Oops! I could have sworn this weekend’s matches were on Saturday and Sunday. Which is why when I ran out of time yesterday to finish my notes, I made it a two-parter assuming I could finish it up today. Well, the first match actually starts in less than an hour! So I’ll be cutting this short! Check out the official site for more.

Apologies for not double checking those dates!

Cincinnati Bearcats (2-1)

Friday, September 6th @ 10:15am ET
East Lansing MI
Online Video: BTN+ | Live Stats

2018: 26-8 (15-3, 2nd American)
Last week: wins over South Carolina, Cleveland State; loss to #12 Pittsburgh

Miami (OH) Redhawks (2-2)

Friday, September 6th @ 5:00pm ET
East Lansing MI
Online Video: BTN+ | Live Stats

2018: 23-9 (13-3, 1st MAC)
Last week: wins over Virginia Tech, SC Upstate; losses to Northwestern, Dayton

Michigan State Spartans (2-0)

Friday, September 7th @ 1:30pm ET
East Lansing MI
Online Video: BTN+ | Live Stats

2018: 17-16 (5-15, 12th Big Ten)
Last week: wins over Duke, College of Charleston

Tennessee will continue their season on the road this week at Michigan State’s Spartan Invitational in East Lansing. There they’ll face Cincinnati, Miami (OH), and the tournament hosts.

MATCH NOTES

• Tennessee is 7-3 all-time vs Cincinnati. They are on a 3 match winning streak. The first meeting between the teams came in 1973. UT is 23-4 vs American Athletic Conference teams in the rally-scoring era.
• Tennessee is 3-4 all-time vs Miami (OH). They are on a 3 match winning streak. The first meeting between the teams was in 1985. UT is 10-4 vs Mid-American Conference teams in the rally-scoring era.
• Tennessee is 1-1 all-time vs Michigan State. The first meeting was in 2003. UT is 7-17 vs Big Ten Conference teams in the rally-scoring era.
• The Lady Vols fell two spots to #21 in the latest Coaches Poll. The team is 101-15 in the rally scoring era when ranked and playing an unranked opponent.
• Cincinnati is receiving votes in the poll and would be an unofficial #38.
• This is the third time UT has visited Michigan for a tournament since 2001. They previously played in Ann Arbor in 2004 and Kalamazoo in 2016. They went 2-1 during each trip.

COACHING CONNECTIONS

• Miami University is known as the “Cradle of Coaches” for its history of producing coaches over the years. In 1992, the school started formally naming its most successful alumni into the Cradle of Coaches Association. Former Lady Vol volleyball coach Rob Patrick was honored with induction in 2011.
• UC coach Molly Alvey is 1-4 vs the Lady Vols as a head coach. From 2005 to 2013, Alvey faced UT every season — as a coach at three different schools. She was an assistant and then associate head coach at Mississippi from 2005-2009. She spent two seasons as head coach at Houston from 2010-2011. And in 2012 and 2013, played Tennessee as head coach of Cincinnati.
• MU coach Carolyn Condit is 3-4 vs the Lady Vols. She has been a head coach for 40 years, and is in her 36th season with Miami. She was hired in 1984, and faced UT for the first time in her second year, getting a 3-2 victory. She’d win three more matches in a row over the next several meetings before Tennessee picked up their first win over her in 2000.
• MSU coach Cathy George is 0-3 vs the Lady Vols. She was the first woman to coach in the NCAA Division I Final Four, leading UT Arlington within one match of the National Championship game back in 1989. Tennessee faced her squad the very next season, earning a 3-1 win. Later she moved on to Western Michigan, and in 2004, her final season there before being hired by the Spartans, UT defeated the Broncos 3-1. Last season, UT defeated Michigan State 3-1 in the first match of Eve Rackham’s tenure.
• Miami assistant coach Tania Schatow faced the Lady Vols as a player at LSU.

It was a great weekend of volleyball and despite the record I’m incredibly pleased and looking forward to how this team is going to do going forward! Here are some interesting notes about the opening weekend of play vs #6 Illinois.

