It took longer than I’d hoped but I’m back updating the site! Can you believe how close we are to the new season? Just take a look in the upper right hand corner of this page to see how many days until the first serve of 2008 takes place! Over the next week I’ll be getting the roster and schedule pages ready. I’ll also be deciding what to do with the forum. Spambots have taken over the place. So I’ll either have to make it registered users only or shut it down. It isn’t heavily trafficked but it is nice for people to ask the occasional question or to make comments. Last year I mentioned adding a live chat room to the site so fans could talk to each other while they follow the live stats of games they can’t attend. I’m leaning towards still doing this, but with the forum issues I’m going to wait and give it a little more thought. (Feel free to send me your thoughts as well!)
There are two really great pieces of news coming off Rocky Top this week.
First of all, eight Lady Vol Volleyball players made the school’s Spring 2008 Honor Roll! Congratulations to Carol Cheade, Milan Clarke, Nikki Fowler, Chloe Goldman, Leah Hinkey, Lauren Laflamme, Kylie Marshall, and Yuliya Stoyanova!
Secondly, Tennessee signed another new player to the team for the upcoming season, bringing the 2008 class to five members. Alyssa Hilby is a 6′ 3” middle blocker from Tacoma WA. Her honors at Life Christian Academy include: holds school career records for kills, blocks and digs, two-time first team All-League, first team All-Area, first team All-State, appearances in the state tournament every season of her HS career, honor roll all four years. She also played for Kent Juniors Volleyball Club. See the official Tennessee site for more details and comments from the coach.
I hope everyone is enjoying the off season! But I can’t wait until the end of August!
Hello! Just a quick update to let you know the site is not dead! Obviously during the offseason I won’t update this site as much. And my other sites are needing my attention more lately. But some more updates are coming! Not daily updates until we get closer to the upcoming season, but I’ll try to at least keep a weekly update going until then!
As I mentioned back in March, Tennessee is bringing in a junior college transfer setter — and now we can officially name her! Salt Lake Community College’s Michaela Hanakova will join the team for the 2008 season. The 5′ 8” setter is originally from Brno, Czech Republic. She earned All-Region Second Team and Academic All-Region honors her freshman year, and was named a first team NJCAA All-America selection for the Bruins in 2007.
At SLCC, coach Shay Goulding said of her, “Misha came in last year as a very good setter and is quickly becoming a great one. Misha feels much more comfortable in her role as a leader this year and I know she will really push her passers, and particularly her hitters, to get the most out of them. Beyond running a fast offense, Misha is a smart attacker and leads our team with one of the highest hitting percentages. She is really just beginning her career and has the talent to lead a solid Division I program in the near future.”
Tennessee coach Rob Patrick said, “We are very excited about the addition of Michaela to our program. She and (incoming freshman) Kelsey Mahoney provide us with tremendous experience and depth at the setting position, which is something that we have not had in a long time at Tennessee. I feel that her experience internationally, coupled with Kelsey’s high-level club experience, puts our program in good hands. Michaela is a proven winner and we are extremely excited and fortunate to have a player of her caliber join our team this fall.”
Check out Hanakova’s stats from the 2007 Bruin’s NJCAA Final Four season here: [More…]
I’ve not reported on this news previously because I want this blog to respect the people involved in UT volleyball by keeping their personal lives private. But I don’t think anyone would mind me wishing Coach Rob Patrick and his new bride Julie Krofcheck congratulations on their wedding this past weekend!
I just got back from the SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships held this past Saturday in Gainesville, Florida. I admit I much prefer the indoor game, but I do enjoy the beach version when there is no other volleyball during the spring and summer months. And there was no way I could miss the first ever beach volleyball tournament held by a Division I conference! Despite things running long and the relentless heat (and my worsening sunburn!) it turned out to be a great event. It seemed like everyone, the fans, the players, and even the coaches were having a lot of fun. My pictures from the event are online here.
Tennessee sent four teams to the event and unfortunately none did too well in pool play (where each team played four matches consisting of two sets to 21 points):
However, things went better during the playoffs (where each team played one set to 21). Cheade/Flynn/Stoyanova lost in the first round of the all-terrain level playoffs to Mississippi State and Fowler/Marshall lost in the second round of the gold level playoffs to eventual winner Georgia. But in the bronze level playoffs both Tennessee teams made it to the finals. Clarke/LaFlamme defeated Goldman/Hinkey to win 21-12. Congratulations to all four!
Tennessee will participate in the inaugural SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships on the Florida campus this Saturday. The event will be the first ever beach volleyball tournament held by a Division I conference.
I’ll be leaving today and heading to Gainesville to help support the team. For those who can’t make it I’ll post pictures when I return early next week.
Each of the 11 teams of the SEC (and possibly even Vanderbilt — they don’t compete at the NCAA level but they do have a club team) will be sending three or four teams of two players each to the tournament. Each team will be put into one of several pools where, from 8:30am to 3pm, they will compete in pool play. The top teams advance to the medal matches — the bronze medal match at 4pm and the gold medal match at 6pm. In addition, each team will earn points for their respective school based on its record in its pool. The school with the most points at the end of pool play will be awarded the Commissioners Cup.
As of right now The Weather Channel is predicting a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms. Let’s hope they are isolated to somewhere other than the University of Florida campus!
I don’t usually report on the Tennessee women’s club volleyball team. But I wanted to wish them luck at the 2008 NCCS National Volleyball Championships that start today in Dallas, Texas! You can read more about this year’s team here.
