Friday, September 25, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – Who knew that small college volleyball could draw such crowds on a weeknight!

A record-setting start for Alaska Anchorage and a rivalry matchup between two high-powered programs at Central Washington saw the two schools set single-match attendance records on Thursday.

The contest between the Wildcats and Western Washington at Central Washington’s Nicholson Pavilion in Ellensburg, Wash., drew 1,687 fans, most of whom were on their feet for the duration of a five-set thriller. The Vikings outlasted the Wildcats in a 16-14 fifth set to take the match.

The contest featured plenty of storylines outside of the longtime rivalry between the two schools. Western Washington entered the week No. 11 in the AVCA Division II Coaches Poll, while Central Washington was among teams receiving votes in the poll. In addition, both teams came in riding sizable winning streaks. The Vikings won their ninth straight while the Wildcats saw their six-match streak snapped.

“The atmosphere was certainly electric,” said Central Washington head coach Mario Andaya. “The students and fans were in full force and they witnessed a thrilling match. To have standing room only in Nicholson Pavilion was as good as it gets for college volleyball at any level. We are very fortunate to have the student body and local community we have.”

According to the Central Washington volleyball media guide, it was the fourth time that the CWU/WWU rivalry has drawn more than 1,000 fans, with all of those crowds appearing in Ellensburg. The Wildcats’ previous attendance record was 1,314 against Saint Martin’s on Nov. 13, 2004.

Alaska Anchorage, meanwhile, drew a record 1,366 fans to the Alaska Airlines Center to see a three-set sweep of Montana State Billings. The crowd surpassed the previous record of 1,200 against LIU Post on Sept. 5, 2014, the first night match to take place at the new arena. Thursday’s crowd was the second of over 1,000 that the Seawolves have played in front of at home this season, having welcomed 1,023 for their SpringHill Suites Classic match against Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 5.

Alaska Anchorage head coach Chris Green said that their Thursday attendance figure was helped by the presence of groups from Anchorage’s local high schools. “It was great playing in front of a huge crowd,” Green said. “We had six high school teams that attended as groups, including teams from the three largest high schools in Anchorage. Each of those three programs have at least one player on our roster. We hope we can get crowds like this consistently.”

The Seawolves, ranked No. 11 in this week’s AVCA Division II Coaches Poll, are drawing fans to see the best start in program history. Thursday’s win ran their season-opening win streak to 12 matches, the best start in program history. Alaska Anchorage is one win away from tying the program for consecutive wins, 13, set during the 2009 season.

Thursday’s figure at Central Washington is the highest for a Division II volleyball match this season, topping the attendance of 1,500 that Colorado Mines had against Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 4. The attendance at Alaska Anchorage is the third highest in Division II this season.