Nikki Brice – Biological Sciences
Jasmine Brown – Social Work
Leslie Cikra – Sport Management
DeeDee Harrison – Sport Management
Kayla Jeter – Sociology
Kelsey Mahoney – Nutrition
Ellen Mullins – Business
Kelsey Robinson – Journalism & Electronic Media
Carly Sahagian – Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Management
Kylann Scheidt – Journalism & Electronic Media

Increase substitutions from 12 to 15. “The rules committee as a whole felt more substitutions in a match can help student-athlete well-being and keep student-athletes happy. The traditionalists of the game probably don’t want this. They want us to make it truer and make people play all positions so players become well-rounded. That certainly was a big topic of discussion. But ultimately, this committee sided with the opportunities for student-athletes.”

Allow transmission of statistical data to the bench area. Audio/video would continue to be restricted. “People from all the divisions are using [laptops and iPads]. Technology is advancing in the world, and volleyball is no exception. We don’t want to close down technology in our sport.”

Ensure referee platforms, including the ladder, are distributed evenly behind the net pole. “Potentially, this could be a cost issue for some schools. We felt like there was enough opportunity to adapt to another system. We want to implement this immediately for player-safety reasons.”

They also clarified rules about libero jerseys to allow trim and piping as long as it is still distinguishable from other players.

In other news, the SEC coaches had their annual meeting earlier this month. A big topic of discussion I’d be willing to bet was the schedule for the upcoming season. Currently each SEC team plays the other 10 opponents in the conference two times, home and away, for a total of 20 league matches. With Missouri and Texas A&M joining the fold next year, that system becomes impossible. It would require each team to play 24 conference matches. And due to NCAA rules limiting the days of competition allowed each regular season (capped at 28 I believe), that wouldn’t leave enough room for preseason tournaments or other out of conference games. So for the first time in 7 years, SEC teams will not play an even schedule with their league foes. I have no idea what they’re going to come up with but it is inevitable that we’re going to have a situation where it’s possible that if two teams are neck and neck for the title one of them might have an easier schedule than the other.

Tennessee has officially announced local recruit Megan Hatcher (pictured) will be joining the squad this upcoming season.

Hatcher was recently named to the TSWA Division II All-State Volleyball Team. And while I reported on her All-American and Gatorade State Player of the Year honors, I don’t remember if I mentioned another Tennessee 2012 recruit, Bianca Arellano, was also named All-State and All-Arizona.

Previously mentioned high school junior Ashley Mariani was named to the PrepVolleyball.com Class of 2013 Top 50 Recruits list. Also making the list and noted as coming to Tennessee was a name I hadn’t heard yet, Jamie Lea of Hillsborough NC. Lea is a 6’2” outside hitter from Jammers Volleyball Club and (appropriately enough!) Orange High School.

Curious about the RPI formula? For the first time the NCAA is letting fans view the actual data used by the selection committee. Check out the final numbers from the 2011 season here.

The results are in for the UT website poll on the top moment of 2011 in Tennessee athletics. The winner with 31.6% of the vote was Brad Craig winning back-to-back SEC titles in the 200-meter breaststroke. Of the 17 available choices, the Lady Vols winning the SEC Volleyball Championship came in 4th with 7.4% of the vote.

Tennessee has an update on Anna Martin. It also includes a photo gallery of some of the UT teams visiting and showing their support. As mentioned in a post this past September, the ten year old went through a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed in May with leukemia. Her mother is Kristen Martin, the coordinator of Tennessee’s Team ENHANCE (Enhancing Nutrition, Health, Athletic Performance, Networking, Community and Education) program. Anna played in the same volleyball league as my daughter. Here’s a photo of all the 5th grade teams this year showing Martin their support after the last week of the season.

In other systems, Tennessee fell from 9th to 14th in the final RPI, 14th to 19th in the final RichKern.com Poll, and from 9th to 12th in the Pablo Rankings.

The official UT site has more: “Tennessee has now finished the season with a top-25 ranking in each of the past three years and seventh time in program history. The highest final ranking came in 2005, as the Lady Vols finished sixth after a run to the NCAA Final Four. UT also finished 10th in 2004, 14th in both 1982 and 1983 and 24th in 2009 and 2010.”

This time next year I’ll be in Louisville watching the national championship. It’s just a 247 mile drive from Knoxville. Hopefully I’ll see a lot of you there…

Illinois faces UCLA for the title this evening. The Lady Vols and the Bruins have (surprisingly, I think) never met. The Illini own a 2-4 advantage over Tennessee all time. The last meeting was earlier this season, when Illinois won a tough 3-1 match (31-29, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19). The Lady Vols were 1 point away from winning the first set, 2 points away from winning the second set, and won the third — just a 3 point swing and Tennessee would have had a sweep over the potential national champion! It was a brutal game at 2 and a half hours (long for a 4 set match) in an un-air conditioned gym. But the team has stated that that match, despite the loss, was when they really first felt the potential of this Tennessee squad.

In 2008, Illinois got a 3-2 win over UT, becoming the only team to defeat Tennessee in the Lady Vol Classic in the past 7 years.

Four Lady Vols are from the state of Illinois — Kelsey Robinson, Carly Sahagian, Shealyn Kolosky, and assistant coach Rachel Cooper. In fact the Illini roster has several players Robinson, Sahagian, and Kolosky were club or school teammates with.

The match is on ESPN2 tonight at 8:30pm ET (assuming the basketball game on before it doesn’t run long). And be sure to check out the UT Twitter feed for a few photos of the coaches and All-American Kelsey Robinson at the AVCA convention (which precedes the championship game) this week.