• Tennessee set a school record for home attendance with 3,342 fans in the stands on Friday. That bests the previous high set in 2005 by 31 people. It’s also the 9th largest crowd to see the Lady Vols play on any court in the rally scoring era. It also tops the 3,014 people Illinois got to come to their home opener on Sunday.
• The two matches were just one minute apart in the length. Friday’s match was 2 hours 55 minutes; Sunday’s 2 hours 56 minutes. Those rank as the 5th and 6th longest matches played in the rally scoring era. Of the six longest UT matches since 2001, two had delays (a fire alarm and evacuation at Auburn in 2008 and a leaky roof necessitating moving the court vs Kentucky in 2007) and the other four have all come under coach Eve Rackham’s tenure.

FRIDAY

• Tessa Grubbs had 29 kills. That’s the 17th most in school history and the 4th most in the rally scoring era. No one has put down more kills than that in a match since 2005.
• Grubbs became the 21st member of UT’s 1,000 kills club.
• Madison Coulter and Sedona Hansen earned 29 digs each. That ties for the 26th most digs in a match in school history. It’s also just the second time in the rally scoring era that two Lady Vols have notched 25 or more digs in the same match. (Chloe Goldman had 40 and Kylie Marshall 26 vs Mississippi in 2007.)
• On top of her 29 digs, Hansen also put up 49 assists — scoring the 3rd 20-20 of her career, and just the 17th by a Lady Vol since 2001.
• Addisyn Rowe led both teams with 6 blocks.
• Illinois’ Jacqueline Quade had the 4th most kills (31) and the 3rd most points (35.5) by an opposing player against UT since 2001.
• The 23-21 fifth set was the highest scoring fifth set in school history. The previous record was 19-17 in a win over Mississippi State in 1997 and a win over Florida in 2012.
• In fact, the 23-21 set was also the highest scoring 15-point set of any kind in school history. Prior to 2001, when all sets were played to 15 points (but using different scoring rules), the most points scored was 20-18, vs Ohio State in 1992 and LSU in 1996.
• This was the 25th match in program history where UT was up 2-0 but ended up losing the match 3-2.

SUNDAY

• In a furious comeback against the #6 team in the country on their home court, it was underclassmen who led the way offensively. Sophomore Danielle Mahaffey and freshman Morgahn Fingall had 11 kills and 3 blocks each.
• Hansen earned the 49th double-double of her career, tying her for third in the rally scoring era with All-American Kelsey Robinson.
• Alyssa Andreno had the most blocks on the UT side with 4.
• For the second match in a row, no one on either side of the court had more digs than Coulter.
• This was the 14th match since 2001 where UT fell behind 0-2 but forced a fifth set. They completed the comeback 8 times, but fell short 6 times.

Tennessee almost turned the tables against Illinois this afternoon. After falling behind 0-2, the Lady Vols mounted a comeback winning the next two sets and forcing a fifth. But the comeback fell just short (25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 20-25, 15-8).

I will take an 0-2 start to the season every year if it’s against Final Four caliber opponents and we look like we belong on the same court as them. Very proud of how this team played. And I’m very excited about the rest of the season!

Much, much more when I get back to Knoxville.

UPDATE: There are some issues with the stats being reported for the matches this weekend. I think I’ve sorted out the right ones and I’ve manually added all of them for the past two matches into my stats pages here. I’ll have a weekend recap up tomorrow.

Despite taking a 2-0 lead over the #6 team in the nation and having several match points, Tennessee lost their first season opener since 2012, 3-2 to Illinois (24-26, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 23-21). Stats aren’t available yet, it’s late, and I have a long drive tomorrow! So much more on this incredible match later this weekend!

It’s the first day of the 2019 season!

Coach Rackham is profiled in today’s Knoxville News Sentinel: “Becoming a first-time Division I head coach. Buying a new house. Having a baby. Getting married. Going through any of these major life changes requires a lot of time, energy and planning. Tennessee volleyball coach Eve Rackham crammed them all into a 19-month span, producing an eventful debut in Knoxville.”

UT’s student newspaper, the Daily Beacon, previews the upcoming matches with Illinois.

Check out the match notes over at the official UT site, which include a very interesting stat on strength of schedule.

