When the Oregon volleyball team joined the Big Ten Conference, it knew what it was getting in to.
Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena, Nebraska fans poured into seats well before Oregon fans as soon as the doors opened. A contingent filling up roughly half of the arena clad in red cheered on the Cornhuskers whenever they took the floor in what felt more like a neutral-site game than one in Eugene.
The No. 12 Ducks never got going in yet another rowdy Big Ten environment Thursday, falling in straight sets to No. 2 Nebraska, 25-12, 26-24, 25-18.
Thursday night’s loss was one more barometer test for where Oregon (17-5, 9-4 Big Ten) wants to be in this brand-new conference, and the kind of fan support they are hoping to attract to Matthew Knight Arena in a conference that loves volleyball.
“I think it’s a lot of hard work to grow a program to be something that people want to come to,” Oregon coach Matt Ulmer said. “Volleyball is so loved in the Big Ten … That’s what we’re up against. We’ll do our part to grow and make it so it’s a great environment for our fans, but I hope it’s something everyone wants to get behind and understand that our women are amazing, and it’s such a great sport, and this conference really does it right. I hope that was something everyone could see.”