Before we get to this weekend’s notes, here’s a recap of the matches played last weekend when the site was down.

Last Week: South Carolina

The Lady Vols fell to South Carolina 3-0 (25-15, 30-28, 25-16). Team leaders included: Tessa Grubbs with 12 kills, Addisyn Rowe with 3 blocks, Sedona Hansen with 24 assists, Lily Felts with 11 digs, and Giana Pellizon with a career high 3 aces.

It was just the third time since 2001 that the Gamecocks have swept Tennessee.

The Lady Vols were held to a .088 hitting percentage. That’s the 21st lowest average of the rally-scoring era, and their worst vs an unranked opponent since 2015.

Tennessee scored 42 statistical points — a season low and the 40th fewest since 2001. In fact, 3 of the top 50 lowest points in a match performances have come this season.

Last Week: Florida

Despite usually winning when Florida doesn’t get a sweep, the Lady Vols fell to the Gators 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 25-17). Team leaders included: Tessa Grubbs with 22 kills, Alyssa Andreno with 5 blocks, Sedona Hansen with 32 assists (and her 10th double-double of the year), Madison Coulter with 13 digs, and Andreno with the team’s only ace.

Tennessee is 0-6 vs ranked competition this season.

Despite the score, UT was right with Florida statistically. They were only 1 kill, 1 block, 5 points, and .064 hitting percentage points behind the #13 team in the country.

Only two of the Gator’s opponents this season had a better hitting percentage than Tennessee.

Three Lady Vols with double digit attacks hit over .300 vs UF.

This week: Mississippi and Georgia

UT is 45-11 all-time vs Mississippi, 23-7 in the rally-scoring era, 5-5 in their last ten matches, and 8-2 in their last ten in Knoxville. The Rebels won the previous meeting this season 3-2.

UT is 48-28 all-time vs Georgia, 24-10 in the rally-scoring era, 5-5 in their last ten matches, and 8-2 in their last ten in Knoxville. The Bulldogs won the previous meeting this season 3-1.

The Lady Vols are currently on a four-match losing streak. They haven’t lost five in a row during a season since 2016.

This week’s opponents are chasing the SEC title. Georgia is just one game behind leaders Florida and Kentucky, while Mississippi is just two games behind.

Both teams also had long SEC winning streaks until they were recently snapped. Mississippi won their first 6 league matches before falling in their last 3. Georgia lost their conference opener, then ran off 6 wins in a row before losing again.

The five-set match vs the Rebels earlier this year was the first in the series since 2011.

In the 34 meetings played vs UGA in the rally-scoring era, there have only been 3 four-set matches — one of which was earlier this year. In that time, the Lady Vols are 17-4 in three set matches, 1-2 in four set matches, and 6-4 in five set matches.

One of Mississippi’s assistant coaches, Russ Friedland, was UT’s volunteer assistant coach in 2012. Their other assistant coach, Tori Plugge, faced the Lady Vols on the court as a player at Texas A&M.

Georgia head coach Tom Black was an assistant coach for the Bronze Medal winning 2016 Olympic team that featured former Lady Vol Kelsey Robinson. He’s currently the head coach of Canada’s women’s national team.

Top five conference statistical leaders include: UT’s Ava Bell is tops in the SEC in hitting percentage, UM’s Nayo Warnell is 4th. UM’s Nicole Purcell is first in digs. UGA’s Meghan Donovan is second in assists. UT’s Tessa Grubbs is 4th in kills and 5th in points. UGA’s Brynn Chandler is 4th in aces. UM’s Aubrey Sultemeier is 5th in blocks.

The SEC Block Party podcast (hosted by Mississippi assistant coach Plugge) has featured interviews with people associated with all three teams represented in Knoxville this weekend: Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia.

You can receive free admission to both matches by showing your UAB football ticket or stub. Sunday’s match features several promotions. Head coach Eve Rackham will host a pre-game chalk talk. The team will hang around after the match to sign autographs. It’s Kid’s Day: all kids 12 and under get free admission and the first 100 will receive a prize. It’s also Girl Scout Day. All Girl Scouts wearing their uniform receive get free admission. More details on all these events and promotions are online.

