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Mt. Vernon (Iowa) and
West Delaware (Manchester, Iowa) volleyball teams played a historic match outdoors Tuesday in Manchester inside the school's football stadium.
They built it and boy did they come.
Under a full moon, over 2,000 fans joined two of the top-ranked teams in the state to see the visiting Mustangs beat the host in a five-set thriller, 21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-9.
"It was a big match for a lot of reasons and then to have it outside …," Mt. Vernon coach Maggie Willems told MaxPreps. "The football stadium experience is so different. The band played and there was a light show and music between sets.
"Having that stadium experience for our volleyball athletes was really amazing."
Last year, the University of Nebraska hosted an outdoor match that packed more than 90,000 into Memorial Stadium.
Willems said the rise of not only volleyball, but women's sports in general is heartwarming.
"Volleyball is the most participated girls sport in Iowa and it is amazing that we got to be at the center of what is right about the sport," Willems said. "I graduated (from Mt. Vernon) in the mid-90s and there wasn't equitable attention for girls sports.
"If you told 16-year-old Maggie that we'd be playing outside in a football stadium, I couldn't fathom it."
The coach gave all the praise to West Delaware athletic director Matt Weiss for the idea.
"I got a call during dead week in July when I was at the Lake of the Ozarks and my boss saying 'Hey, West Delaware wants to play outside,'" she said. "It was their idea and we were invited."
The weather cooperated with little wind and relatively low humidity, though moisture started to creep onto the edges of the court in the fifth set.
"The universe aligned," she said.
The school assembled the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union court used for the state tournament in the middle of the football field with donated plywood underneath.
"To look up and see the stands full is like a state volleyball moment," Willems said. "It drew our fans, but also fans of the game of volleyball. That was wonderful to see and provide, a way to connect the community."
