Sorry this post is late and abbreviated! I mistakingly thought the team had Friday off this week and these games were Sunday and Wednesday! Since we’ve already played Alabama once this season these notes will focus on the Kentucky match.

• Tennessee is 34-15 all-time vs Alabama. The team is 7-3 in their last ten meetings. The Crimson Tide had a three match winning streak in the series, until UT broke it earlier this year. Eleven of the last 16 matches with Alabama have been sweeps for one team or the other.
• Tennessee is 29-45 all-time vs Kentucky. The team is 4-6 in their last ten meetings. The Wildcats currently hold a five match winning streak in the series. The last time Kentucky won six in a row over UT was 1993-1995.
• The last time vs Alabama: UT earned a 3-1 victory in front of what had to be one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard in Knoxville. Kanisha Jimenez controlled the match with 18 kills and 14 digs. Erica Treiber put back eight blocks. Kendra Turner made her season debut at home. And Lexi Dempsey was impressive with 39 assists. The Vols won despite being outhit by the Tide — just the 20th time that’s happened in the rally scoring era. Their .161 average was the 13th lowest in a win during that timeframe.
• The UT/UK series is the most played and longest continuously played series in program history. Both sides claim different matches, but according to Tennessee the teams have faced off 74 times since their first meeting in 1973, and have played each other every year since at least 1978.
• This is the first season since 1990 that Tennessee has not travelled to Lexington to face the Wildcats.
• Tennessee is 1-1 vs ranked opponents so far this season.
• The Vols are 1-2 when playing on television this year.
• Kentucky has been one of the top teams in the SEC for some time now. They’ve appeared in ten consecutive NCAA tournaments. They’ve been a fixture in the polls. But despite that, they’re still waiting for their first SEC title since 1988. Their three best most recent chances were all thwarted by Tennessee.
• For a lot of their history, a UT/UK match ended the regular season. In 2008, #17 Kentucky was looking to become just the second team other than Florida to win a league title since 1992. A win over the unranked Vols in Lexington and they would share the trophy with the Gators. Tennessee pulled off the upset with a 16-14 victory in the fifth set.
• In 2009, the Florida hegemony was put on hold as either LSU or Kentucky were going to win or share the title. All the #10 Wildcats had to do was defeat the unranked Vols in the last match of the regular season. UT went up 2-0 but UK fought back to tie it. In the fifth set, Kentucky led 14-10, giving them four championship points — before Tennessee scored the last six in a row to once again dash their title hopes.
• in 2011, #15 Tennessee came into the final match with a guaranteed share of the conference championship. With a victory over #16 Kentucky they would win the title outright. With a loss Kentucky would get a share of the elusive title. For the third time in four years, the Vols broke the Wildcats’ hearts at the end of the season, this time in a 3-1 decision.
• The good news for Kentucky is since that 2011 match, the UT/UK match no longer ends the SEC season! The bad news is, that while they would have time to bounce back, a loss to the Vols would create a much tighter race since the top four teams in the league are just one game apart in the standings.
• More possible good news for UK? Every odd numbered year since 2009 has seen a team other than Florida win the SEC.
  

  SEC CHAMPIONS SINCE 2009
  2009	LSU	25-7 (18-2)
  2010	Florida	29-2 (20-0)
  2011	Tennessee	28-4 (19-1)
  2012	Florida	27-5 (19-1)
  2013	Missouri	35-1 (18-0)
  2014	Florida	28-4 (18-0)
  2015	?

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ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
Friday, November 6th 8:00pm ET // Tuscaloosa AL			2015 Record: 11-13 (5-5 SEC) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS
#21 KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Sunday, November 8th 1:00pm ET // Knoxville TN			2015 Record: 17-7 (10-2 SEC) WEBSITE // SEC NETWORK // STATS