Title Nine has given young, talented female athletes the opportunity to play big-time sports—in obscurity.
At the moment, the most imposing dynasty in Division One athletics is probably the Penn State women’s volleyball program. Penn State’s won six championships in the past eight years and is the defending national champion.
The team was ranked third nationally when it came to Evanston this month to take on unranked Northwestern.
And what happened?
Northwestern won the match 25-18, 23-25, 26-24, 17-25, 15-12. It was the first time NU had beaten Penn State since 2002.
NU athletic department spokesman Carsten Parmenter sent out a press release, and he says the Big Ten Network and volleyball media gave the upset the attention it deserved. (Here’s a BTN video of the final point.)
But the excitement was lost on Chicago. The local media ignored the story.