2008 was a great year for Tennessee: a 22-10 record, some big awards, and finishing in the top 3 in the SEC and in the top 80 nationally in almost every statistical category. Here are the final national and conference rankings.

NATIONAL RANKS
• Pablo Ranking: 43rd
• NCAA RPI: 50th

NATIONAL TEAM STATS
• Aces per set: 225th
• Assists per set: 74th
• Blocks per set: 47th
• Digs per set: 78th
• Hitting percentage: 53rd
• Kills per set: 79th

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL STATS
• Assists per set: Kelsey Mahoney - 293rd; Michaela Hanakova - 311th
• Blocks per set: Alyssa Hilby - 37th; Farren Powe - 307th
• Digs per set: Chloe Goldman - 59th
• Hitting percentage: Farren Powe - 89th
• Kills per set: Nikki Fowler - 74th

CONFERENCE TEAM STATS - ALL MATCHES
• Aces per set: 9th
• Assists per set: 3rd
• Blocks per set: 2nd
• Digs per set: 1st
• Hitting percentage: 4th
• Kills per set: 4th

CONFERENCE INDIVIDUAL STATS - ALL MATCHES
• Blocks per set: Alyssa Hilby - 2nd
• Digs per set: Chloe Goldman - 3rd
• Hitting percentage: Farren Powe - 5th
• Kills per set: Nikki Fowler - 2nd

CONFERENCE TEAM STATS - SEC MATCHES ONLY
• Aces per set: 10th
• Assists per set: 1st
• Blocks per set: 3rd
• Digs per set: 1st
• Hitting percentage: 2nd
• Kills per set: 1st

CONFERENCE INDIVIDUAL STATS - SEC MATCHES ONLY
• Assists per set: Kelsey Mahoney - 10th
• Blocks per set: Alyssa Hilby - 4th
• Digs per set: Chloe Goldman - 3rd
• Hitting percentage: Farren Powe - 1st
• Kills per set: Nikki Fowler - 2nd

It’s the last day of 2008, which was a great year for Lady Vols Volleyball! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Just a quick heads up on updates now that the holidays are almost over. I’m off to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl (Go Pirates!), but when I get back this weekend I should have a final look at how the Lady Vols stand nationally and in the conference done and ready to be posted. Then in the next week I hope to have a season recap written up. After that things will go quiet except for any occasional news that may come up. Until then, Happy New Year!

I’ve gone through all the data I could get my hands on and compiled a list of records set after the matches from this season. This list may not be complete, but is as good as I can get it. Apologies to anyone left out. Check out the full list here…

Congratulations to Lady Vol high school recruits Leslie Cikra (Senior, Ohio) and Kylann Scheidt (Junior, Tennessee) who made All-State recently!

Congratulations to Penn State on a dominating season that ended with the 2008 NCAA Division I volleyball national championship!

The 2009 Final Four will be played in Tampa, Florida - which is just 650 miles from Knoxville…

Just a reminder that the 2008 National Championship is tonight at 8pm ET. After two exciting semifinal matches Thursday, #1 Penn State and #2 Stanford advanced and meet tonight in Omaha NE. The match will be broadcast on ESPN2.

I’m running a little behind on those season updates (the records list is almost done!) so how about a few Final Four stats for now?

• There are over 300 teams currently in Division I. But in the 28 years the NCAA has had the championship tournament, only 25 teams have made it to a Final Four. Only 6 of those schools are in the Eastern Time Zone (including Tennessee in 2005). Only 2 of those went on to the Finals. Penn State is the only eastern school to have won the title.

• Only 10 different teams have ever won the National Championship. Stanford leads all with 6, while Penn State has won 2 (which means after tonight only 10 teams will still have ever won the championship).

• Stanford and Penn State have been in every NCAA tournament since its inception in 1981.

• Since 1992 Stanford has never gone more than one year without making the championship match.

• The Lady Vols have played both the potential champions a few times over the years. Tennessee is 0-2 vs Stanford, and 4-5 vs Penn State. In their last match in 2005, Tennessee knocked #2 Penn State out of the tournament in the regional semifinals.

• Tennessee coach Rob Patrick was an assistant coach with Stanford from 1994 to 1996. During those seasons the team went 92-6, won all three Pac-10 titles, were in all three Final Fours, and won two National Championships.

The Knoxville News Sentinel has a piece this week about Tennessee recruit Kylann Scheidt, a high school junior from my neck of the woods here in Farragut (a west Knoxville suburb). Scheidt talks about her goals (”to play in the Olympics”), her plans for Christmas break (training with the United States Junior National Team), and having to transfer to another state during high school (”It wasn’t too bad”).

On the subject of recruits I saved an article a few months ago but forgot to post it until this story just reminded me of it. Chagrin Falls senior Leslie Cikra, formally announced as a signee recently, talked with the Cleveland Plain Dealer before the season about her decision to become a Lady Vol: “The weather there is great and the athletic department is awesome. They have separate athletic directors for men’s and women’s athletics, and that was important to me. And academically, it’s outstanding.”

Congratulations to Nikki Fowler who today was named to the AVCA All-American Honorable Mention list! Fowler is just the ninth Lady Vol (and the third sophomore) to ever achieve All-American status. More later…

UPDATE: Tennessee has the story.

Coach Patrick: “I am very glad that the rest of the country sees and recognizes the contributions that Nikki has made to our program. This award is a testament to her work ethic and constant drive to improve in every facet of her game. She played at an extremely high level all year and I could not be more proud of what she was able to accomplish this season. For her to take on such a huge role as a sophomore, not only offensively, but passing and defensively as well, is not an easy thing to do, but she handled it better than we could have ever asked her to.”

