It’s the first day of the 2019 season!

Coach Rackham is profiled in today’s Knoxville News Sentinel: “Becoming a first-time Division I head coach. Buying a new house. Having a baby. Getting married. Going through any of these major life changes requires a lot of time, energy and planning. Tennessee volleyball coach Eve Rackham crammed them all into a 19-month span, producing an eventful debut in Knoxville.”

UT’s student newspaper, the Daily Beacon, previews the upcoming matches with Illinois.

Check out the match notes over at the official UT site, which include a very interesting stat on strength of schedule.

Tennessee has said they’d like to get 5,000 people to the match tonight. That’s going to be a huge get if they succeed. UT’s all-time home attendance record is 3,311 set back in 2005. There’s an asterisk there though — that match was played as a warmup to a UT basketball event. The Lady Vols have played in front of crowds of more than 5,000 five times in program history.

UT ALL-TIME ATTENDANCE RECORDS
2007		#21 Utah	11,076	Qwest Center Omaha NE	W, 3-2
2007		#1 Nebraska	10,158	Qwest Center Omaha NE	L, 3-0
2005		#3 Washington	7,931	Alamodome San Antonio TX	L, 3-0
1999		Nevada	7,434	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu HI	L, 3-2
1999		#3 Hawaii	6,272	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu HI	L, 3-0

The good news for the team is that last year in the first match of the season vs a ranked Big Ten opponent, they set a home attendance record for matches not played before a basketball game with 2,301. After the success of the team in 2018, hitting 5,000 might be doable — so show up tonight and bring a friend or two!

Parking and security information are available online here.