With all the “hustle and bustle” of the holiday season there usually isn’t much time to miss volleyball, but I’m sure that will change as the next seven months drag on! Barring big news, my plan for now is to do at least one update a month collecting stories of interest. I’ll also start doing some updates on the newcomers to Tennessee as we get closer to summer. So even though it’s the offseason for fans be sure to check in occasionally for the latest!

• Knoxnews.com reports that UT head coach Rob Patrick will get another year to try to turn around the program. Patrick and athletic director Dave Hart discuss it in another article, which also touches on the lack of resources, specifically facilities, Tennessee volleyball has had to deal with

  Rob Patrick: “There isn’t any one that can put more pressure on me than myself. It’s not like Mr. Hart is putting pressure on me or the contract is putting pressure on me. If you’re competitive and you love what you do, you’re going to go out and do the best you can do. I gave up financial security to go into coaching… Being on a one-year contract, I’m all-in, but I’ve always been all-in.”

  Dave Hart: “Rob would be the first to tell you and we have both concurred that what has happened the last two seasons is not acceptable. For us to be in the bottom of the SEC in volleyball, we’ve both acknowledged, is not acceptable…. When we assessed Rob’s career here, it’s a positive assessment. He has an excellent total body of work…. I felt like his performance throughout his career here warranted the opportunity to see if that important piece [the new practice facility] would help him turn this around.”

  Personally, I think that an administration in one of the strongest conferences in collegiate sports with the most well respected women’s program in the nation that waited for a team to have their first major stumble in almost two decades before finally building them their own facility holds a little more responsibility than they seem willing to admit. Rather than “permitting” the coach one last opportunity to fix the volleyball problems at Tennessee (after “winning records in 14 of the previous 15 seasons, winning at least 20 games 10 times and reaching nine NCAA tournaments…[and] the Sweet 16 with a 32-3 record in 2004 and the Final Four with a 25-9 record in 2005… with a brilliant academic record”), they should be a little more thankful he didn’t leave years ago for a school willing to give a top tier program the resources it needs to compete.

• Three Lady Vols won’t be returning to Knoxville next season. The local newspaper reports that Jamie Lea and Sabrina Tavakoli have left the team. In addition, Ashley Mariani has also transferred. Lea will play for Loyola Marymount next season and Mariani will be at Iowa.
• UT has noted that their “student-athletes collectively earned a 3.00 grade point average, the fourth consecutive semester that UT has finished over 3.00, while 10 sports earned team GPAs of 3.00 or above”. The volleyball team just missed that threshold for the first time in several years with a 2.97. However ten players on the 16 person roster did earn at least 3.00 GPAs, with four making the Dean’s List.
• Congratulations to the 13 Knoxville area players who made the Tennessee All-State volleyball team!

  Bearden: Carrie McGinnis
  Catholic: Meredith Bonee, Riley Clem
  CAK: Cheyene Hooper, Taylor Call, Courtney Shields
  Farragut: Alexis Parker, Raegan Grooms, Emma Milstead
  Grace Christian: Kaylee Doig, Belle Karell
  Webb: Frankie Harrison, Nicklin Hames