Bubbling with excitement: Support of QU women’s volleyball team from students, community brings Pepsi Arena to life

QUINCY — Makayla Knoblauch remembers the days where the echoes were as loud as any other sound in Pepsi Arena and the Quincy University women’s volleyball players knew practically every fan in the stands.

“Four years ago, it was just our parents, the other team’s parents and a couple of our QU friends,” the senior setter said, reminiscing about her freshman season.

A few more than that crashed the party Thursday night.

Playing the first NCAA Tournament game of any sport in Pepsi Arena in nearly two decades, the top-seeded Hawks drew a crowd estimated to be around 1,200 to watch a three-set sweep of eighth-seeded Northern Michigan in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.

Quincy won 25-19, 25-17, 25-18, feeding off the energy of a student section that filled the bottom tier of bleachers from one endline to the other.

“It makes us feel so comfortable to know we have that many people there supporting us,” Knoblauch said.

Making Quincy’s opponent just as uncomfortable is part of the mission, too.

“There were some digs Quincy would get that were routine and the crowd would erupt,” Northern Michigan coach Mike Lozier said. “That matters. It’s very routine, but when the crowd’s going crazy, it’s like, ‘We have to answer that.’ It feels like you have to be Superman, when you don’t have to.”

The Wildcats have a strong following of their own, averaging more than 500 fans for home matches in Marquette, Mich., but even they knew this atmosphere was out of the ordinary.

“I went over to (libero Alli Yacko) during lineups and said. ‘How cool is this that we get to play in this type of environment?’” Lozier said. “That makes it special.”

She couldn’t disagree, despite the outcome.

“It was an incredible match to be a part of,” Yacko said.

The QU faithful were raucous and loud and engaged from start to finish, making it a far cry from the crowd gathered on Oct. 4, 2019, for the home debut of Mark Jones as head coach when Knoblauch and Emily Rehagen were part of his first recruiting class.

The crowd for that match was estimated at 300 fans.

And that might have been a sizable stretch.

“This is the best crowd I’ve seen,” Jones said.

And it mattered.

“With the great crowd here, we just had another gear tonight,” Jones said. 

The Hawks spent a majority of their warmups on the floor, before disappearing to the locker room for last-minute details. They waited in the tunnel leading from the arena to the locker rooms beneath the stands, dancing to the music blaring over the public address system.

When they finally took the floor, they were treated to a hero’s welcome that just never stopped.

“That level of excitement with that crowd is fun to play in,” Knoblauch said.

The Hawks shared the credit for their victory with the Pepsi Arena faithful.

“I think everyone who was at the game could tell that’s our family,” Norris said. “Not only our team, but all of Pepsi was insane. You could tell every person was there to support us, every person was there from beginning to end. QU really outdid themselves today.

“It’s not just a team win. It’s a family win.”