Parking and security information is available online as well.

Mississippi Rebels (14-6, 6-3)

Friday, November 1st @ 6:30pm ET
Knoxville TN
Online Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: lost to Georgia and Kentucky

Georgia Bulldogs (16-5, 8-2)

Sunday, November 3rd @ 1:30pm ET
Knoxville TN
Online Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: defeated Mississippi and Arkansas, lost to Texas A&M

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.17 253 10	11.40 190 9	2.42 54 3	15.61 81 1	12.41 175 8	.217 126 9	.190 106 4
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.01 313 13	12.06 106 6	2.13 112 9	13.82 245 9	13.27 66 5	.236 70 6	.226 264 13
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.59 46 2	12.91 27 3	1.62 284 13	14.20 203 6	13.82 28 3	.231 82 7	.226 265 12

Well, if the website had to go down for a weekend this season then this was probably the best one! Tennessee fell to South Carolina in three and Florida in four. Apologies for the issues but I think everything is back up and running now. Numbers on the stats and roster pages should be up to date. I’ll do a quick weekend recap with the notes for the upcoming games.

The Lady Vols fell to South Carolina 3-0 (25-15, 30-28, 25-16). More details tomorrow.

The Lady Vols hit the road this weekend to face South Carolina and Florida for the only time this season.
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UT is 38-31 all-time vs South Carolina, 21-13 in the rally-scoring era, 4-6 in their last ten matches, and 5-5 in their last ten in Columbia.

UT is 14-50-1 all-time vs #13 Florida, 8-26 in the rally-scoring era, 2-8 in their last ten matches, and 2-8 in their last ten in Gainesville.

The Lady Vols swept both teams in their last meeting in 2018.

The team has already played in 7 five-set matches so far this season. That could be good and bad this weekend. UT has played 3 five-set matches vs the Gamecocks all-time, and lost the 2 played on their home court. But when a match vs Florida heads to a fifth set, the odds are in Tennessee’s favor. In the 9 all-time five-set matches between the teams, UT has won 7 of them.

In fact, when Tennessee wins any set in a game vs Florida, they usually win the match. The team is 12-11-1 in those situations.

SC is 6-1 and UF is 10-1 at home in 2019.

After having the best record in the conference over ranked teams last year, the Lady Vols are having trouble with them this year, going 0-5.

South Carolina assistant coach Shonda Cole played for the Gamecocks, and saw action in all eight appearances against Tennessee during her career. Her team lost the first seven but in her final match vs the Lady Vols she led the team to victory. Her 29 kills in that match stand as the 9th most by a UT opposing player in the rally scoring era.

This weekend marks the halfway point of the SEC season. In a race tighter than I’ve ever seen, six teams are in good position to fight for the championship. As usual Florida (6-1) and Kentucky (7-1) are on track and Missouri (4-2) and Texas A&M (5-3) are keeping things close. But surprisingly, Georgia (7-1) and Mississippi (6-2) are making waves and are strong contenders. The Bulldogs last won the title back in 1986. The Rebels are going after their first.

Several Lady Vols are among the tops in the league so far this season. Tessa Grubbs is 4th in kills and 6th in points. Sedona Hansen is 10th in assists. Ava Bell is 2nd in hitting percentage. Alyssa Andreno is 7th in blocks. Madison Coulter is 6th in digs. (In SEC matches, Coulter is 2nd.)

South Carolina Gamecocks (11-8, 3-4)

Friday, October 25th @ 7:00pm ET
Columbia SC
Online Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: defeated Arkansas; lost to Texas A&M and Florida

#13 Florida Gators (15-3, 6-1)

Sunday, October 27th @ 1:00pm ET
Gainesville FL
TV: SEC Network // Radio: WRUF // Live Stats
Last week: defeated South Carolina and LSU

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.24 278 7	11.77 12 7	2.33 54 6	13.13 110 10	12.74 15 7	.252 41 4	.203 19 9
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.04 292 13	12.06 98 5	2.17 91 9	13.79 236 9	13.31 64 5	.243 53 6	.219 145 11
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.28 12 6	12.19 14 4	2.66 153 1	14.42 323 4	13.08 14 6	.266 3 2	.170 262 2

The latest episode of the SEC Block Party podcast has a feature about Tennessee. Hosts Andrew and Tori Plugge talk with former Lady Vol Heather Harrington about the university, the volleyball program, Knoxville, and her career on and off the court.