Congratulations to the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team and the best women’s athletic department in the country on capturing the 2008 National Championship! This makes two in a row and eight overall for the team.
The Lady Vols are off to Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill this weekend to continue their spring season. Tennessee will face off against the Tar Heels of North Carolina and a US Volleyball All Star team. The schedule for April 5th is as follows:
8am - North Carolina vs. USAV All Star Team
9:30am - Tennessee vs. USAV All Star Team
11am - 12:15pm - North Carolina vs. Tennessee (scrimmage games)
1:30pm - 4pm - North Carolina vs. Tennessee
The US Volleyball All-Star team consists of Amy Beaver (MH, UNC), Heather Catlin (DS, UNC), Trina Maso de Moya-Washington (OH, Wake Forest - ACC Player of the Year), Caroline deRoeck (L/OH, UNC), Aletha Green (MH, UNC), Laura Greene (OH, UNC - ACC Player of the Year, All American), Stephanie Haskell (S/L, Clemson), Marissa Martin (MH/OH, UCLA - two-time All American), Amanda Metz (OH, Indiana - All Big Ten), Eve Rackham (S, UNC - All ACC), and Katie Wright (OH, UNC).
Krista Brenner has signed a letter of intent to play for Baylor, after playing in just one set for Tennessee (vs Appalachian State) before suffering a season ending injury. Baylor coach Jim Barnes said, “Krista will be a great addition to our team. She was ranked as the No. 52 recruit in 2007 and she excels at blocking and hitting the ball hard at a high point. She will be able to compete on the right-side and the middle for our team and will help us continue our tradition of great blocking. She has great character and will be a good fit here at Baylor.”
As I mentioned in a previous post, Baylor is one of my favorite teams so I wish Brenner the best and really hope she can help out a team going through a rough transition right now.
The Lady Vols just finished a spring tournament at Miami University. They lost to Bowling Green 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23) — yes 25! I’ll discuss my thoughts on that later! They lost to Miami (OH) 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-16). And they beat Cleveland State 3-0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-20). Details and a few pictures tomorrow when I get back to Knoxville!
UPDATE: All the pictures turned out awful. But I did spend a few minutes of game set (another new NCAA rule to be discussed later!) three of the Miami match testing out a new video camera I recently picked up. Here’s about a minute of video featuring a few kills from Nikki Fowler, Leah Hinkey, Kylie Marshall, and Milan Clarke. (NOTE: video has been reposted after a reader said it did not work for them.)
A few notes about the matches:
• About half way through last season it looked like Fowler and Jaye Loyd were trying out new serves. Now it’s appears that in the off-season that has been something the whole team is working on. From the very start of yesterday’s matches you could see the team was serving much more aggressively. Though in the tiny sub-gym it was obvious to everyone present that Coach Rob Patrick still believes they have some work to do in that department!
• The team was showing a lot of extra hustle. Whenever an errant ball needed to be chased down every single player on the court — including those way too far away to get there in time — went after the ball.
• In set three vs Bowling Green the team came from well behind to make it close. Makes you wonder if the outcome would’ve been different if they still played to 30.
• Against Cleveland State the team had some really good blocking. Also of note, Chloe Goldman sat out the match while Marshall donned the libero jersey.
The always extremely informative RichKern.com site has some details on possible upcoming Tennessee recruits. Based on their ages I’m assuming some of these are unofficial commitments at this point (his site allows “Parents/athletes/coaches/etc.” to add athletes to the list, but only if “the athlete has either signed a National Letter of Intent or has given a verbal commitment”). And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out the other incoming Lady Vols already announced.
Amanda Friday - 2008: A 5′7” OH from Virginia Elite Volleyball Club and Robert E. Lee H.S in Springfield, Virginia. Made All-District honorable mention her freshman year, All-Region honorable mention her sophomore and junior years, and All-Region First Team her senior year. More info here and here.
Leslie Cikra - 2009: A 6′2” MB/RS from Renaissance Cleveland Volleyball Club and Chagrin Falls H.S. in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Named one of Prepvolleyball.com’s Top 50 Impact Recruits in the Class of 2009.
Kylann Scheidt - 2010: A 6′0” S from Smoky Mountain Juniors Volleyball Club and Farragut H.S. in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made All-State honorable mention as freshman at Norris High school in Firth, Nebraska. District Newcomer of the Year and All-Area (Knoxville Interscholastic League) second team as a sophomore at Farragut. Named a high honorable mention on Prepvolleyball.com’s Soph 79 (and 300 more) list. More info here.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that there is a junior college transfer for 2008 — a setter. I think I know the name of the player but don’t want to say until I’m sure.
Congratulations to Lady Vol Kylie Marshall who’s been chosen to represent Tennessee at the 2008 NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference. According to their website, the conference “provides NCAA student-athletes with a forum to openly discuss issues that may affect them on their campuses and in their communities, while also providing them with the opportunity to enhance their leadership, communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills. The conference also promotes better communication among student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and communities”.
The SEC announced earlier this year the athletes named to the 2007-08 Fall Academic Honor Roll. Six of the fourteen Lady Vols on the fall roster made the list! Congratulations to:
Secondly, Tennessee signed another new player to the team for the upcoming season, bringing the 2008 class to five members. Alyssa Hilby is a 6′ 3” middle blocker from Tacoma WA. Her honors at Life Christian Academy include: holds school career records for kills, blocks and digs, two-time first team All-League, first team All-Area, first team All-State, appearances in the state tournament every season of her HS career, honor roll all four years. She also played for Kent Juniors Volleyball Club. See the official Tennessee site for more details and comments from the coach.
