I’m back to my regular schedule just in time for Tennessee’s first home match in two-and-a-half weeks! They’ll take on South Carolina Wednesday, then travel to Georgia on Sunday. Before we get to that though, here’s a look back at this past weekend’s games.

WEEKEND RECAP

With their last victory, Tennessee has clinched a winning record this season!

Erica Treiber’s 6 aces vs Texas A&M were the most by any Lady Vol since Kylie Marshall’s 9 vs Appalachian State in 2007. (Fun fact: that 2007 match was the first one I attended after starting this website!)

Treiber now has 30 aces on the season. She is one of only seven Lady Vols in the rally-scoring era to reach that milestone, and one of only two to do so after 2004.

Tennessee had season highs in digs and attacks in the four-set win over LSU.

They also had their lowest hitting percentage of the season in a winning effort in that match as well, with a .178.

Tessa Grubbs had 39 kills over her two matches this past weekend.

Sedona Hansen added two more double-doubles to her stat sheet, bringing her to a career total of 43.

Madison Coulter has had 3 20+ dig performances over the last month. She’s averaging over 18 digs per match in that time.

Only two players have been on the court for every set this season so far: Trieber and Addisyn Rowe. Hansen is just one set short of that mark.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 37-31 all-time vs South Carolina. UT is 4-6 in their last ten meetings, and 7-3 in their last ten in Knoxville. The Gamecocks have a four-match winning streak.

Tennessee is 46-28 all-time vs Georgia. UT is 6-4 in both their last ten meetings and their last ten in Athens.

We’re halfway through the SEC season and the South Carolina match in an important game for both teams as they battle for position in the standings. Tennessee is 4th in the conference with a 7-2 record (16-5 overall). The Gamecocks are right behind in 5th place with a 6-3 record (15-4 overall).

Of the 20 matches Georgia has played so far this season, 9 have gone to five sets — including 6 of their 9 SEC matches. They’ve gone 3-6 in those games (2-4 in conference).

Tennessee’s Eve Rackham is one of four new head coaches in the SEC this year. UT has already met two of those other squads this season: Mississippi State led by Julie Darty and Texas A&M led by Bird Kuhn. Rackham’s Lady Vols won both matches. This week they’ll face the last new league coach, Tom Mendoza at South Carolina.

SC assistant coach Shonda Cole played for the Gamecocks as well, and saw action in all eight appearances against Tennessee during her career. Her team lost the first seven but in her final match vs the Lady Vols she led the team to victory. Her 29 kills in that match stand as the 7th most by a UT opposing player in the rally scoring era.

Wednesday’s match will air on ESPNU. Tennessee is 2-2 in televised matches this season, with all of them ending in a score of 3-1 for the winning team. The Lady Vols have faced South Carolina 6 times on TV since 2001 — but have only won once, back in 2008.

NEWS AND LINKS

Tennessee is receiving votes in the latest Coaches Poll, coming in at an unofficial #28. UT is #24 in PrepVolleyball’s Top 64 ranking. They’re #28 in the RichKern.com Poll. The Lady Vols are also #28 in the Pablo Ranking. They’re receiving votes in the VolleyTalk Poll at #27. And in the Massey Rating they are #23.

Congratulations to local high schools Webb and Catholic! Webb won their sixth straight state volleyball championship last week, while Catholic was the runner-up in their division.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS 15-4, 6-3 SEC
	Wednesday, October 24, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // TV: ESPNU // Online Stream // Live Stats

	GEORGIA BULLDOGS 12-8, 3-6 SEC
	Sunday, October 28, 2:00pm ET Athens GA // 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	1.74 10 1	11.35 222 12	1.97 177 9	12.55 313 13	12.68 151 10	.246 50 4	.198 160 7
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.96 309 13	12.57 68 4	2.22 103 5	14.95 164 3	13.74 38 2	.238 67 5	.180 77 4
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.63 22 2	12.70 58 2	1.65 281 13	14.60 197 6	13.45 66 4	.227 87 7	.212 223 10