BY NOLAN RUTH
X – @RealNolanRuth
ARGYLE— Wednesday, August 30, 2023. That was the day that the Nebraska Cornhuskers set an attendance record for a women’s sporting event when over 92 thousand fans filled Memorial Stadium in Lincoln for a volleyball match against Omaha. 426 days later on October 29, 2024, Argyle Liberty Christian hosted the first outdoor volleyball game in the state of Texas against Grapevine in what was supposed to be a playoff warmup game for the two.
That was not the only significant gimmick of the game as in front of a packed crowd on the home side of Warrior Stadium, the two teams took the floor as the wind picked up with gusts reaching over 20 miles per hour. The floor in particular was the same one that had been used in the previous three NCAA Championships.
The game had been scheduled for quite some time but it was not until recently that the possibility of playing outdoors came to fruition thanks to connections and donations.
The one concern was whether or not the Mustangs would agree. Grapevine head coach Robyn Wallace knew it was going to be special, and was excited at the prospect of playing in a game like this.
The match went well for Grapevine throughout as they took the first two sets, 26-24 and 25-20, before dropping the third set, 16-25, and finishing the match with a win in the fourth set, 25-12.
All match long, both teams struggled to find any rhythm and early on they could not find success on their serves. In the first set both teams went on small alternating runs which resulted in a 24-24 tie before the Mustangs finished off the job.
After a full set of adjusting to the wind, the two teams had to flip sides and completely readjust.
The second set went much like the first in the sense that both teams were constantly trading points. Finally, Grapevine went on a late run to take the set 25-20 with the wind in their faces.
Liberty Christian jumped out quickly in the third set with a little bit of desperation, as if they were trying to keep their season alive. They forced Grapevine into a quick timeout with the score at 6-11. They kept that momentum behind a string of solid serves to take the third set 16-25.
However, the Mustangs would not be denied and they took the fourth and final set with ease to claim the exhibition win.
Both teams begin postseason play in the next week in their respective classifications.
