- UT is 3-1 all-time vs Eastern Michigan. The teams have only met once in the past 25 years, with the Vols getting a sweep in 1999. EMU’s lone win came in 1988 in five sets.
- UT is 2-1 all-time vs Cleveland State. The teams’ first known meeting was in 1974. Their last meeting was in 2014, with the Vols getting a 3-1 victory.
- UT and Kent State are meeting for the first time.
- Tennessee is 6-3 vs Mid-American Conference teams and 1-0 vs the Horizon League since 2001.
- The Vols are 6-3 in matches played in Ohio in the rally scoring era.
- The Kent State match is not part of the Cleveland State Invitational. That tournament is a one day affair on Friday. The next day some of the teams competing in it and the Golden Flashes Classic (held the same day as CSU’s tournament) will switch gyms to play each other in stand alone out of conference matches before heading home.
- Kent State head coach Don Gromala has coached against the Vols twice before: as a graduate assistant in 2005 with Ohio and in 2011 in the NCAA Tournament with Ohio State as an assistant coach.
- During her college playing career, EMU head coach Kimi Olson’s USC squad faced off against Tennessee in 2006. The Women of Troy won 3-1. She also coached against Tennessee as an assistant at College of Charleston last year.
- Friday’s first match will feature a College of Charleston reunion of sorts. EMU head coach Olson was an assistant coach at CofC while EMU assistant coach Darcy Dorton and UT transfers Mackenzie Cooler and Britney Vallez played there. (Another note of interest: Cooler and Vallez are what has to be a tiny number of Vols to have also played against Tennessee!)
2-1 // 9/2 @ 2:30pm ET // Cleveland OH // STATS
2016 Match Notes: CSU Invitational and Kent State