Tennessee has said they’d like to get 5,000 people to the match tonight. That’s going to be a huge get if they succeed. UT’s all-time home attendance record is 3,311 set back in 2005. There’s an asterisk there though — that match was played as a warmup to a UT basketball event. The Lady Vols have played in front of crowds of more than 5,000 five times in program history.

UT ALL-TIME ATTENDANCE RECORDS
2007		#21 Utah	11,076	Qwest Center Omaha NE	W, 3-2
2007		#1 Nebraska	10,158	Qwest Center Omaha NE	L, 3-0
2005		#3 Washington	7,931	Alamodome San Antonio TX	L, 3-0
1999		Nevada	7,434	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu HI	L, 3-2
1999		#3 Hawaii	6,272	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu HI	L, 3-0

The good news for the team is that last year in the first match of the season vs a ranked Big Ten opponent, they set a home attendance record for matches not played before a basketball game with 2,301. After the success of the team in 2018, hitting 5,000 might be doable — so show up tonight and bring a friend or two!

Parking and security information are available online here.

Check out Coach Rackham’s interview today from WNML’s Eric Ainge show with the Voice of Lady Vols Volleyball, Brian Rice. They discuss the recent exhibition, national relevance, building on last season’s success, the back to back matches vs Illinois, the thinking behind the scheduling, and the goal of getting 5,000 fans to the match.

(Reaching that number will be a huge deal — it’s almost 2,000 more people than have ever been to a home volleyball game. So do your part and be there!)

You can listen to the interview at the link above, at Apple Podcasts, or here:

It’s finally game week! The Lady Vols start the 2019 campaign with a home and away matchup vs the #6 team in the nation: Illinois.

Since 1978, Tennessee is 33-8 in season openers. The team owns a six year season opener winning streak.

Coincidentally, the team is also 33-8 in home openers during that time. The Lady Vols are on a four year winning streak in home openers.

Tennessee will open the season vs a ranked opponent for the sixth time in school history, and the second year in a row. They are 2-3 in those matches.

UT VS RANKED OPPONENT IN SEASON OPENER
1983		#9 Arizona State	W, 3-1
1993		#12 Colorado	L, 3-0
2007		#1 Nebraska	L, 3-0
2012		#12 Florida State	L, 3-0
2018		#22 Michigan State	W, 3-1
2019		#6 Illinois

UT is 2-4 all-time vs the Illini. Their first meeting was a four set loss in 1975. The last match in 2011 was a four set back-and-forth heartbreaker (31-29, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19) against the then #7 team in the country. (I remember that match specifically for two things: it was ridiculously hot in the un-air-conditioned gym; and it still stands as the fifth longest four-set match for UT in the last 20 years.)

Tennessee is 7-15 vs Big Ten schools in the rally-scoring era. UT has played teams from 29 conferences since 2001, and only has a losing record against two others: a 2-3 record vs the Pac-12, and a 0-2 record vs the new Big East.

In matches played in the month of August, Tennessee is 50-7 all-time.

Since at least 1981, UT has never played back to back matches home and away against a non-conference opponent.

The Lady Vols are 14-16 since 2001 when both they and their opponent are ranked.

The Friday night game in Knoxville will air on the SEC Network. The Sunday afternoon game in Champaign will air on the Big Ten Network. With the addition of that second televised match, UT will tie their record set last season of most regular season televised matches. (An optional eighth regular season match might also be picked up later in the year.)

In the rally-scoring era, Tennessee is 17-18 in home televised matches and 15-27 from opponents’ floors. UT is 3-6 in that time when playing a fellow ranked team on TV. The Lady Vols are on a three match winning streak when televised.

The second match vs Illinois on September 1st will be the second earliest Sunday match UT has played in the rally-scoring era. In 2009, the team faced Lipscomb on Sunday, August 30th.

Tennessee has two players from the state of Illinois: freshman Madisen Werdell and sophomore Rocky Perinar. Werdell and two Illini players (Morgan O’Brien and Kennedy Collins) played for Sky High Volleyball Club.

Illinois’ Mica Allison faced the Lady Vols last season when she played at Auburn. Illini assistant coach Rashinda Reed also played against the Lady Vols when she was a player at Georgia.

