'HUGE win for women's sports': Texas sweep of Nebraska drew a record 1.69 million viewers

On Sunday afternoon, there were a few eyes on Texas.

According to the Sports Business Journal, Sunday's championship showdown between Texas and Nebraska was the most-watched volleyball match in NCAA history. The Sports Business Journal reported that the ABC-televised match drew 1.69 million viewers. That bested the 1.66-million viewers that watched Minnesota and Wisconsin play on Fox in October.

Texas swept Nebraska in Tampa, Fla., to win its fifth national championship.

Said Texas coach Jerritt Elliott: "The sport of volleyball is blowing up and there is a reason why. The level of athlete and excitement during matches is incredible. At Texas we believe in women's athletics and have always been a front runner to supporting our sports. I'm excited about the future and will continue to push volleyball to another level. Our finals out-viewed English Premier League soccer which shows you the growth of our game."

This marked the first time that a network channel aired the NCAA volleyball tournament's championship match. The NCAA announced this summer that ABC would air the finale.

How much of a bump did being on a network station give this event? Last year, Texas played in a national championship match that was aired on a Saturday night on ESPN2. The Longhorns swept Louisville in front of 786,000 viewers.

During the regular season, the two most-watched matches on ESPN's platforms were a Nebraska-Stanford match on ESPN (466,000 viewers) and a Kentucky-Louisville match on ESPN (318,000).

While reacting to the 2023 championship match's viewership numbers, Texas senior middle blocker Asjia O'Neal posted on Instagram that this was a "HUGE win for women's sports!!!" while freshman setter Ella Swindle wrote that this was "so cool for @texasvolleyball and women's sports... grateful to play a sport that people love to watch." Former UT standout Logan Eggleston tweeted "This is HUGE! Put more volleyball on TV!"