TENNESSEE
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Tennessee is making their 15th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and their first since 2012. UT has the fourth most appearances by an SEC school.
The Lady Vols made their first appearance in the very first NCAA Tournament held in 1981. They made their farthest run in 2005, making it all the way to the Final Four.
The team is 13-14 all-time in the tournament, 9-5 in first round matches, 2-4 in first round road matches, and 1-2 in first round road matches where they don’t face the host team. They’ve won 3 of their last 4 first round matches.
In 4 of their last 5 postseasons, UT was knocked out in a match that went to five sets.
The Lady Vols will head to the Palouse this week, making this trip the farthest they have traveled for an NCAA Tourney match. As far as I can tell, this will be their first trip ever to Washington. During the regular season the team has played in the Northwest several times: Wyoming in 1988, Oregon in 1994, and Boise State (Idaho) in 1995. Some of the California cities they have played in have been a bit farther away. And Tennessee has played much farther away in Hawaii twice, in 1985 and 1999.
Tennessee played 7 teams this year that made the NCAA Tournament. In those matches they went 5-5. UT’s only losses this year came vs Tournament teams.
The Lady Vols enter the Tournament having won 11 matches in a row, and 15 of their last 16.
This year the squad was 9-1 in sweeps, 12-2 in four set matches, and 4-2 in games that required the tiebreaker.
The rest of the season will be played away from home. Tennessee went 11-4 in road matches this year.
Against ranked competition, Tennessee led the SEC this year, with a 4-3 record. No other league school had more than two wins vs a ranked opponent, and no other league school had a winning record vs ranked teams.
Against the field Tennessee is:
— 2-2 vs Colorado State (last match: 3-2 win in 2012)
— 0-2 vs Washington State (last match: 3-0 loss in 2000)
— 0-1 vs Northern Arizona (last match: 2-0 loss in 1987)In the rally-scoring era Tennessee is:
— 3-1 vs Mountain West Conference teams. The last two times the Lady Vols played a MWC opponent it was Colorado State (a win in 2009 and a loss in 2012).
— 2-2 vs Pac-12 teams. They’ve lost the last 2 in a row. UT hasn’t faced a Pac-12 team since 2006.
— 1-0 vs Big Sky Conference teams. The only meeting was a win over Montana State in 2014.In the final regular season rankings Tennessee is:
— #19 in the AVCA Coaches Poll (tied with Washington State)
— #26 in the RPI
— #21 in the Pablo Rankings
— #20 in the RichKern.com Poll
— #13 in the PrepVolleyball Glance at the Dance
— #19 in the VolleyTalk Poll
— #16 in the VolleyMob Power Rankings
— #16 in the Massey RatingsCOLORADO STATE
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Colorado State is making its 24th straight and 30th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Rams made their first NCAA Tournament in 1983. Their farthest run has been to the Sweet Sixteen, which they’ve made 10 times (most recently in 2014).
Only 10 teams have earned more tournament berths than Colorado State.
The Rams are 29-34 in the Tournament, and 17-5 in first round matches.
Colorado State is facing an SEC team in the Tournament for the 4th time, going 1-3 in those matches. Their only win was in a first round meeting.
The Rams won their 15th Mountain West Conference title this year. They have a 23-7 overall record and a 15-3 conference mark. They are the only MWC team that made the cut this year.
CSU is 11-4 in road matches this year. They’ve swept half their matches this season. They’re: 15-1 in three set matches, 7-4 in four sets, and 1-2 in five sets.
UT and CSU have two common opponents this season. They defeated LSU 3-0, UT defeated LSU 3-1. Both teams defeated Indiana State 3-0.
The Rams went 0-2 vs ranked competition: a close 3-2 loss to #12 (currently #4) Illinois, and a 3-0 loss to #20 Michigan.
CSU enters the Tournament on a 12-1 run, having barely lost their last match of the regular season 16-14 in the fifth set. The last time they lost their final match of the season, they reached the Sweet Sixteen.
Against other members of the subregional field, Colorado State is 1-2 vs Washington State and 7-2 vs Northern Arizona.
Colorado State assistant coach Luke Murray faced the Lady Vols previously as an assistant at ETSU in 2013 in a match won by the Bucs.
WASHINGTON STATE
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Washington State is making its 3rd straight and 13th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Cougars made their first NCAA Tournament in 1991. Their farthest run has been to the Elite Eight, which they’ve made twice (most recently in 2002).
WSU is 11-12 in the Tournament.
Washington State is facing an SEC team in the Tournament for the 3rd time, going 1-2 in those matches. Their lone win? A 3-0 win against Tennessee in 2000.