#6 Illinois Illini

2018: 32-14 (17-3, 2nd Big Ten)

Friday, August 30th @ 8:00pm ET
Knoxville TN
TV: SEC Network | Online: SEC Network | Audio: Illinois Radio | Live Stats

Sunday, September 1st @ 2:00pm ET
Champaign IL
TV: Big Ten Network | Online: Fox Sports | Audio: Illinois Radio | Live Stats

UT head coach Eve Rackham spoke with the media today… well, the media who were really there for the football press conference! Based on their very generic questions it’s obvious this was not a volleyball crowd! Luckily the coach was able to give these non sport-specific questions answers the real fans would be interested in hearing. (But hats off to the reporter who kept coming up something to ask when no one else would speak up!)

The Tennessee volleyball team will hit the court tomorrow for a scrimmage match vs High Point. The Panthers are the defending Big South champions and are predicted to repeat this season by the league coaches.

The match begins at 2:00pm at Thompson Boling Arena and admission is free. Parking info and security policies are online.

Afterwards, Coach Rackham will hold a Q&A session with fans and the team will sign autographs.

UPDATE: UT won the scrimmage 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-12). The teams played a fourth set which was won by HPU.

UT head coach Eve Rackham was interviewed by the local sports talk radio yesterday. She discussed many topics including: the spring European trip, reaction to her first season, expectations for this season, the new volunteer assistant coach, starting the season ranked, looking forward to the exhibition this week, facing a top ten Illinois team twice to open the season, what senior Tessa Grubbs means to the team, and the SEC opponents.

You can listen to the interview at the link above, at Apple Podcasts, or here:

It the first day of classes at UT today and the single digit countdown to the beginning of the season has begun! Here are some news tidbits to get you caught up in time for the first match.

• UT will play an exhibition match this Saturday at 2pm vs High Point University at Thompson Boling Arena.
• Tennessee was predicted to finish third in the conference this year by the SEC coaches. Kentucky and Florida were the top two. It’s the team’s highest ranking since the poll went divison-less in 2014.
• Tessa Grubbs was named to the Preseason All-SEC Team.
• Five Lady Vols were named to the SEC First Year Academic Honor Roll: Lily Felts, Danielle Mahaffey, Giana Pellizzon, Raquel Perinar, and Addisyn Rowe. Nine players were named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll: Alyssa Andreno, Madison Coulter, Sedona Hansen, Breana Jeter, Asha Phillips, Brooke Schumacher, Stephanie Spencer, Erica Treiber, and Callie Williams.
• Tennessee has placed at least five players on the SEC Fall Academic Honor every year since 1996 — a number no other league school can match. The team is one of only two schools to have placed a member on the team every year since the list’s inception in 1983. UT has had 205 honorees all-time, just two shy of leading the conference.
• Jennifer Charles is joining the team as volunteer assistant coach this year. She previously served as an assistant coach at Charlotte, and was a volunteer assistant at North Carolina.
• All the best to Callie Williams who has moved on from Tennessee and will play at Baylor this season!
• At least six regular season Lady Vol matches will be televised this year — with an option for a record-tying seventh possible.

TENNESSEE ON TV IN 2019
	Illinois	Friday August 30th 8pm
	Texas A&M	Sunday September 29th 3pm
	Kentucky	Wednesday October 16th 7pm
	at Missouri	Sunday October 20th 3pm
	at Florida	Sunday October 27th 1pm
	at Arkansas	Wednesday November 13th 6pm
could be added as a wildcard televised match:
	Missouri	Sunday November 24th 2pm

The Lady Vols start the season right where they left off last year in the AVCA Coaches Poll — #19. It’s the ninth time in school history the team has began the year ranked.