Tennessee dropped a four set match vs Missouri this afternoon. I’m out of town for a family event, so will write more and update the stats when I return this week.

UPDATE: I’m back! Stats for the Missouri match are up. A few highlights: Lily Felts had 14 kills while hitting .406. Morgahn Fingall had 4 blocks. Madison Coulter dug up 14 digs and had 2 aces. Kailey Keeble put up 20 assists. Sedona Hansen had a double-double with 15 assists and 12 digs.

#16 Kentucky gets the sweep (25-23, 25-17, 30-28). More later…

UPDATE: Lily Felts led the Vols with 13 kills. She hit .375. Addison Rowe hit .500 and led the squad with 4 blocks. Morgahn Fingall put down 3 blocks. Madison Coulter and Sedona Hansen had 11 digs each. Coulter added two aces. Hansen earned another double-double with 15 assists. But Kailey Keeble had the most assists in a match for the first time in her career with 19.

The Lady Vols didn’t allow a single ace during the match. That’s the first time an opponent has done that to the Wildcats this year.

Kentucky had 5 blocks during the match. That 1.67 blocks per set is their fourth lowest average on the year.

UT hit .218. That’s the fourth highest allowed by UK this year — the three teams with better percentages all defeated the Wildcats.

The third set had 21 ties and 9 lead changes.

UPDATE #2: After the original stats had been posted, the schools released a different box score correcting several errors. The numbers in this article may have slightly changed, but the stats and roster pages should be correct now.

UT is 30-50 all-time vs Kentucky, 16-17 in the rally-scoring era, 1-9 in their last ten matches, and 4-6 in their last ten at home. The Wildcats have a three-match winning streak.

UT is 5-8 all-time vs Missouri, and 1-5 in Columbia. The Lady Vols have a three-match winning streak.

This week will mark the first time Tennessee has played two different ranked opponents back to back since 2016 (also Kentucky and Missouri).

In the rally-scoring era, Tennessee is 32-65 vs ranked teams. (Strangely, they’re 0-5 during that time vs teams ranked 25th!)

The Lady Vols have played in 10 televised matches during Rackham’s tenure, winning 6 of them. Both matches this weekend will be on TV.

The UT/UK series is the most played and longest continuously played series in program history. Both sides claim different matches, but according to Tennessee Wednesday’s match will be 81st since their first meeting in 1973. The teams have played each other every year since at least 1978.

Since 2008, Tennessee is 5-9 vs Kentucky when the Wildcats are ranked. Four of those UT wins came during matches where the Vols themselves were unranked.

In just her second year as head coach Eve Rackham already has wins over every other SEC opponent, except for one: Kentucky.

UK’s Leah Edmond is just 16 kills away from setting the school’s all-time career record.

Like Tennessee, Mizzou has a husband/wife coaching team with interim head coach Joshua Taylor and assistant coach Molly Taylor. The Taylor’s took over this year from MU’s previous husband/wife coaching team of Wayne and Susan Kreklow.

Assistant coach Taylor played in three matches vs the Lady Vols during her collegiate career.

Former Missouri head coach Craig Sherman (1986-1993) has returned to the bench this year as an assistant coach.

