An energetic student section was present at all the volleyball team’s home games. Photo by Jonathan Wang.

NHU-HAN BUI | ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR | hbui@butler.edu 

Playing in front of a roaring record crowd of 3,067 people, the women’s volleyball team started its season with a bang. The Bulldogs hosted and swept the Big Dawg Kickoff, which took place from Aug. 29-30. Butler played against Evansville, Purdue Fort Wayne and Middle Tennessee State and won their games 3-1, 3-2 and 3-0, respectively.

A part of their success at home can be attributed to the student section. 

For the past few years, volleyball has been the lowest-attended sport in Hinkle. The total attendance at the team’s 13 home games in 2024 was 11,007, which was slightly larger than the average crowd at a men’s basketball home game during the same year.

A push for attendance from head coach Kyle Shondell and Dawg Pound resulted in an energetic and rowdy student section that was present all weekend.

“From the day I stepped foot in this building, one of my biggest dreams has been having one of, if not the biggest, and best volleyball student sections in the country,” Shondell said. “In the sport of volleyball, more than anything else, fans and students have a legitimate impact on the game. The chants, the cheers, the volume, the excitement, it plays a real role in the match. I’d like the Dawg Pound to be our seventh man, because I’ve seen it in this gym for other sports.”

In volleyball, momentum can change in the blink of an eye. These swings are why senior opposite hitter Rylie Tam believes having a crowd that backs the Bulldogs no matter the situation helps keep the team from spiralling downwards.

“When there’s not a lot of people, it’s difficult to create your own energy within the team,” Tam said. “When other teams score a few points and you get down, if you’re playing in a really quiet gym, it’s really easy to just carry that momentum downwards. [But] if there’s a lot of people cheering and into the game, then it’s easier to just be like, ‘Okay, next point.’”

Dawg Pound has been encouraging student attendance at games through frequent giveaways for their members. During the Big Dawg Kickoff, they gave out Insomnia Cookies and Chick-fil-A sandwiches before the first two games, resulting in 200 students coming to each game. For men’s soccer, they’ve given out shirts, mugs and ice cream.

Nolan Hamilton, a senior sports media and strategic communications double major and president of Dawg Pound, says that the giveaways have been part of the reason for high attendance at both volleyball and men’s soccer games.

“It’s a combination of things [that got people to come out],” Hamilton said. “I think volleyball has been a growing sport in the U.S., especially at Butler. I remember going [to a game] my [first] year [and] there weren’t many people, and it’s kind of ramped up [over the years]. We’ve also had some pretty good giveaways. [For example], even though we [didn’t] have a physical giveaway, we [gave] away 200 icy pops just to give someone a little bit more reason to go see men’s soccer play Western Michigan.”

The audience at the volleyball game was not just energetic, but they were also engaged. Hamilton remembers hearing first-year students start chants that he had never heard of before, even as a senior who has attended countless sporting events.

“I think the [first-years] are hungry for college sports,” Hamilton said. “Even though Butler doesn’t provide those crazy SEC atmospheres, it’s still high-level college athletics, and they’re taking advantage of seeing these high-level athletes. I also think this [first-year] class [has] been really willing to attend, to be around things and work with us.”

Tam agreed with Hamilton and feels that the students’ engagement and energy added to the Bulldogs’ home advantage.

“It was the first time in my four years that we’ve had a full student section that was also really engaged in the game,” Tam said. “Hinkle already is a big home court advantage, just because of the size of the gym [and] the dynamics of it, but then adding [the student section], I think it just gave us that extra edge.”

While students generally show up and show out for teams’ home openers, the hard part is convincing them to come back for more games. However, Hamilton is confident that once people see how fun sports aside from football and basketball can be, they will keep coming back to games.

“We’re approaching 800 sign-ups for Dawg Pound, which is really good,” Hamilton said. “Having that program for people to spend the money gives them a way to come back, because we can give them all these awesome giveaways, we can do all this stuff that will keep people coming back as an extra incentive. People [also] fall in love with the team [and] with the [sport]. I’ve seen a ton of people that have been coming back and saying, ‘I came just to spend time with friends, but now I genuinely enjoy the sport.’ I really am proud of seeing everyone showing up for these other sports too, and I hope that continues past basketball and into the spring, so people can have these great crowds at all their games.”

First-year exploratory business major Brian Beck was part of the student section for two of the kickoff games. Beck described the Dawg Pound’s energy as excited for the games and fun, and that energy will be a reason why he returns to watch more.

Before he was a part of the crowd as a Butler student, however, Beck was also a volleyball player. Beck knows how much the audience can affect a game, but also sees why not many people attend them.

“Interest in the sport is a big deal,” Beck said. “I think sports [other than men’s basketball and football] don’t have as much recognition. A lot of us don’t grow up watching volleyball, for example. [But] once I think people start realizing how fun [other] sports are and they watch [a game], these sports will come into the mainstream.”

From the beach to backyards to parks, people play volleyball everywhere, yet it is still not a mainstream sport. But with the rise of Major League Volleyball — formerly known as the Pro Volleyball Federation — in several cities across the U.S. and college teams like Nebraska consistently attracting large crowds, it is safe to say that volleyball will only continue to grow in popularity.

Shondell’s hope is that the students who attended the Big Dawg Kickoff remember how fun the games were and come back to watch more, especially when the Bulldogs start their conference play in late September.

“When visiting teams come here, I think it’d be really great if they said, ‘Man, I don’t want to go play anymore, those students are crazy,’” Shondell said. “[The students aren’t] disrespectful, but they’re loud [and] energized; they’re making sure that they’re a part of the game. We go to so many empty gyms in the Big East, and it’s a little creepy [and] spooky. I’d like our gym to be spooky in all the right ways. I’d like them to be afraid to come play Butler, because our environment is just that great.”