The Gophers volleyball team will face Stanford and Texas as part of an early-season showcase on Labor Day weekend in Milwaukee.
The event will be held at the Milwaukee Bucks’ Fiserv Forum, with two of the matches televised on Fox and two of them on FS1. The Gophers will face Stanford and Wisconsin will face Texas on Sept. 1; on Sept. 2 the Gophers will face Texas and Wisconsin will face Stanford.
The four programs have combined for 13 national championships, 17 runner-up finishes and 48 Final Four appearances. 2022 national champion Texas defeated 2021 national champion Wisconsin in the national semifinals Thursday night in Tampa, Fla.
“I’m thrilled for our volleyball program, our university and our community to be part of this tremendous preseason event,” Gophers coach Keegan Cook said in a news release. “The most essential ingredients to the growth of volleyball are partnerships that bring our game to the national audience. I applaud Fox and all of our broadcast partners for committing to our sport at the highest level.”
Earlier this year, Fox made history when it aired college women’s volleyball on network television for the first time. On Oct. 29, Fox televised a pair of regional matchups, including a matchup between the Gophers and Badgers, that delivered a college volleyball record 1.659 million viewers.
• The Gophers were ranked No. 18 in the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) poll, and Gophers seniors Gianna Gerdes and Mya Hooten were named Big Ten gymnasts to watch. The Gophers open the season on Jan. 6 at the Super 16 Championships in Las Vegas.