Despite some impressive individual performances, UT fell to Mississippi in five (20-25, 26-24, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13) as they begin SEC play. It was the team’s 7th conference opening loss in the last 8 seasons.

Tessa Grubbs led the Lady Vols with 19 kills. Danielle Mahaffey had a career high 17, Morgahn Fingall 12, and Alyssa Andreno 10. Andreno led the team with a .348 hitting percentage and with 4 blocks. Madison Coulter picked up 35 digs — a personal best, the 9th most by a Lady Vol all-time, and just 7 away from the school single match record. Mahaffey earned her first double-double with 21 digs. Gianna Pellizzon added 12 more. Sedona Hansen had a career best 60 assists and got the double-double with 14 digs.

Tennessee led Mississippi in kills, hitting percentage, assists, digs, and points. This was just the 4th match since 2001 (and the first in 10 years) where UT led in all those categories yet lost the game.

Unfortunately, the Lady Vols also led in total errors 48-34. Their 35 attack errors were the 10th most in the rally-scoring era.