By Joey Johnston for the NCAA
From start to finish, the Tampa Bay area has become the epicenter of NCAA Division I volleyball this season.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
When the Tampa Bay Sports Commission hosted the Road 2 Tampa Bay Invitational in late August — bringing together the Florida Gators, Penn State Nittany Lions, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and host South Florida Bulls — the two-night tip-off event attracted more than 13,500 fans to downtown Tampa and the USF campus.
It was a prelude to the NCAA Volleyball Championship, which heads to Tampa’s Amalie Arena on December 14-17. TBSC executive director Rob Higgins said the hosting organization will be “laser-focused’’ on setting the NCAA Volleyball championship match attendance record (surpassing the 18,755 in 2021 when Wisconsin defeated Nebraska in Columbus, Ohio).
“We love the college volleyball trajectory and this season should be a remarkable journey,’’ Higgins said. “For our community to be the backdrop for the start and finish of the season, it’s truly phenomenal.’’
And truly historic.
A few days after the season began in Tampa, the Nebraska Cornhuskers hosted “Volleyball Day In Nebraska,’’ an outdoor double-header at Memorial Stadium that…
