More than 3,000 miles separate the University of Alaska Anchorage from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, but 4,004 is the number on the Seawolves’ minds this weekend.

That’s the magic number for the UAA volleyball squad as it looks to snatch back the NCAA Division II regular-season attendance record from Kearney during Saturday’s inaugural Alaska Volleyball Day event.

UAA is going all out to bring ‘4K4 In the Door’, offering free pom-poms, foam fingers, hoodies and even chicken fingers for the hungrier fans as the Seawolves (14-11, 8-7 GNAC) host the UAF Nanooks (18-7, 10-5 GNAC) at 7:30 p.m.

The event coincides with the final day of the ASAA Class 3A and 4A high school volleyball tournaments. With all the buzz around the stadium, Alaska Volleyball Day is meant to celebrate the athletes at both the prep and collegiate levels, said UAA coach Stacie Meisner.

“We have just such great fans here in Anchorage and in the state, not just for Seawolf volleyball but for Seawolf athletics as a whole,” Meisner said. “It’s just something that’s really important to our community, and they prove it to us by continuing to come to these ‘pack the house’ events and to our regular season games all year long.”

Nanooks coach Brian Scott says he and his team are excited to introduce more people, especially kids, to the sport.

“There’s nothing better than being in a stadium packed full of fans, and the excitement and energy that that creates,” said UAF coach Brian Scott, who added that being in front of a rivalry crowd doesn’t faze his team. “I think they’re just excited to have people out there supporting and watching, and even if it’s rooting against them, then to be able to rise up to the occasion and overcome that adversity. We thrive on that kind of stuff.”

UAA’s method to overtake the record is, ironically, inspired by another 2023 event that Kearney itself played a part in.

Last year’s Volleyball Day in Nebraska hosted a staggering 92,003 attendees in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium to celebrate the state’s passion for the sport, featuring an opener between Kearney and Wayne State before the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ headlining match with Nebraska-Omaha.

“That was kind of still fresh on my mind, and I saw it as an opportunity for us to kind of have our own version of that here in Alaska,” said Meisner, who is also originally from Nebraska.

She encourages fans to make a day of it and come early to catch the high school championship matches at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

UAA briefly held the regular-season record from Kearney in 2022 when 3,888 fans crowded the Alaska Airlines Center for a match against Central Washington. But having previously held the regular-season record since 1996 in a state that’s synonymous with volleyball, the Lopers weren’t going to give it up that easily. They took the record back just days after Volleyball Day in Nebraska last fall.

Give it a few more years, and Alaska may become synonymous with volleyball, too.