Apologies for disappearing on you for a few days! I’ve been a little ill — actually left the Arkansas match early, which I don’t think I’ver ever done! But feeling 90% better today and looking forward to some volleyball tonight!

Normally I would do notes for the Wednesday and Sunday matches at the same time, but I am crazy busy today catching up with things missed while I was sick, so these notes will be slightly abbreviated and only cover tonight’s match.

MATCH NOTES

UT is 35-18 all-time vs Alabama. The Lady Vols are 4-6 in their last 10 meetings, but 6-4 in their last 10 at home. The Tide have a 2 match winning streak — in both matches they trailed 2-1 before coming back to win in 5.

Despite the last two meetings going long, five-set matches are rare in this series — before last season only 5 such matches in 51 meetings. Including last year, 4 five-set matches have taken place between the teams in the rally-scoring era, all won by Alabama.

UT has had some issues in five-set matches the past couple of years, but hopefully things are turning around. This past week the team won their last 2 five-set match attempts since 2015, and their first two five-set matches in a row since 2012.

Tennessee freshman Raquel Perinar may get a chance to play against her sister tonight. Ginger Perinar is a junior outside hitter for Alabama, who ranks 9th in the league in kills per set. If I’m not mistaken the last time a Lady Vol faced off against her sister was on was November 23, 2012, when Tennessee’s Tiffany Baker played against Mississippi State and Chanelle Baker.

The Lady Vols are 2-3 in televised matches vs Alabama since 2001.

LINKS OF INTEREST

Lady Vol junior setter Sedona Hansen has a huge spread on the front page of the local Knoxville newspaper’s sports section today. In the piece Hansen, her mother, and coach Eve Rackham, discuss Hansen’s recent milestone, her support system, her growth as a setter, and more.

UT’s Erica Treiber has been named one of thirty players across the nation as a Senior CLASS Award candidate. The award “is presented each year to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year across nine different sports” and “honors the attributes of NCAA Division I senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition”. Tennessee has had two previous players earn recognition as a candidate: Nikki Fowler on the inaugural list in 2010, and Kayla Jeter in 2011.

Tennessee coach Eve Rackham talked with Brain Rice on the Eric Ainge Show this morning in WNML radio. They talked about UT in five-set matches, Treiber’s play, player buy-in, UT’s new handshake ritual, and local recruiting.

Tennessee is receiving votes in the latest Coaches Poll, coming in at an unofficial #33. UT is #27 in PrepVolleyball’s Top 64 ranking. They’ve broken in to the list at #30 in RichKern.com’s top 30 poll. The Lady Vols are #32 in the Pablo Ranking. And they’re receiving votes in the VolleyTalk Poll.

The first official NCAA RPI ranking is out, and UT comes in at #51.

According to the UT promotions page, tonight’s match is “Way Back Wednesday: 80’s” night and the “first 100 fans receive free tube socks”!

MATCH SCHEDULE

	ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 13-4, 1-3 SEC
	Wednesday, October 3, 8:00pm ET Knoxville TN // TV: SEC Network // Online Stream // Live Stats

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.37 123 6	12.33 87 5	2.47 48 3	15.37 123 1	13.07 102 8	.233 81 9	.179 83 6
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.97 301 13	12.63 64 3	2.25 81 5	14.42 202 5	13.82 40 1	.255 38 3	.178 78 5