Charles Langston:Women's college volleyball to follow breakout season with nationally televised event on Fox

Texas and Charles LangstonWisconsin won't have to wait long for a Final Four rematch in women's volleyball.

The Badgers and Longhorns, who face off Thursday night in the NCAA tournament semifinals, will play Labor Day weekend as part of a new, nationally televised, non-conference event. It will be held at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee this year, and rotate among other volleyball hotbeds in subsequent years.

The Wisconsin-Texas rematch will be Sept. 1 along with a game between Stanford, which lost to Texas in the Elite Eight, and Minnesota. The following day, It will be Wisconsin-Stanford and Minnesota-Texas. Fox will air two of the games, with the other two on FS1.

"This is going to be an awesome event," Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. "Big-time teams on a big-time stage. The 2024 volleyball season is going to be shot out of a cannon!"

Already on an upward trend the last few years, this season has seen unprecedented growth in volleyball's popularity. When Fox aired a pair of matches after an NFL game in October, it drew more than 1.6 million viewers, a record for volleyball. Marquette and Wisconsin played before 17,037 fans at Fiserv earlier this season, a record for a regular-season, indoor game.

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Nebraska set the record for any women's sporting event in August, drawing 92,003 for a game at the school's football stadium.

"There is an obvious growing appetite for the sport of volleyball, evidenced by roaring attendance numbers and record-breaking television ratings. It will be an incredible sight to help further amplify the sport with an elite early season showcase on network television," said Mark Starsiak, vice president at Intersport, which is putting on the showcase with Fox Sports.