The production crew captures every serve and spike with precision, helping grow volleyball’s fan base and appreciation across the state.
For viewers at home, the first serve marks the start of a college volleyball match or our NSAA High School Volleyball Championship coverage. For the Nebraska Public Media Sports team, the action begins six hours before we are live on the air.
“We have to lay cable, set cameras and complete pre-production,” said Gavin Felix, director of television and digital production.
The six-camera set-up allows the network to capture every touch, block, kill and dig. A crew of 13 works inside the game venue, while a dozen more operate broadcast equipment inside the remote truck. Back at the station, a small group sends the signal out to viewers across the state.
Televising a volleyball match can be like planning a carefully choreographed dance.
"I grew up watching Nebraska Public Media cover volleyball games, but I never really realized that there was so much care that went into displaying sports as an art form,” said All Things Considered host Jackie Ourada, who interviewed former Husker Volleyball Coach Terry Pettit in 2022 for a radio story related to the documentary Title IX: 50 Years in the Making.
After what she calls one of her favorite interviews, Ourada and Pettit kept talking for another half hour. He told her how, when volleyball was first televised in Nebraska, he worked with producers to set up sideline camera angles that made it easier for fans to follow the game.
“Now when I watch Nebraska Volleyball on Nebraska Public Media, I think of Terry Pettit and what he said – how you need to grow the sport, grow the appreciation, grow the fan base and the interest,” Ourada explained.
Felix agreed, adding that Nebraska Public Media has been there from the beginning. “We continue to be vital in the growth of programs by showcasing the premier teams in the state to audiences who have grown up watching the sport, as well as young volleyball players who look to the Huskers as a dream,” he said.