#16 Kentucky Wildcats (11-5, 4-1)

Wednesday, October 16th @ 7:00pm ET
Knoxville TN
TV: ESPNU // Live Stats
Last week: defeated #12 Florida; lost to Georgia

#25 Missouri Tigers (10-4, 2-2)

Sunday, October 20th @ 3:00pm ET
Columbia MO
TV: SEC Network // Live Stats
Last week: defeated Texas A&M; lost to Mississippi

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.12 278 12	13.30 12 1	2.33 54 7	15.18 110 2	14.17 15 2	.251 41 5	.153 19 1
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.12 292 12	11.88 98 7	2.20 91 9	13.67 236 9	13.15 64 5	.241 53 6	.205 145 10
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.85 12 1	13.06 14 3	2.03 153 10	11.90 323 13	14.19 14 1	.311 3 1	.232 262 12

Tennessee got a three-set victory over Mississippi State this afternoon (25-15, 25-15, 25-23). More tonight!

UPDATE: Oops! Noticed while writing the recap of the Kentucky match that I hadn’t recapped this game! Sorry about that. But just want to make sure to mention that Alyssa Andreno hit .588 on 17 attacks!

Despite a 2-0 lead, the Lady Vols fell to LSU in five this evening (24-26, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20 15-11). This was just the 26th time an opponent has completed the 0-2 comeback vs UT in program history, but the 5th time LSU has done it (only one other team has ever done it more than once). More soon…

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs led the team with 18 kills and a .371 hitting percentage. Lily Felts was just behind with 17 kills. Alyssa Andreno put up a team high 5 blocks. Addisyn Rowe and Danielle Mahaffey had 3 each. Sedona Hansen had 32 assists with Kailey Keeble adding 21 more. Madison Coulter dug up 21 balls. Felts earned her first double-double of the year with 11. She also had 5 4 aces. (Still not sure why the last one didn’t count…) That’s double her previous career high, and the 19th most in a match by any Lady Vol in the rally scoring era.

There have been 15 opponent comebacks since 2001. In 7 of those matches, like today’s, UT was within 3 points of winning in a sweep in the third set.

Tennessee is just past the midpoint of the season, and almost half their games — 7 out of 15 — have been decided in five sets. In the last 40 years UT has only had more five set matches during an entire season 6 times.

The team has lost 4 five set matches this year, which is already the fifth most in a season since 1979.

The Lady Vols get their first full weekend at home since the Tennessee Classic tournament, as they face LSU and Mississippi State.

UT is 25-37 all-time vs LSU, 12-17 in the rally-scoring era, 5-5 in their last ten matches, and 5-5 in their last ten at home.

UT is 47-12 all-time vs Mississippi State, 25-6 in the rally-scoring era, 5-5 in their last ten matches, and 8-2 in their last ten at home.

LSU’s staff is connected to two other SEC schools. Head coach Fran Flory had the same position at Kentucky for five seasons in the 1990s. Assistant coach Sarah Rumely played for the Wildcats in the mid-2000s and was SEC Player of the Year. Director of Volleyball Operations Blaire Hiler also played for UK. Rumely and Hiler also held their respective positions at Arkansas previously.

Tennessee will face one of the longest serving SEC coaches and one of the newest this weekend. LSU’s Flory is in her 22nd year with the Tigers, but her 27th as a league coach. MSU’s Julie Darty is in her second with the conference.

UT head coach Eve Rackham and MSU assistant coach Travers Green held the same job, but at different times. Both were an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida International — Rackham in 2008 and Green from 2012-2013.

Promotions: Bring your Mississippi State football ticket/stub to either match to receive free admission. Kids 12 and under get into Sunday’s match free.

Parking and security information is available at the official site.

LSU Tigers (8-6, 2-2)

Friday, October 11th @ 6:30pm ET
Knoxville TN
Live Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: lost to #22 Missouri and Mississippi

Mississippi State Bulldogs (11-6, 0-4)

Sunday, October 13th @ 1:30pm ET
Knoxville TN
Online Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: lost to Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.22 233 9	11.20 203 11	2.47 45 2	14.10 198 6	12.18 192 10	.218 121 10	.172 50 3
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.13 282 13	11.95 101 5	2.25 83 8	13.85 232 8	13.25 68 4	.242 56 6	.198 137 10
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.20 244 10	11.58 148 8	2.36 66 6	15.45 81 1	12.53 154 8	.230 83 8	.188 107 5

Apologies for this late post. While I’d hoped to actually be at the matches this weekend, I ended up not feeling well and decided to stay home, stay off the computer, and rest! Tennessee lost in their first four set match of the year to Georgia on Friday (25-16, 14-25, 27-25, 25-17), then swept Auburn on Sunday (25-20, 25-18, 25-23). Sedoana Hansen reached 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs. The stats pages have been updated if you want to see more!

