far as people who were registering for memberships and who were playing the sport and coming to our national championships. But we've definitely seen in the last couple of years that a lot of the states have been adding boys volleyball as an option in high schools and that's spurred a lot more clubs to pop up. It has been very popular on the West Coast for a long, long time. There have been a lot of good clubs based in the Chicago-St. Louis area, a little bit in the Northeast. Now we're seeing it kind of pop up everywhere. That’s been really good because boys really do love it when they get into it. 

Photo Credits: Marquette University Athletics, Adidas