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Thursday, September 4, 2014

2014 Match Notes: Iowa State Challenge & Evansville

Tennessee hits the road again this week for a tournament in Iowa — where they’ll face Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Omaha — and a Tuesday game in Indiana vs Evansville.

  • UT is meeting three of their four opponents over the next week for the first time in program history. They’ll face four more such teams this season.
  • The Lady Vols are visiting the state of Iowa for the first time in the rally-scoring era. They’ve played nine matches in Indiana since 2001, going 5-4, with their last match coming in 2010 — a loss to the Hoosiers that saw the team just two points away from a Sweet Sixteen berth.
  • This is the first meeting with Northern Illinois. Last season the Huskies went 19-13, finishing fourth in the MAC with a record of 10-6. This year the team is 1-2, with a win vs Presbyterian and losses vs Colorado and Northwestern.
  • Tennessee is 1-1 all-time vs Iowa State. They were swept in the first meeting in 1989, and beat a #10 ranked squad in 2012 by the largest UT fifth set margin in the rally-scoring era: 15-4. Last season the Cyclones went 18-10, finishing fourth in the Big 12 at 11-5. This year the team is 0-2 after playing in the AVCA Showcase vs #3 Stanford and #13 Florida State.
  • This is the first meeting with Omaha. Last season the Mavericks went 7-22, finishing eighth in the Summit League with a record of 2-12. This year the team is 1-2, with a win vs Central Michigan and two five-set losses vs Drake and UMKC.
  • This is the first meeting with Evansville. Last season the Purple Aces went 9-20, finishing ninth in the MVC with a record of 4-14. This year the team is 0-4, with losses vs Youngstown State and Belmont and upcoming UT opponents Kennesaw State and Austin Peay.
  • Iowa State is receiving votes in the latest Coaches Poll, with an unofficial ranking of #33.
  • Since 2001, Tennessee is 6-2 vs the MAC, 5-2 vs the Big 12, 2-0 vs the Summit League, and 1-2 vs the MVC.
  • Evansville assistant coach Maria Escoto-Lopez faced Tennessee in 2010 as a player for Oklahoma.
  • The Lady Vols played eight matches on Tuedays in 2001 and 2002, but only five in the years since. The match vs the Purple Aces will be the fourteenth Tuesday match since 2001, and the first since 2010.
  • Coach Rob Patrick was an assistant at Stanford for three seasons, with the Cardinal winning the National Championship in 1994, making the Final Four in 1995, and winning the National Championship again in 1996. Nebraska won it all in 1995, with NCAA Championship all-tournament team member Christy Johnson-Lynch, now the head coach of Iowa State, as the starting setter.
  • All four of the head coaches at this tournament have served at their schools for at least a decade: UNO’s Rose Shires (25th year), UT’s Rob Patrick (18th year), NIU’s Ray Gooden (13th year), and ISU’s Christy Johnson-Lynch (10th year).
  • After their first match vs Northern Illinois this week, Tennessee will have played four “Northern” universities over the years, the others being: Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, and Northern Kentucky. Other “North” schools they’ve faced include: North Alabama, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Northwestern.
  • The official site has continued their “#TNVB Serves Up” series of videos with the players. The latest are with Iesha Bryant and Bridgette Villano.
  • I’ve been updating data in the stats section while I’ve had extra down time this week. Too many minor things to mention, but one big one I started some time ago but never had time to finish is finally up and running: a list of all the SEC Players of the Week. And not just UT and not just since 2001 either! This is all the conference schools since the mid 1990s.

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