CENTRAL CITY — Central City Superintendent Jeff Jensen is calling it a lifetime opportunity for the community.
Well, it’s not everyday the Nebraska volleyball team come to a small town like Central City.
The Huskers will host their spring match against Wichita State at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Bison Dome.
Jensen said the community is excited about the Huskers coming. That was evident when tickets sold out in 52 minutes when they went on sale on April 10. People came out the night before to get in line.
“The state just surrounds itself with that program and how people support them is unbelievable,” Jensen said. “You look at our situation where we sold out in 52 minutes and did it the old school way with people coming to the door and did it the Monday after Easter weekend.”
People are also reading…
The idea for the Huskers to come to Central City started a few years ago, when the dome started.
Jensen said he told Barry Carlson, owner of MidAmerica Speakers Bureau, that one of his dreams would be to get Nebraska volleyball to come to Central City. Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook is on Carlson’s bureau, so Carlson emailed him about the idea.
Cook responded to Carlson a few minutes later and agreed to have a spring match in Central City once the dome was completed.
“Cook just basically said, you build it, we’ll be there,” Jensen said. “That was a great response to that situation.”
Cook said on the Doug and Daddy radio show on Thursday he’s excited to come to Central City.
“Central City has a beautiful facility,” Cook said. “We’re really looking forward to it.”
The floor the Huskers will play on came Thursday afternoon. It’s the same floor the Huskers play on at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
There were a lot of activities the past few days in getting ready for the event. That continued Friday night and will be going on Saturday morning prior to the match.
Jensen said there’s been a lot of planning for the event.
“I don’t think people in an event like this understand the logistics that goes on behind the scenes. We got a lot of people doing extra work towards things. The Chamber has really gone to work to promote the community,” Jensen said. “We look at this event as a big thing for not only our school district but our community as well.”
The players arrived for a small walkthrough Friday and the Central City volleyball teams from grades 5-12 watched them practice Friday night. The sponsors were able to watch them, too.
Before the practices, there was a coaches clinic, held by Concordia coach Ben Boldt.
The Huskers will have another walkthrough early Saturday, while the Wichita State players will arrive a short time later for their walkthrough.
“These have been really special matches when we get to go to these towns,” Cook told the Lincoln Journal Star earlier this week.
Cook added on the Doug and Daddy Show that he is going to approach Saturday’s match like a regular season match, mostly to get players prepared for the season.
“With having seven new players, we want to make this a game day experience so that’s how it’s going to be set up in Central City,” Cook said. “There’s going to be a match with a big crowd. I’m looking forward to that because I want to start getting our players used to that, because when we open in Devaney, there’s going to be a lot of distractions.”
After the match, there will be autograph sessions for the fans.
The match will be broadcasted on Nebraska Public Media and streamed on B1G+, and will be on the Huskers Radio Network, including KRGY on 97.3 FM.
The Central City High School facility parking will open at 11:45 a.m. There will be additional parking for fans like the east lot of the football field as well as South Park.
The doors will open at 12:30 p.m. Jensen said to follow the Central City social media accounts for various types of information, including clear bag policies, how everyone must have a ticket and much more.