UPDATE: These matches have once again been delayed and are now scheduled for Sunday and Monday at 1pm ET.

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After a slight delay, Tennessee is hitting the road for their first away matches of the spring portion of the season, heading to Oxford to take on Mississippi.

Tennessee is 46-11 all-time vs Mississippi. UT is 6-4 in the last ten meetings and also 6-4 in the last ten meetings at Mississippi.

The Rebels have only defeated the Lady Vols twice in the same year two times — 2007 and 2013.

On the SEC stats sheet, the widest gap between Tennessee and Mississippi is in digs: the Lady Vols lead the league with 15.86 per set, while the Rebels are last with 11.70 per set.

Mississippi has ten matches remaining on their spring schedule, including the two this weekend. But these games vs UT will be their final home matches of the 2020-21 season.

Back in her collegiate playing days, Mississippi head coach Kayla Banwarth was a walk-on at then #1 Nebraska in 2007. The freshman was put on the court late in the third and final set of the team’s very first match of the season — vs Tennessee. Midway through that season she’d become the Huskers’ starting libero, a position she held until her graduation.

UT has done extremely well when playing in the Magnolia State. In states where they’ve played at least ten matches during the rally-scoring era, they’ve only performed better in one other place.

WIN/LOSS RECORD BY STATE (AT LEAST 10 MATCHES SINCE 2001)
MARYLAND	.900	9-1
MISSISSIPPI	.727	24-9
CALIFORNIA	.727	8-3
TENNESSEE	.699	193-83
OHIO	.667	10-5
NORTH CAROLINA	.643	9-5
ALABAMA	.618	21-13
GEORGIA	.611	11-7
INDIANA	.600	6-4

If the Lady Vols can win both matches in Oxford, they’ll have a six match win streak, a feat they’ve only accomplished during three other seasons in the past ten years: 2012, 2015, and 2018.

UT’s Madison Bryant and UM’s Gabby Easton played high school volleyball together at T.L. Hanna in Anderson SC. UT’s JaKya Moore and UM’s Avery Bugg both played for Triangle Volleyball Club at different times.

Oxford MS
MISSISSIPPI
February 20th, 1:00pm ET	Stats | Video
February 21st, 1:00pm ET	Stats | Video