Wrigley Field’s Volleyball Debut: Kentucky Wins, Nebraska-Missouri Suspended

For over a century, Wrigley Field has been home to baseball, with generations of the greatest baseball players gracing one of the most stories venues in the sport.

That changed Sunday, when the Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge turned the Friendly Confines into a volleyball court for the first time ever, as No. 3 Kentucky defeated No. 13 Penn State and Nebraska was set to face Missouri in a doubleheader.

It’s the latest — and most unusual — stop on what’s already been a barnstorming season for No. 1 Nebraska, which has now played matches in an NFL stadium (AT&T Stadium), an NHL arena (T-Mobile Arena), a WNBA venue (Wintrust Arena) and now an MLB ballpark, all before playing a single home match in Lincoln.

Wrigley’s volleyball debut wasn’t without its own bit of history repeating itself. 

The last time the ballpark hosted a its first night game under the lights in 1988, rain forced a delay and eventually washed the game out before it could become official. 

Sunday’s volleyball doubleheader ran into its own hiccup, though this time it was the brand-new court surface, not the weather, causing a delay. Play was halted twice during the Nebraska-Missouri nightcap due to a slippery playing surface, which led to a delay that somehow heightened the energy at the end of the night.

Here are the top moments and results from each match:

The Wildcats opened the historic evening at Wrigley Field with a back-and-forth first set that came down to the wire, eventually pulling away from Penn State 25-23. No team led by more than three points for most of the set, but Kentucky closed on a 4-of-5 run to seal it, hitting .265 to the Nittany Lions’ .190. Outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye finished the set with the final two kills, both set up by Kassie O’Brien, who racked up 11 assists in the opening frame alone.

Kentucky carried that momentum into the second set, needing four set points before closing it out 25-21. DeLeye kept rolling, adding eight more kills to push her total to 12 through two sets.

Penn State refused to go quietly, though. The Nittany Lions climbed back from a 19-15 deficit with an 8-1 run in the third set, and a kill from Ryla Jones — her third of the set — gave PSU its first set win in Wrigley, 25-23, avoiding a repeat of last year’s sweep loss to the Wildcats.

Kentucky shut the door in the fourth, dominating 25-15 behind an 8-0 run that turned a tight game into a 14-6 lead the Wildcats never gave back. The finishing touch had a local flavor: Georgia Watson, a Huntley, Illinois native and self-described Cubs fan, notched two of Kentucky’s final three kills to close out the match in her home ballpark’s backyard.

Brooklyn DeLeye led the way for Kentucky with 21 kills on a .319 hitting percentage, while Morgan Gaerte added 15 kills and six blocks on a .344 clip. Setter Kassie O’Brien orchestrated the offense with 48 assists, and libero Molly Tuozzo anchored the back row with 19 digs and six assists.

The win moves Kentucky to 2-0 on the week after also beating UCLA on Wednesday, and to 2-1 against ranked opponents this season, having also swept then-No. 6 Wisconsin at the AVCA First Serve. 

Penn State, which hadn’t played a ranked team before Sunday, drops its first ranked matchup of 2026 and gets a quick shot at redemption against Depaul on Monday Sept. 7.

The nightcap between top-ranked Nebraska (4-0) and Missouri (3-1) got underway on schedule at 9 p.m. ET, but the historic first-ever outdoor volleyball match at Wrigley Field never got past its opening set.

With Nebraska ahead 11-7, play was stopped for the first time as players began slipping on the outdoor surface, but that was just the start of what felt like a fever dream.

Rather than a weather delay, it was a player-safety call: coaches from both programs met courtside, and crews — players and staff included — began tearing up the court logos and wiping down the surface to cut down on slickness. 

Both teams did not let the delay stop them from soaking up their moment under the light, as the action at Wrigley Field shifted from volleyball to a dance-off, among other activities.

But the party had to stop eventually as the match was ultimately suspended. 

A public address announcement told fans that rescheduling the match at Wrigley Field would not be possible, and that a decision on how — or whether — the match continues from the point of suspension will be announced at a later date.