While technically next year is the 60th anniversary of Tennessee volleyball, this year’s team is the 60th squad of Vols to hit the court. And they’ll start the season tomorrow night when they take on Western Michigan in the first game of the Tennessee Classic. On Saturday they’ll face off against Wofford and George Washington.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 4-2 all-time vs Western Michigan. Their first meeting was in 1981, a 2-1 win by the Broncos. The last meeting was in 2016, a 3-1 victory for the Vols. Tennessee is 9-4 vs the Mid-American Conference since 2001.

Tennessee is 1-0 all-time vs Wofford. Their only meeting was in 2015, a 3-1 win for the Vols. Tennessee is 13-1 vs the Southern Conference since 2001.

Tennessee is 6-2 all-time vs George Washington. Their first meeting was in 1983, a 3-0 win for the Vols. Their last meeting was in 2016, also a 3-0 win for UT. Tennessee is 8-1 vs the Atlantic 10 Conference since 2001.

Since 1978, when complete season records are available, the Vols are 31-8 in their first match of the season. In the opening week of the season, the team is 86-33. Under Patrick, the team is 16-4 in season opening matches and 52-9 in the opening week of the season.

When the Vols open a season at home they are hard to beat — they’re 13-2 since 1978.

Tennessee has fared well in August matches, going 43-7 all-time and 19-1 at home.

The Vols haven’t lost to a Southern Conference team since 2002.

Patrick is just three wins away from career victory 400.

ROB PATRICK MILESTONES
MILESTONE	DATE	OPPONENT	GAMES TO REACH 100 WINS
100	9/14/2002		164
200	9/17/2006		133
300	9/16/2011		155
400	?	?	183+

WMU coach Colleen Munson faced the Vols in 2002 when she was the head coach of East Carolina. Tennessee coach Rob Patrick earned his 100th career victory that night and could reach #400 this weekend.

They’ll be two East Stroudsburg University alumni on the sidelines this weekend: Tennessee’s assistant coach A.J. Bonetti earned his bachelor’s at the Pennsylvania college while George Washington assistant Nicole Buchholz got her master’s there.

Bonetti received his master’s degree at George Washington and was also a graduate and volunteer assistant for the volleyball team.

LINKS OF INTEREST

Coach Patrick spoke with WNML this morning. He talked about: the expectations on the returners, the rise of local players in the program, the outlook for the SEC, the new athletic director, the weekend competition, and fan experience changes including courtside seats. You can listen to the interview on WNML’s show page.

Patrick and Tennessee junior Brooke Schumacher answered questions at a press conference this past week. You can watch it online or the Knoxville News Sentinel has a story with details from the event.

Tennessee played an exhibition match at Libscomb last week.

No, there are no Tennessee players on the list, but check out ESPN’s list of 12 players to watch this season.

Former Vol, SEC Player of the Year, and Olympic Bronze Medalist Kelsey Robinson has written an update on the women’s national team for Volleyball Magazine.

The latest edition of the offical Tennessee record book is online.

Be sure to check out the promotions going on for this week’s matches.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS 2016: 12-19, 6-10 MAC
	Friday, August 25, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC Network+ // Live Stats

	WOFFORD TERRIERS 2016: 17-15, 9-7 SoCon
	Saturday, August 26, 12:00pm ET Knoxville TN // Live Stats

	GEORGE WASHINGTON COLONIALS 2016: 11-18, 4-10 A10
	Saturday, August 26, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC Network+ // Live Stats