Tennessee continues SEC play with matches in Athens GA and Auburn AL.

UT is 48-27 all-time vs Georgia, 24-9 in the rally-scoring era, 6-4 in their last ten matches, and 6-4 in their last ten at Georgia.

UT is 31-20-1 all-time vs Auburn, 20-9 in the rally-scoring era, 3-7 in their last ten matches, and 5-5 in their last ten matches at Auburn.

Georgia head coach Tom Black was an assistant coach for the Bronze Medal winning 2016 Olympic team that featured former Lady Vol Kelsey Robinson. He’s currently the head coach of Canada’s women’s national team.

Two players on the court during the UGA match are chasing the 1,000 digs mark. Lady Vol Sedona Hansen could get there tomorrow, just needing 4 digs. Georgia’s Kendall Glover is closing in with 949 digs.

Hansen could also reach 3,000 career assists this weekend. She’s just 30 shy of that mark. She would become the 5th Lady Vol to reach that milestone, the 16th to reach 1,000 digs, and the 4th UT player to do both.

Tessa Grubbs is 48 attack attempts away from becoming the 15th Lady Vol to reach 3,000.

Auburn’s Chesney McClellan is from Knoxville, and during her senior year of high school played for Maryville alongside UT’s Madison Coulter. She previously played for Bearden.

UT has the most senior leadership on the court this weekend. In fact Tennessee has more seniors on their squad (4) than Georgia (1) and Auburn (2) combined!

Lady Vols currently hold the top performances by an SEC player this season in kills (Grubbs with 29), attacks (Grubbs with 85), and assists (Hansen with 60), and the second best performance in digs (Coulter with 35).

Tennessee has not played a four-set match this season. Since best-of-five games became the norm in the early 1980s, this is the first time UT gone 12 matches into a season without being in a four-set match.

Georgia Bulldogs (9-4)

Friday, October 4th @ 7:00pm ET
Athens GA
Live Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: defeated South Carolina; lost to #12 Florida

Auburn Tigers (6-8)

Sunday, October 6th @ 2:30pm ET
Auburn AL
Online Video: SEC Network+ // Live Stats
Last week: lost to #12 Florida, South Carolina, Alabama

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.58 66 3	12.88 222 3	1.60 268 13	13.21 263 10	13.73 30 3	.236 74 7	.222 249 12
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.10 288 13	11.83 25 7	2.14 214 9	13.54 254 8	13.23 71 5	.245 56 5	.199 154 10
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.33 168 6	10.46 275 13	1.85 208 12	13.70 241 6	11.43 270 13	.164 288 13	.194 121 8

Tennessee fought off four A&M match points in the fifth set before getting one of their own — which they promptly took advantage of for the win (26-24, 15-25, 25-23, 20-25, 19-17). More details tonight…

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs led the team with 18 kills. Danielle Mahaffey had 15, and Lily Felts 12. Alyssa Andreno put down 7 blocks. Mahaffey added 5 more. Madison Coulter dug up 23 balls. Mahaffey earned a double-double with 15. Sedona Hansen also picked up a double-double with 43 assists and 14 digs.

Friday, UT led Mississippi in kills, hitting percentage, assists, digs, and points — but lost the match. Today, UT trailed the Aggies in kills, hitting percentage, aces, blocks, and points — but won the match! This is just the 3rd match since 2001 where UT trailed in all those categories yet won the game.

TAMU outhit UT .211 to .170. That .041 differential is the 7th most between UT and an opponent in a win in the rally-scoring era.

Hansen is now just 30 assists and 4 digs away from becoming the 4th Lady Vol with 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs.

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.