From Rocky Top to the Palouse!

It’s gameday for the Lady Vols in Pullman WA, where they’re set to take on Colorado State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament! Win or lose tonight it’s been an incredible season and I couldn’t be happier for this team!

Be sure to check out the first three parts of these notes if you missed them: PART ONE // PART TWO // PART THREE

Here are some last minute notes. I’ll be updating this post with more as needed today.

NEWS & LINKS

— The NCAA website has posted a story on the “top five tournament first-round games you can’t miss, and why“. The number one match? Tennessee vs Colorado State! They call the Lady Vols “arguably… the biggest surprise this season”.

— The NCAA website also has a piece on the “7 unseeded teams that could make a deep tournament run“. Those teams are: Baylor, Cal Poly, Florida, Illinois State, Michigan, Purdue, and… Tennessee! “The unseeded team with the best chance of making it out of the first weekend is Tennessee.”

— The Maryville Daily Times has an article on local player Madison Coulter and her transition from hitter to libero in turnaround season for the team. “We’re all really excited to be where we are. The tournament is somewhere where this program should be.”

— The official UT website profiles Tessa Grubbs who’s had to prove some doubters wrong during her career, with the help of a club coach who believed in her. “He worked with me and told me we are not giving up on you. He really was the reason I got where I am today. He had faith in me.”

— Callie Williams isn’t the only person in her family succeeding on the court this season. Her father, Jason, is an assistant coach at Baylor. The Bears have been ranked 11 weeks this season and currently stand at #25. Last night Baylor knocked off Hawaii in an exciting 3-2 first round match in the Tournament. His team will face Oregon tonight for a shot at the Sweet Sixteen… just across the border from where his daughter will be playing!

— A VolleyTalk poster has used the Pablo Rankings to figure out the odds of each team winning in the first and second rounds. The Lady Vols are slight favorites over Colorado State at 59.6%. They get a 26.1% chance of advancing past the second round. Of the 64 teams in the Tourney, UT is the 20th most likely team to make the Sweet Sixteen according their numbers.

WATCH, LISTEN, OR FOLLOW

— This weekend’s matches will air on one of the Pac-12 live streams. I don’t know whether the game will be viewable unless you subscribe to their cable channel. When I watched the the Baylor/Hawaii match I don’t think it required me to log-in, but the Oregon/NMSU match did. Maybe only games featuring a Pac-12 team require it. If so, you’ll be good today at least!

— Can’t access the video stream? Colorado State’s radio station will have be broadcasting the game and their website has a live audio stream.

— Don’t like the CSU announcers? You can still follow the live stats!

— Worst case scenario? There’s always Twitter!
TENNESSEE // COLORADO STATE // WASHINGTON STATE // NORTHERN ARIZONA

STATS & MORE

— Tennessee and Colorado State have posted official match notes for the game.

— Tennessee currently holds two NCAA Tournament records: individual aces in a match (11 by Beverly Robinson in 1982), and team aces in a match (20 in 1982).

— I haven’t forgotten about the seniors or the new recruits! Look for posts about them next week!