![Florida Gators head coach Ryan Theis talks with the team during a timeout during a game against the Norfolk State Spartans at Stephen C. O'Connell Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, August 31, 2025. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6000,h_3375/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/213/01m11jcxzmz3q2sy9ddd.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Ryan Theis talks with the team during a timeout during a game against the Norfolk State Spartans at Stephen C. O'Connell Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Sunday, August 31, 2025. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]")
Florida Volleyball is going to open its 2026 campaign with a unique opportunity to kick off the season. The Gators are in Arlington, TX, and are set to take part in the Spikes Under the Lights showcase inside AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Florida will take on Nebraska at 8 PM on TNT in an exhibition match that will be a best-of-three format, with the first two sets being to 21 points instead of the standard 25. If there is a third set, it will be to 15 points. The winner of this game will return later in the evening to take on the winner of SMU and Penn State.
The event has a $1 million prize pool.
Florida is looking to take a step forward in 2026 under second-year head coach Ryan Theis. After a stretch in which Florida made at least the Regional Semifinals in eight out of nine years, Florida has failed to make it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three years.
Florida enters the 2026 season ranked No. 17.
Xaivian Lee commits to Gonzaga
Former Gator Xaivian Lee has committed to Gonzaga for the 2026-27 season, per his Instagram page. As we have chronicled this offseason, Lee had a better year with Florida than he is probably going to be remembered for. After transferring from Princeton and struggling out of the gate, Lee put together a solid second half of the season. And while Lee had the ball on Florida’s final play against Iowa and didn’t get a shot up, he wasn’t the problem for the entirety of that game.
Lee’s status to be cleared to play for Gonzaga is still subject to legal battles. He played in the NBA Summer League with Cleveland, but he apparently never actually signed an Exhibit 10 contract. Lee is hoping to get a 5th year of eligibility under the new “Five-for-five” rule, which the NCAA did not extend to athletes from the class of 2022 and has been the subject of numerous court battles.
Florida Soccer looks to end notorious streak
Tonight, the Gators take on Jacksonville at 6 PM with a chance to reset a bit of history. We have chronicled here and there the downfall of Florida in the timeframe since Becky Burleigh retired. Coming off a massive upset against FSU under first-year head coach Nick Zimmerman, Florida Soccer is ranked for the first time since 2020 and is currently No. 20 in the country.
Combined with the win against Coastal Carolina, a win tonight would be the first three-game winning streak for the Gators since 2019. Also of note, under previous coach Samantha Bohon, the most times the Gators scored three goals in a single game within a season was three times. Florida has already scored at least three goals in all three games they have played this year.
Add us as a preferred source on Google