As women’s college volleyball continues to see an increase in popularity on television, Fox Sports announced Monday that it will air 35 matches, including eight on Fox, this season.
The eight matches marks the most on a broadcast network in a single season.
The schedule will be highlighted by top-ranked Nebraska facing No. 2 Texas in the inaugural Players Era Volleyball Showcase in Las Vegas on Aug. 30. The remaining 27 matches will be on FS1 and FS2.
“I think when you look across women’s sports, to me, volleyball is the next basketball,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports president for insight and analytics. “I think the same patterns that we saw in basketball five years ago are what we’re now seeing in volleyball. We want to lean in to this year the same way that we leaned into basketball five years ago.
“Because I do think that the breakthrough in basketball has now happened. That process is basically complete. And so now you’re starting to think about, well, what’s the next thing that can have that kind of explosive growth? And I think it’s this.”
While there isn’t a national mainstream star in volleyball like what women’s basketball saw in Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, Mulvihill cited the popularity of Nebraska, Wisconsin and Texas as well as recent breakthroughs by Pitt and Louisville for the increasing national support for the sport.
Fox’s schedule begins with Louisville facing Wisconsin in the Jeep AVCA First Serve on Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern. It also includes a Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week primetime doubleheader from Wrigley Field on Sept. 6. No. 3 Kentucky faces No. 10 Penn State in the first match at 7 p.m., followed by Missouri and No. 1 Nebraska at 9 p.m.
Fox also will broadcast the first Big Ten Volleyball Championship on Nov. 25.
ESPN and ESPN2 had 26 matches last season and two on ABC, including the Division I NCAA championship for the third straight year.
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