It’s true that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers once won five national football championships: back to back in 1970 and 1971, then again in 1994, 1995 and 1997. But that’s history.
Since 1995, the Cornhusker volleyball team has matched that number of national championships. On November 10, the Papio South Titam volleyball team won its fourth state championship under the leadership of Coach Katie Tarman. In her six years as head coach, Tarman’s teams have acquired a record of 196-35.
Like the Husker’s Volleyball team, we’ve come to assume and expect victory. What’s important to remember though is that the skill to win these games didn’t happen overnight. Tarman stresses the importance of hard work and grit. She’s forgiving of mistakes but not the same mistake twice. Since we’ve come to assume victory, we unfortunately don’t always give the volleyball team credit for winning since it occurs so frequently. It’s time we recognize the team as the testament to Titan excellence that they are rather than as victims of their own success. Tarman’s achievements, which have followed in the footsteps of Huskers,has helped unify volleyball in a state that was formerly known as a football state.
In August 2023, the Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team held a match against the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks inside of Memorial Stadium. The match’s attendance of 92,003 set a record for the largest crowd to watch a women’s sporting event in the United States. The crowd also surpassed what is widely regarded as the world-record attendance for any women’s sporting event. which was 91,648 fans in an UEFA Champions League match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg on April 22,2022, in Barcelona, Spain. After this record, Tarman posted on Facebook, “incredibly grateful for being raised in this state where girls are taught they can achieve anything with hard work, commitment, confidence, and connection. It is becoming something ingrained in us because of ALL the wonderful humans/ coaches/teachers who have led us to that standard.”
Due to the timing of NSAA State Championship and when our publication needed to meet publishing deadlines, we were not able to properly cover the team through a magazine story. However, our staff still feels the need to take a moment and congratulate Tarman and our volleyball team. The hard work they’ve put into transforming us into a school with a nationally ranked volleyball team is an incredible accomplishment that we are beyond proud of.
