Just a reminder that Tennessee takes on Mississippi State at home this afternoon at 1:30pm. Scroll down a bit to get match notes and other info about the game!

Alabama won a three game match to beat the Lady Vols in their SEC opener 35-33, 30-25, 30-21. More details later tonight as they become available.

UPDATES: The box and the story are online

Coach Patrick: “This is a difficult loss to take. I thought we were well prepared for the match, but we did not execute the way we have been in practice. Alabama did a really good job of taking advantage of that lack of execution. We passed well and gave ourselves opportunities in serve receive, but I was disappointed in our transition play. It’s hard to ride on the shoulders of a freshman, but Nikki (Fowler) did a great job of carrying us through some inconsistent play.“

I’ve posted some photos from the game.

Tennessee opens SEC play tonight vs Alabama at 7pm. The best way to watch the game, of course, is to come out to Stokely and watch the Lady Vols in person! UT students get in free with their student ID cards. Adults are just $5 and kids are just $3! Tennessee volleyball games are fun for all but kids – or just young at heart Vol fans – will especially enjoy aspects of the experience you just can’t get at football or basketball games. You can get right up close to the action, interact and have your picture taken with Smokey, sit right next to the band as they play Rocky Top over and over, high five the team and get autographs after the game, and maybe even win some prizes.

If you can’t make the game, tonight’s match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports South.

Tennessee begins SEC play this weekend with two home match-ups. Opponents Alabama and Mississippi State have posted match notes on their websites (Tennessee’s should be available soon). The notes include rosters, team information, statistics, and other interesting tidbits.

• Alabama (3-6): website | match notes (PDF)
game time is Friday at 7pm

• Mississippi State (5-4): website | match notes (PDF)
game time is Sunday at 1:30pm

UPDATE: Tennessee match notes (PDF) for the weekend games are now available.

The NCAA website has begun their weekly listing of national statistical rankings. Tennessee placed in the top 75 of the nation in several categories. Stats are for games played through September 9th.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

• Aces per Game
51st – Kylie Marshall (0.63 aces per game)

• Blocks per Game
26th – Leah Hinkey (1.54 blocks per game)
50th – Mindy Flynn (1.39 blocks per game)

TEAM STATS

• Blocks per Game
14th – Tennessee (3.27 blocks per game)

• Match Win/Loss Percentage
72nd – Tennessee (.714 W/L percentage)

Placements beyond the top 75 for Tennessee follow:

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Tennessee coach Rob Patrick will begin appearing on WUTK radio every Tuesday night for the rest of the season to discuss the team and upcoming matches. The program is at 7:30pm ET Tuesday nights on 90.3 FM in the Knoxville area, or you can listen to the station’s live internet feed from anywhere in the world.

The week three CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll was was released today. After losing to Creighton this past weekend the Lady Vols drop from an unofficial 31st to 39th, receiving just 7 points from the voters.

Other SEC teams on the list include: #6 Florida (+/-0), #24 LSU (-3), and #40 Mississippi (+/-0). Other ranked teams on Tennessee’s remaining schedule are: #30 Louisville (+8) and #38 Notre Dame (+2).

The full AVCA top 25 follows.

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Tennessee had a mixed weekend at the Illini Classic, losing to Creighton in 3 and beating Marquette in 4. Leah Hinkey made the all-tournament team. Seven players on the Lady Vols roster matched or exceeded career highs.

• Tennessee is 1-1 vs Creighton
• Tennessee is 2-0 vs Marquette
• Tennessee has a recent history of starting off the season strong. Currently 5-2, in the past 10 seasons the Lady Vols have started worse than that only twice (1999 & 2001).

Career bests matched or exceeded this weekend:
• Jena Berg: kills, attacks, assists, and blocks
• Nikki Fowler: kills, attacks, aces, and digs
• Chloe Goldman: assists and digs
• Leah Hinkey: kills, attacks, and assists
• Jaye Loyd: aces
• Kylie Marshall: assists and blocks
• Farren Powe: digs and blocks

The Lady Vols take 3rd place at the Illini Classic defeating Marquette in the consolation match 3-1 (30-26, 25-30, 30-19, 30-22).

I’m leaving for the Tennessee/Southern Miss football game but will update with the story and the stats when I return later tonight!

UPDATE: UT has the story and the box score.

Leah Hinkey was named to the All-Tournament team.

I’ll update the stats page and have a weekend recap by tomorrow!

(BTW – The Tennessee football team beat USM 39-19!)

The Gametracker does not seem to be working so I will post the current score of the game every few minutes in this post.

Game 1: Tennessee 30, Marquette 26
Game 2: Marquette 30, Tennessee 25
Game 3: Tennessee 30, Marquette 19
Game 4: Tennessee 30, Marquette 22
score updated at 3:19

UPDATE: I paid for the CSTV XXL, watched about two minutes of the game before it stopped, and not the game is not listed as even being available to watch anymore! It was there minutes ago but is no longer listed! I may have just wasted $15! I’ll keep trying!

Looks like we’re back on – just check under the Illinois/Creighton link now!

The Lady Vols will face Marquette after the Golden Eagles’ loss to host Illinois. The match will take place at 1pm ET on Saturday. Check these previous posts for how to keep up with the score of that match.

UPDATE: Here’s the actual Gametracker link for the game.

The Lady Vols lose the first game of the Illini Classic to Creighton 3-0 (30-25, 30-24, 30-22). More details and stats should be coming later tonight. For now, you can check Gametracker info here.

UPDATES: Creighton has the story and the stats.

Tennessee has their story up.

I mentioned in a previous post the different ways to watch, listen to, or see live stats from the games this weekend. Here’s one more that might be more useful. CSTV has a service called XXL that lets you watch or listen to thousands of live games of over 30 different sports from over a hundred schools. Volleyball is very well represented with a ton of live games from all over the country. While Tennessee is not part of the program, you will get to see them when they play at a school that is on board, including every game of the tournament this weekend, and scheduled opponents Auburn, Louisville, and South Carolina. The cost is $14.95 a month. Several games each week are available for free viewing (though not the Illini Classic).

Tennessee hits the road tonight for the Illini Classic. The four teams taking part have posted match notes on their websites. The notes include rosters, team information, statistics, and other interesting tidbits.

• Tennessee (PDF)
• Illinois (PDF)
• Creighton (PDF)
• Marquette

A week after being named SEC defensive player of the week for her accomplishments at the AVCA Showcase, Leah Hinkey has been named Lady Vol Athlete of the Week for her MVP winning performance at the Lady Vol Classic. Hinkey matched her career high for kills with 14 and hit a career high .619 hitting percentage vs Belmont, and sereved a career high 5 aces vs Appalachian State. Over the three game tournament she hit .509 (32-5-53).