Congratulations to senior Milan Clarke. She was named to the Southeastern Conference Community Service Team this week. And later today she will graduate from Tennessee with a degree in creative writing.

“Clarke helped read to preschool kids during a national event named Read for the Record which promoted the importance of reading. She has twice visited patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and participated in the annual Holiday Dinner hosted by UT athletes for guests from a homeless shelter. Clarke also participated in the Saving Little Hearts putt-putt fundraiser to help raise money for children with heart diseases, bought and wrapped toys for needy families for the Teams and Toys Christmas Project, put on a volleyball clinic for the Smokey Mountain Children’s Home, hosted over 500 kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs for a day of fun and education at the April Play Day, and refereed volleyball matches for the Special Olympics of East Tennessee.”

Congratulatins to coach Rob Patrick, sophomore Nikki Fowler, and junior Chloe Goldman. Patrick has been named the AVCA South Region Coach of the Year. Fowler has been named to the All-South Region Team. And Goldman was named an honorable mention.

(My internet service is down so I am typing this from my phone. Apologies for being brief! I will update this entry with links and more once my service gets restored.)

UPDATE: Woohoo, I’m back online! Tennessee has the story on these awards.

Coach Patrick, on Fowler: “It’s very gratifying to see Nikki receiving the respect that she deserves. I honestly feel that she is one of the best players in the nation due to the impact she has in every phase of the game, and I am very happy to see that other coaches feel the same way. She may be the most multi-dimensional player that we have ever had at Tennessee, as her hitting, blocking, passing and digging skills are all done at a consistently high level.”

Coach Patrick, on Goldman: “Chloe has been the anchor of our defense for the past two seasons. I’m very proud that people realize the tremendous impact she has in our matches through the ball control and defense she provides for our team. Through her dedication and hard work, Chloe has become more consistent throughout her career, which I believe has translated into the success she has had on the court and, ultimately, this honor bestowed on her today.”

Just wanted to give a heads up on what’s coming now. Most everything to be said about the Clemson match was already said in the pre game notes and post game story, so I’m going to skip the recap. In the next week or so I’ll post a season recap, a look at the record book, and a final statistical update. After that things will slow down and I’ll only post when something comes up.

I also want to go ahead and pass out some “thanks” before people stop visiting for the off season! Thanks to the fans, families, and friends that supported me when I was considering shutting down. Thanks to the coaches and players for an amazing season. A special thanks to the volleyball staff at UT, specifically Cameron Harris who puts together the official match notes, stories, and stats — without those doing this blog would be almost impossible! And thanks to everyone who visited this season. The site is more fun knowing you’re reading!

Tennessee ends their season tonight against Clemson in five (25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12). For the first time in school history Tennessee played its fourth five set match in a row. After winning the first three they come up just short. Nikki Fowler had 19 kills and 14 digs. Chloe Goldman had 27 digs. Congratulations to the Lady Vol seniors for leading the team to an amazing 22-10 season. Much more tomorrow and in the week to come.

UPDATE: Tennessee has the story and stats. In addition to Fowler’s double-double, Michaela Hanakova had one as well with 23 assists and 11 digs and Kelsey Mahoney got one with 29 assists and 12 digs. Alyssa Hilby led in blocking with 8. Kylie Marshall had 3 aces, 20 digs, and 9 digs. Milan Clarke had 13 kills and 4 blocks. Farren Powe had 8 kills and 3 blocks. Mindy Flynn had 9 kills and 2 blocks. Match recap on Monday Tuesday.

#12 seed Utah defeated Furman 3-0 in the first round. They will advance to round two tomorrow to take on the winner of the Tennessee/Clemson match, which is scheduled to start in about 30 minutes.

• Tennessee will take on Clemson in the first round of the tournament. The Tigers are 22-9 and 14-6 in the ACC. If the Lady Vols win they will then take on the winner of the match between 12th seed (AVCA #18) Utah (24-5) and Furman (21-13).

• Tennessee leads the all time series with Clemson 4-1. The Lady Vols’ lone loss was in 1980. Their last win was 1988. Clemson head coach Jolene Jordan Hoover was an assistant coach at Tennessee during that win.

• Tennessee is undefeated vs Utah in all four previous meetings. Last year the Lady Vols upset #21 Utah at the AVCA Showcase.

• Tennessee is 2-0 against Furman. The only meetings were in 1989 and 1993.

• This will be Tennessee’s 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and their 5th under Rob Patrick. Tennessee is 6-3 in first round matches and 2-4 in second round matches. Coach Patrick is 6-4 in tournament matches.

• The Lady Vols seniors have plenty of tournament experience to draw on. Laurén LaFlamme has been on the squad for 9 tourney matches while Milan Clarke and Mindy Flynn have been part of the team during 6 matches. All three were on the only Tennessee team to ever reach the Final Four.

• Match notes are online for Clemson, Tennessee, and Utah.

• Live stats and video of all three matches are available online.

	Tennessee	Clemson	Utah	Furman
Aces per set nat’l rank	1.07 230th	1.20 175th	1.22 167th	1.57 37th
Assists per set nat’l rank	12.31 76th	12.43 62nd	12.21 79th	11.03 197th
Blocks per set nat’l rank	2.43 42nd	2.80 7th	3.00 5th	2.19 88th
Digs per set nat’l rank	15.31 86th	15.19 93rd	13.16 236th	14.65 125th
Hitting % nat’l rank	.242 51st	.267 18th	.244 48th	.208 123rd
Kills per set nat’l rank	13.22 79th	13.48 59th	13.26 78th	12.10 182nd

A heads up to any fans heading to Clemson this Friday — the match time has been changed to 7pm ET.

UPDATE: The second round match on Saturday, December 6th will also be played at 7pm ET.