What an inaugural season it's been for the Omaha Supernovas. And it's not over yet!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We always talk about the fun thingshappening in and around Omaha, and that
is because Omaha is a great placeto live. One of the great things
that has been added to our slate, if you will, has been the
Omaha super Novas and their incredible successwith drawing huge crowds, record crowds for
professional volleyball and also seeing incredible athleticismand something awesome to do downtown throughout the

(00:24):
spring. Well fast forward a coupleof months and all of a sudden,
we're in the playoffs, and thisWednesday, a couple of games are happening
over at CCHI Health Center Omaha asthe Pro Volleyball Federation playoffs begin in their
inaugural season. And here to talkto us about it is the person who's
in charge, President of the OmahaSupernova's Diane Mendonology, is joining us on
the phone line right now. Diane, first of all, thanks for being

(00:46):
back on the show today. Thanksfor having me memory. It's got to
be back, Okay. I gotto ask. The first thing on my
mind when this whole thing was goingwas hopefully people would go, Hopefully people
would pay attention to it. You'regoing to a big arena, so expectations
certainly are high. What were yourexpectations coming into the season, and now

(01:07):
that we're at the end of theregular season going into the playoffs where those
expectations met, were something different inthe way that you were anticipating. Actually,
I think you can say we havebeen overwhelmed with the outpoint of support
from you know, the wonderful Omahacommunity and then you know the out state
Nebraska reaching all the way into Iowaand surrounding states, and you know,

(01:33):
to average nearly ten thousand people forour twelve matches throughout the season is just
unbelievable. And you know, whenyou're looking at the top five attendance records
being smashed for pro volleyball and thathappening at the Hi Center is just so
exciting. And then I just thinkthe thing too is just you know,
indicative of that is how the fansis fell in love with this team.

(01:56):
And we've gone from August not knowinganyone not knowing who we were, to
people just stopping our players wherever theygo and being recognized in the community,
and just the overwhelming support. Ilove sports. I just love sports,
and I'm from Iowa. I movedto Amaha last fall and recognized very quickly

(02:19):
in the fall that volleyball is adifferent monster and a different animal. When
you talk about Nebraska, perfect timingfor the Nebraska or Volleyball Day in Nebraska,
which you know what, ninety threethousand people in Memorial Stadium for a
volleyball match, and then this professionalteam which was getting started. And then
I went to a match and feltthe energy, saw how much energy and
effort went into this and so manypeople that were there. For people who

(02:42):
didn't get a chance to come andsee the super novas, they're going to
have another opportunity Before we talk aboutthat. What about these matches made this
team so fun to watch and alsoso I mean, I can't imagine how
many people went to one and we'relike, okay, we got to go
to another one too. I thinkone right out of the gate. The
level of play, I think peoplewere just shocked at the level of play.

(03:06):
When you're seeing all Americans, Nationalchampions, Olympians, and you throw
them all on the court and youthrow them in there together. The rallies
were unbelievable, indicative of Nazi ValentineAnderson actually being number two on the ESPN
Top ten list or play the otherday was just show you just the excitement
the level of play that was happening. And then I think too people were

(03:30):
you know, we tried to keepthat traditional volleyball model of you know that
just Nebraskans are known for. They'rejust they're they're very they're very in tune
with the sport and knowledgeable about thesport. But down we tried to,
you know, tweak it a littlebit and add that pro experience with the
music and the lights and the cHI really gives you that opportunity to kind
of blow the roof off and thenmake it and friendly for whether you're nine

(03:53):
years old or ninety years old,you're going to have a great experience.
And the tickets where price that bothfamily can afford it, and you have
retirees, you have little kids,you have dads and daughters, and just
basically caring to basically any demographic.The OMAH Supernovas president Diane Mendenhall joining us,

(04:14):
so playoff time is upon us.We have seven teams in this league
that played throughout the season, andI know that we can talk at a
variety of levels at the level ofplay and all the great players. This
league is trying to not just staywith the seven teams, but to grow,
looking into different markets and everything,and Omaha has been the market that

(04:35):
has been the star attraction. AndI think it was last month or a
month and a half ago it wasannounced that CI hellsoner Omaha is going to
be the host site for the semifinals and finals, the entire playoffs of
this league, which is happening thisweek. And just let's revisit that for
a second. How has this franchisebeen the model already? Knowing that there

(04:59):
are cities like San Diego and Atlantaand Orlando among several others that have really
stood out amongst the crowd here,I think number one, the appreciation that
our fans have, and I thinkwhat we've tried to do is take our
product and bring it to the nextlevel. And we also didn't take it
for granted, Emory that we couldjust rest on the laurels of you know,

(05:23):
Nebraska Volleyball, Creighton Volleyball, youand how they draw. We knew
that we had to go out thereand we had to make you know,
the people of the fans. Wehad to convert the unconverted and expose them
to something that you know, theyhadn't seen. It was an unproven concept
and you know, by by alot of hard work and then people just

