Sitting on the stone steps at the south end of Ahearn Field House, with the sound of fans blowing at maximum speed in the distant background, Kansas State volleyball coach Suzie Fritz can't help but smile.
A hot August practice has just wrapped up, and she quickly escaped to perhaps the coolest place in the old limestone arena.
It's a small area that just captures a small breeze from outside. It's also just behind the brand new purple bleachers installed earlier that day. Sitting there, the 10th-year head coach can't keep her eyes off the structure, but eventually a question regarding the new bleachers is asked, and she sighs.
"It feels like my birthday," she says.
That day, the Wildcats had yet to play a match in the newly remodeled Ahearn Field House, and were focused on their trip to Hawaii to compete in their first tournament of the season. But still, Fritz and her players knew that this renovation was something special.
And she was right.
Just one month into the season, K-State fans have consistently packed into the new Ahearn Field House, one that not only feature new bleachers, but a gigantic new banner that hovers over the north bleachers, complete with a huge purple and white Powercat logo.
In all, it was a $70,000 project.
But the atmosphere within the "Purple Pit" had made the investment well worth it.
After 16 matches, the Wildcats rank 11th nationally in average attendance, drawing an average 2,137 fans per match. That average also ranks the Wildcats third in the Big 12, just behind Texas, which averages 2,165 fans per match.
"I think our fans mean a lot to us, period," Fritz said. "The volleyball fans have traditionally been very loyal to volleyball, extremely supportive of volleyball and they keep coming back win or lose. They keep fighting for us. They are worth an enormous amount of points for us."
But it's not just the improved facilities that have drawn fans into Ahearn Field House this season.
Senior libero Lauren Mathewson, a marketing student who interned with the K-State Athletic Department this summer, compiled a video that encouraged the volleyball fans to not only show their loyalty to the program by attending the matches, but to become more engaged in the matches as well.
The video, written and directed by Mathewson herself, features each of the volleyball team members, and was posted on the K-State Athletics Department Facebook page. It's also shown at each of the home matches by the K-State marketing booth.
"We wanted to educate (the fans) on the basic skills of volleyball, so they were more into the game, and knew what was going on."
She didn't however expect it to have quite as much of an impact as it did. Thus far, the Wildcats have drawn 14,961 fans to Ahearn Field House.
"Our fans have just blown me away," Mathewson said. "They are amazing. The support us through wins, losses and anything and they always have our back."
Through six conference matches that loyal fan base has helped the Wildcats get off to an impressive start to the Big 12 season.
This weekend the Wildcats will again look to pack Ahearn when they play host to No. 11 Texas. The Longhorns (9-5, 4-2 Big 12) come to Manhattan after sweeping Colorado in Austin on Wednesday.
First serve on Saturday is set for 7 p.m.
Photo - K-State Sports Information
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