UTEP Volleyball Announces 2026 Non-Conference Schedule
EL PASO, Texas -- UTEP Volleyball Head Coach Ben Wallis announced the Miners' 2026 non-conference schedule on Monday, featuring a challenging slate highlighted by matchups against multiple NCAA Tournament teams, conference champions and six opponents that finished inside the top 50 of the NCAA RPI rankings last season.
The Miners will begin preparations for the regular season with a pair of road exhibition contests, traveling to Arizona State on Aug. 15 before heading to Texas Tech on Aug. 22.
UTEP officially opens the 2026 campaign at the NMSU Tournament Aug. 28-30. The Miners will face Tulsa in Las Cruces on Aug. 29 before returning home to host NM State in their home opener at Memorial Gym on Aug. 30.
September begins with the third annual Southwest Showdown, hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from Sept. 3-5. UTEP will take on Texas State, host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV during the tournament.
The Miners then host the Borderland Classic Sept. 10-13. UTEP opens the event against NM State in Las Cruces on Sept. 10 before welcoming Pacific on Sept. 11 and UC San Diego on Sept. 12 to Memorial Gym. The tournament concludes Sept. 13 with a neutral-site match between Pacific and UC San Diego in El Paso.
UTEP returns to the road for a midweek matchup at TCU on Sept. 16 before competing in Baylor's tournament Sept. 17-18. The Miners will face UIW and Baylor in Waco, Texas.
The non-conference slate concludes with a home contest against Arizona on Sept. 22 at Memorial Gym.
The 2026 schedule features 12 non-conference matches, including four home contests and eight road or neutral-site matches.
UTEP will face two reigning conference champions during the preseason and non-conference schedule. Arizona State captured the 2025 Big 12 Championship and will host the Miners in an exhibition match, while Tulsa, the 2025 American Athletic Conference champion, serves as UTEP's season-opening opponent.
The Miners' strength of schedule is further bolstered by several opponents that finished among the nation's top teams in the NCAA RPI rankings last season. Arizona State concluded the year ranked sixth nationally in RPI, followed by TCU (20), Baylor (23), Tulsa (37), Arizona (38) and Texas State (45). UTEP finished the 2025 season with a No. 19 RPI ranking.
Additionally, Arizona State ended the 2025 season ranked No. 12 in the final national poll, while TCU finished No. 18.
2026 UTEP Volleyball Non-Conference Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Location |
| Aug. 15 Aug. 22 | at ASU (exhibition) at Texas Tech (exhibition) | Tempe, AZ Lubbock, TX |
| NMSU Tournament | ||
| Aug. 29 Aug. 30 | vs. Tulsa NM State | Las Cruces, NM Memorial Gym |
| Southwest Showdown | ||
| Sep. 3 Sep. 4 Sep. 5 | vs. Texas State at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. UTRGV | Corpus Christi, TX Corpus Christi, TX Corpus Christi, TX |
| Borderland Classic | ||
| Sep. 10 Sep. 11 Sep. 12 Sep. 13 | at NM State Pacific UC San Diego Pacific vs. UC San Diego | Las Cruces, NM Memorial Gym Memorial Gym Memorial Gym |
| Sep. 16 | at TCU | Fort Worth, TX |
| Baylor Tournament | ||
| Sep. 17 Sep. 18 | vs. UIW at Baylor | Waco, TX Waco, TX |
| Sep. 22 | Arizona | Memorial Gym |
Bold denotes home match
See Full 2026 Schedule Here