(05:44):
embracing it. And then it wasjust word of mouse too that really helped
us spread. And it's just youknow, when we put in our RFP,
we just put on the front ofit that Omaha was you know,
Championship Central. That's that's where championscome here and they host championships, whether
it's the College World Series or theNCAA tournaments or Olympic files and that's what

(06:05):
we're known for. And you knowNebraskans like to rally around a cause they
like to rally around. Like yousaid, we love sports, and we
didn't rest on our laurels that wayand make sure that we brought the product
to them. The playoffs are Wednesday, Grand Rapids and Atlanta. The first
game six o'clock, San Diego takingon the Supernovas at eight thirty, little

(06:29):
double header, and then that leadsinto the championship into the weekend. So
what's this going to look like?Does how do people get tickets and are
they able to see all of thematches or how do people get a chance
to be a part of this becauseI'm sure you guys are going to be
trying to draw real big crowds forthe action on Wednesday and into the weekend.
Exactly. We need everyone to comeout and support it. And it's
you know, it's a wonderful ticketbecause in the semi finals, you get

(06:54):
for one ticket, you have twomatches, so you'll see Grand Rapids and
Atlanta first up, and US youknow, following shortly after there with San
Diego. And I think the funthing about these matchups that I didn't realize
today, Emory, was that bothteams are two and two against each other,
so you have some teams that arevery evenly matched, and so you'll

(07:15):
see great volleyball and it's just it'llbe it'll be a fun night, and
we need people to come down becauseI'll tell you what, you know,
it's similar to the NCA that wehave to turn the CHI into a neutral
sight. So we have to takeout, you know, a little bit
of our supernova edge that we give, and so we need the fans to
make that up and and create thathome court advantage that would be so helpful

(07:39):
in helping basically, will us towin, and we're talking about the some
of the best volleyball players that you'regoing to see in the world. And
you get a chance to see fourteams instead of just two teams as you
usually would for a price and ahigh competitiveness. They have to be on
because a loss in the season isover. Here we're speaking with Diane Mendenhall,
president of the Almah Supernovas. You'veseen this team throughout. I have

(08:03):
to go kind of to the volleyballin the court. Let's let's let's say
we you know, we gigantic amountof fans are going to be there.
It is at Omaha Edge that you'relooking for. How do you like the
way the Supernovas are going into theplayoffs and what are their chances against San
Diego on Wednesday? I like howher right now we're playing at the top
of our game. We stumbled alittle bit last night, but we actually

(08:24):
you know, we had four matchesEmery in eight days in three time zones,
and so we went into the matchknowing that we let our starters just
play one set and take them outand then let you know what you consider
your B side play the play theremaining sets. And interestingly enough, our
starters kind of laid an egg rightout of the gate, but our b
side actually was beating Grand Rapids andthen it went to a fifth set and

(08:52):
eventually lost. So that shows youwhen they're we're taking our second team and
basically taking it to one of thefinal four teams, it makes you feel
pretty good about it. And youmentioned too, it's you know, this
is this is history. This isthe first time that this will be done.
And I think it's the team too, that you know that responds to
the pressure. This is a matchfor a million dollars. So can you

(09:13):
imagine on Saturday night it could betied thirteen thirteen in the fifth and whoever
gets the next two points, youknow, that team gets a million and
the other team doesn't get anything.Yeah, And it just makes you really
personally invested for the players because youknow how invested they're going to be.
Where can people find tickets, Dianeand be a part of this awesome week
of volleyball? Oh thank you,Emery. Yeah, supernevous dot com.

(09:37):
Go out there, get your tickets. Tell your friends. We need you
all down there because, like Isaid, we want you know, these
these women have laid their hearts onthe line for our community. They've uprooted
their lives, They've become members ofthe Olmahak community. A lot of them
are going to stay here during theoff season, and we get the opportunity
to cheer them on to you know, win this and world championship and capture

(10:01):
a million dollars. So fun,so exciting, and again both of those
games on Wednesday, you can gettickets to six o'clock Star time for Grand
Rapids in Atlanta, then the Supernova'stake on San Diego and then IICAP at
around eight point thirty, and thenof course the championship between the two winning
teams coming up on Saturday. CCHAHealth Center, Omaha. Diane Mendenhall,

(10:22):
President of the Omaha Supernovas, thanksso much for the time, Thanks for
what you guys have done throughout thisentire inaugural season. We can't wait to
see the growth that this league andthis team continue to have. And thanks
so much for being a part ofour show today. Thanks Amory, and
thanks for all your support throughout everything. You've just been amazing, so really
appreciate you and KFA B. Thankyou so much, Diane that means a
lot to us, and we reallyappreciate the time