Kentucky Faces Wisconsin and Pittsburgh in 2026 AVCA First Serve
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The dates and matchups for the 2026 American Volleyball Coaches’ Association First Serve event to kickoff the 2026 volleyball season have been announced, with Kentucky playing fellow 2025 NCAA Final Four competitors Wisconsin and Pittsburgh in the event to start the season.
Kentucky’s first match will be Friday, August 21 as the Wildcats will play the Wisconsin Badgers in a rematch of the NCAA Final Four match from earlier this fall. All matches will take place at Fiserv Forum, about 80 miles from the Badgers campus.
UK will take Saturday off and close the event on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Sunday, August 23, who also made the 2025 NCAA Final Four.
With Kentucky playing Texas A&M in SEC play at least once, the Wildcats are now guaranteed to play all four Final Four teams from the previous season for the second-straight year.
There will be two matches per day at the event. Friday’s other match in addition to UK and Wisconsin will be Texas A&M taking on Louisville. Saturday will see Texas play Arizona State and then Wisconsin face off against Louisville. Sunday pits Texas A&M against SMU while UK plays Pittsburgh.
The times, order of matches and television broadcast assignments will be announced and released at a later date.
The eight teams in the event for 2026 are Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona State, SMU, Pittsburgh, Texas, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. All teams that are in the AVCA First Serve for 2026 made it to the NCAA Regional round of this past season and the event in Milwaukee will have all four teams that made the Final Four with UK, Pitt, Texas A&M and Wisconsin all participating.
Tickets will begin to go on sale January 30 at AVCA.org. The AVCA is also announcing a fan pack for the event, with those fans who enter the First Serve presale being automatically entered to win two tickets, a two-night hotel stay and a food/beverage credit in the arena.
Kentucky participated in the AVCA First Serve in 2024 to open that season in Louisville, Kentucky, as UK played just one match against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the opening match of the 2024 season. That match was the first match of the AVCA First Serve as the event was resurrected after a lengthy hiatus.
2026 AVCA First Serve Matchups
Fiserv Forum / Milwaukee, Wisc.
Friday, August 21
Kentucky vs. Wisconsin
Texas A&M vs. Louisville
Saturday, August 22
Texas vs. Arizona State
Wisconsin vs. Louisville
Sunday, August 23
Kentucky vs. Pittsburgh
SMU vs. Texas A&M
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