TENNESSEE IN THE PRESEASON AVCA COACHES POLL
1983	#14
1984	#16
1985	#19
2005	#9
2006	#11
2010	#19
2011	#24
2012	#15
2019	#19

• This is the 13th year the Lady Vols have been ranked in the poll at some point during the season.
• UT has been ranked 93 weeks of the 543 weeks the poll has rated teams since 1982. That stands as 44th best nationally.
• Since 2000, Tennessee has started the season receiving votes but not officially ranked in the poll three times: 2001, 2004, and 2007.
• The team will face four other teams currently ranked: #6 Illinois (twice), #7 Kentucky, #10 Florida, and #20 Baylor.
• Other UT opponents receiving votes: Missouri just missed the rankings at an unofficial #26. Cincinnati and South Carolina tied at #36.
• The Lady Vols will start the year in a ranked vs ranked match for just the third time in school history. In 1983, #15 Tennessee defeated #9 Arizona State to open the season. And #12 Florida State swept #15 Tennessee in the first match of 2012.

The season starts three weeks from tomorrow! And what better way to get hyped than to check out the schedule of our upcoming opponents. Here are some first impressions. (I’ll obviously have more to say during game weeks!)

• 2019 features 28 matches during the regular season. This is the first year since 2012 that Tennessee hasn’t scheduled at least 30 matches. In 2017 the team only played 27 regular season games, because three scheduled matches were cancelled due to weather issues.
• UT will play 13 matches at home and 15 on the road.
• Tennessee will play four out of conference matches this year against teams from so-called “Power Five” conferences. That’s the most on the schedule since 2012. (Not that the designation has much relevance to volleyball, but it’s still a somewhat interesting stat!)
• The Lady Vols have seven matches vs teams who finished in the 2018 AVCA Coaches Poll: #3 Illinois (twice), #10 Kentucky, #11 Florida, #23 Missouri (twice), and #24 Baylor.
• The team has ten matches vs teams who made the 2018 NCAA Tournament: Illinois (Final Four, twice), Cincinnati (Second Round), Florida (Sweet Sixteen), South Carolina (Second Round), Baylor (Second Round), ETSU (First Round), Missouri (Second Round, twice), Kentucky (Sweet Sixteen).
• Tennessee will play Illinois in back to back matches. However, unlike last season when the Lady Vols travelled to California to play San Diego twice in two days, these matches vs the Illini will be played home and away. Since at least 1981, UT has never done that against a non-conference opponent. Only twice in that time have they ever played the same non-conference opponent in back to back matches (the aforementioned San Diego games).
• Tennessee will open the season vs a ranked opponent for the sixth time in school history — and the second time in a row. They are 2-3 in those matches.

UT VS RANKED OPPONENT IN SEASON OPENER
1983		#9 Arizona State	W, 3-1
1993		#12 Colorado	L, 3-0
2007		#1 Nebraska	L, 3-0
2012		#12 Florida State	L, 3-0
2018		#22 Michigan State	W, 3-1
2019		[2018 #3] Illinois

• While it’s dangerous (and bad luck!) to call any schedule “easy”, due to unbalanced SEC scheduling, UT has one of the more favorable conference schedules possible. Of the top seven teams in the league (besides the Lady Vols), Tennessee only has to play two of them twice. The other five UT will only face once — and three of those will be home matches.
• The Lady Vols will face two new opponents for the first time in program history: Georgia Southern and North Dakota State.
• UT has faced a fellow state school all but four seasons of their existence: 2006, 2011, 2012, and 2017. The tradition continues with the ETSU match in 2019.
• While not as bad as last season, the starting time of home matches this year is still something you’ll want to double check for each match. UT has five Friday matches this year, all but one of which start at the earlier than usual 6:30 (the other is at 8:00). There are four Sunday matches, starting at 1:30, 1:30, 2:00, and 3:00. And two Wednesday matches start at 5:00 and 7:00.
• In the past ten years the Lady Vols have played eight times on the day before Thanksgiving, with (thankfully!) all but one of those matches being played here in Knoxville. They have a 6-3 record. The team will again play on Thanksgiving Eve here at home in 2019, this time vs Auburn.

The countdown to the season continues and it feels like it’s just around the corner now!

Just about everything behind the scenes has been updated for the upcoming year — the roster, the schedule, the archive, and all those stats pages! So if your volleyball withdrawal is acting up start checking that out!

Now that all that work is done, look for new articles to start posting this week! First up, a look at the upcoming schedule.

And if you haven’t already, be sure to go ahead and get your season tickets — just $30 for 13 matches.