Kentucky volleyball's close loss to No. 1 Nebraska set a TV viewership record

Kentucky volleyball players against Ohio State (preseason) - Eddie Justice, UK Athletics

This past Sunday’s Kentucky vs. Nebraska volleyball match set a record as the most-watched regular-season volleyball match ever on any ESPN network.

The TV viewership records released on Thursday show that 1.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the top 10 programs battle it out on ABC at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Although it resulted in a 3-2 loss for the Wildcats by way of a crushing reverse sweep, this feat is a nod to the caliber of program that head coach Craig Skinner has built in Lexington. For reference, last season’s matchup between Kentucky and Nebraska drew in 344,000 viewers on ESPN, which was the second-most-watched regular-season volleyball match on ESPN to that point.

Roughly 11,200 fans attended the event over the weekend, the largest crowd ever for a Kentucky volleyball game in school history.

Strong start to the 2025 @NCAAVolleyball season across ESPN 🙌

🏐 Most-watched regular season match on ABC (@HuskerVB–@KentuckyVB)
🏐 Most-watched regular season match on ESPN (@StanfordWVB-Nebraska)#NCAAVolleyball pic.twitter.com/gfydKmfxHW
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 3, 2025

In spite of the loss, Kentucky still managed to move up a few spots in the national poll. The ‘Cats jumped from 7th to 4th in this week’s rankings update. Skinner’s squad will have a chance to improve that ranking even more on Friday when they head to State College for a showdown with No. 5 Penn State (8:00 p.m. ET | FOX). UK will stick around in Pennsylvania before hitting the court again on Saturday to face New Hampshire.

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Kentucky will play several more games on national television this season, starting with a Sept. 10 showdown in Fort Worth, TX, against No. 9 Pittsburgh (ESPN). On top of that, the ‘Cats will go up against No. 3 Louisville (ESPNU), LSU (ESPN), No. 12 Florida (ESPN), and No. 2 Texas (ESPN) on major ESPN networks, while also playing several matches on the SEC Network.

As the program searches for its ninth straight SEC championship, don’t be shocked if more records are broken.

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