MADISON — Tuesday’s trip to the state capital was a full circle moment for Marquette head coach Ryan Theis.
After opening in January of 1998, the Kohl Center played host to the 1998 NCAA Division I women’s volleyball Final Four.
The Madison Final Four would set attendance records that wouldn’t be broken until 2005, with a semifinal game drawing a crowd of 12,327, and the championship game bringing an astounding 13,194 fans .
The popularity of collegiate volleyball was starting to rise, and Theis — then a junior in college — was present to witness it.
“Being there, I didn’t think 25 years later I’d be coaching here in front of 14,000 people,” Theis said after the game Tuesday night.
Theis’s estimate was actually selling the crowd a bit short, as just over 15,000 volleyball enthusiasts alike packed the Kohl Center Tuesday night to watch Wisconsin’s 3-1 win over Marquette.
Those fans did more than pack the place though — they set history.
The official attendance for the in-state rivalry game was announced at 15,084, making it the fourth most attended regular season game in DI history.
Despite the second biggest crowd to ever grace the bowels of the Kohl Center for a volleyball game cheering largely against the Golden Eagles, they were able to come away with the first set 25-22.
“We could’ve came out and pee’d down our legs and got (beat) 25-15, because your in front of (15,000) people,” Theis said. “We just played in front of 3,000 screaming children down in Western Kentucky. We played in front of 18,000 last year, I don’t think these guys are to concerned.”
The atmosphere in Madison Tuesday was just another strong showing in what has been an earth shattering last couple of years for volleyball attendance records.
Last August, Nebraska welcomed a crowd of 92,003 — a record that seemingly won’t be touched anytime soon — to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The game not only holds the record for the highest attended college volleyball game of all time, but is also the most attended women’s sporting event in world history.
Just over three months later, the previous indoor attendance record of 18,755 — held by the 2021 national championship between Wisconsin and Nebraska in Columbus, Ohio — was broken twice in the span of three days at the 2023 women’s volleyball Final Four.
“I’d love to see it be the number one female sport in the country,” Theis said. “Certainly things are tracking that way, but we need a lot of people’s help and a lot of people on board to make that happen.
“No discredit to any of the other women’s sports, but we I think we have a game that is the best one to watch.”
While the Final Four continues to set records for attendance almost at a yearly pace, the state of Wisconsin has done its fair share of work to grow the game too.
In 2022, Wisconsin lost in five sets to Florida at the Kohl Center in front of 16,933 people. The Badgers were also apart of the State Farm Women’s College Volleyball Showcase earlier this month that had a crowd of 14,035 show out to support on the first day of the event.
In the past three seasons, Wisconsin has played in four of the five most attended regular season women’s volleyball games of all-time.
Just last year, 17,037 fans helped Marquette and Wisconsin set the record at Fiserv Forum for the most-attended regular season indoor volleyball match of all-time. The game also drew the largest crowd to ever watch a women’s sporting event in the state of Wisconsin.
Theis, who is from Middleton, Wisconsin and has been a Milwaukee Bucks fan his entire life, isn’t minding all the newfound publicity that the sport is getting.
“I grew up here. I’ve been a Bucks fan my whole life. It’s phenomenal for our sport, and for me, part of it’s like you’re having the time of your life.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at matthew.baltz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.