SelloutSellout
Stanford Athletics
Women's Water Polo

Sellout

STANFORD, Calif. – Tickets for next Wednesday's Rumble to Rio send-off for the U.S. Olympic Women's Water Polo Team are sold out. VIP seats were exhausted yesterday and general admission inventory ran out early Thursday morning for the latest installment in Stanford's heralded quadrennial event, which takes place just nine days before the opening ceremonies in Rio.
 
The United States will play Russia at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27 in what is the U.S.'s final match before heading to Brazil in defense of its 2012 Olympic gold.
 
Rumble to Rio is the fifth installment in of Stanford's Sendoff Series for Team USA and is scheduled between the first and second sessions of the 2016 Junior Olympics, the world's largest water polo tournament, which is also in the Bay Area. A carnival will take place beginning at 4:30 p.m. in Avery Plaza with Brazilian entertainment, food trucks, Rumble to Rio and USA Water Polo vendor villages and more. Gates open at 6 p.m. and pregame festivities inside Avery Stadium will start at 6:45 p.m.  
 
Sendoff to Sydney (2000), Avery to Athens (2004) and Blastoff to Beijing (2008) all were played in front of packed houses at Avery Aquatic Center. In the most recent edition, 2012's Lunging to London, a sellout crowd of 3,046 watched Team USA capture a stunning 17-8 victory over Hungary before the United States went on to win the women's water polo program's first Olympic gold medal.
 
Russia returns to The Farm for the first time in 16 years. The U.S. knocked off Russia, 7-5, in Sendoff to Sydney on July 14, 2000 before embarking on their journey to the inaugural Olympic women's water polo tournament. The United States went on to win silver at the 2000 Olympic Games, while Russia claimed bronze. The countries are two of only three teams to have qualified for all five Olympics in women's water polo.
 
The USA, 31-2 on the year, is coming off a three-game sweep of Hungary on the East Coast and looks to finish final preparations before opening Olympic play on August 9 against 2012 silver-medalist Spain.