There seems to be some confusion when it comes to this weekend’s opponent — San Diego. I’ll be honest I don’t think anyone knows what it means anymore. Scholars maintain that the translation was lost hundreds of years ago. But that’s not what I’m talking about!

In my notes I mentioned that UT and San Diego were meeting for the first time. In UT’s official notes, they say UT and San Diego played once before — a 3-1 win (15-9, 15-5, 12-15, 15-12) on October 11, 1980. And San Diego’s notes say that they are 0-1 all time vs the Lady Vols with the single meeting occurring on October 11, 1980.

So I’m wrong, right? Well, first of all, being right or wrong isn’t the point. Secondly, I don’t think I’m wrong!

Something important you need to know is that there are three different NCAA Division I schools with “San Diego” in their name. There is the team we are playing this weekend, the University of San Diego (USD). Then there is the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or UCSD). And lastly there is San Diego State University (SDSU).

According to the UT record book, they played at the San Diego Invitational at San Diego State on September 19th & 20th of 1980. At the tournament they lost to SDSU. The day after the tournament, again according to UT, the team played UC San Diego and won 3-1 (15-9, 15-5, 12-15, 15-12). Finally, according to the record book, UT was at a tournament at Florida State on October 11th.

I double checked all this info with other sources to confirm. San Diego State’s record book has Tennessee at their tournament on those dates. UC San Diego’s record book has UT there on the right date. And the University of San Diego record book says the Lady Vols never played them. One last check with the local newspaper archives also confirms the information as listed here.

It’s completely understandable why Tennessee mistakingly said we’ve played San Diego before, because of the confusion with the names. What I don’t understand at all is why USD thinks we’ve met when their own record book says otherwise! Agree to disagree, San Diego.