Wazzou finished fourth in the Pac-12 this season — and earned a Tournament seed! That’s a concrete display of the strength of the conference. They have a 21-9 overall record and a 12-8 conference mark. They are one of 8 Pac-12 teams that made the Tournament.
The Cougars are 10-3 at home this year. They’re: 9-1 in three set matches, 8-4 in four sets, and 4-4 in five sets.
UT and WSU have one common opponent this season. Both squads lost to ETSU in five sets.
Fully half of Washington State’s schedule this season was against ranked competition. The team went an impressive 9-6 in those matches.
Against other members of the subregional field, the Cougs are 2-1 vs Colorado State and 0-1 vs Northern Arizona.
Washington State head coach Jennifer Greeny was an assistant coach at the school in 2000, where her team defeated the Lady Vols in an NCAA Tournament match.
NORTHERN ARIZONA
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Northern Arizona is making their 3rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Lumberjacks made their first NCAA Tournament in 1999. Their most recent appearance was 2015. They were knocked out in the first round both times.
NAU won their regular season conference title as well as the Big Sky Tournament title. They have a 26-8 overall record as well as a 15-3 league record. The ‘Jacks have won 13 straight matches — the last 5 of which were sweeps.
Northern Arizona is 16-6 in road matches this year. They’ve never been swept this season. They’re: 16-0 in three set matches, 7-3 in four sets, and 3-5 in five sets.
Tennessee and Northern Arizona have one common opponent this season. Both squads defeated Florida: UT in a sweep, NAU in five.
The Lumberjacks’ win over #8 Florida was their only match vs a ranked opponent this season. It was their first win over a ranked team since 1989.
NAU head coach Ken Murphy was a former assistant coach at Colorado State under their current head coach Tom Hilbert.
After 2.9 seasons without noticing her, the SEC has finally honored Erica Treiber in the last weekly awards list of her career! Treiber earned the SEC Player of the Week and the SEC Defensive Player of the Week awards. In 2015, she won Freshman of the Week twice.
“Tennessee’s Erica Treiber averaged 2.29 blocks per set as the Lady Vols posted two wins last week to finish 16-2 in the conference. She tallied five total blocks in the win over No. 13 Florida, and recorded her first double-double of 16 kills and 11 blocks against Ole Miss.”
It’s official! The Lady Vols are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012! They’re heading to Pullman WA where they’ll face Colorado State in the first round on
ThursdayFriday — possibly late for us since it will be out on the west coast. If they win that match they’ll face #16 seed Washington State or Northern Arizona. Updates coming…— The NCAA is listing the time of the match as 7:00pm ET.
— Five SEC teams made the tournament: Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina.
— Check back everyday this week as I’ll be posting match notes each day leading up to the first game!
The SEC announced their annual awards today and three Lady Vols made the cut! Congratualtions to Erica Treiber and Tessa Gribbs who were named to the All-SEC team and Lily Felts who was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. Treiber and Grubbs are the first Tennessee players to make All-SEC since 2012, while Felts is the first on the freshman list since 2016.
The NCAA will officially announce the 64 teams being invited to compete in this year’s National Championship Tournament tonight at 8:30pm ET on ESPNU. According to RichKern.com’s estimator, Tennessee should end up around #26 in the RPI. I’ll be back tonight with a few quick notes, then all week we’ll get ready for UT’s first tourney appearance since 2012!
UT got a 3-1 (25-13, 25-13, 21-25, 25-23) win over Mississippi on Senior Night to end the regular season 25-5 with an 11 match winning streak. More tonight.
UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs put down 20 kills along with a career high .586 hitting percentage. On Senior Night, Erica Treiber earned her first career double-double with 16 kills and a career high 11 blocks. Alyssa Andreno had 6 blocks, while Addisyn Rowe and Grubbs had 3 each. Callie Williams led the team with 25 assists; Sedona Hansen added 19 more. Madison Coulter had 16 digs, Brooke Schumacher 14, and Hansen 12 (and the double-double).
Treiber’s 2 aces bring her to 43 on the year — that’s 1 short of 3rd on the rally-scoring era season aces chart, and 3 short of 2nd place.
Treiber’s double-double was just the 4th in the last decade to feature blocks.
With today’s win, Tennessee will either tie for the 3rd fewest losses in a season in school history or (if they win the national championship!) have the 3rd fewest losses in a season outright.
The Lady Vols finish conference play with 11 wins in a row, matching the school record.
It’s the final regular season match of the year which means it’s time to honor the seniors: Breana Jeter, Brooke Schumacher, Stephanie Spencer, and Erica Treiber. I’ll be writing more about them next week, but be sure to head out to the game to give them a proper send-off!
NOTE: The schedule originally listed this as a 3pm match. It now says the match starts at 1pm.
MATCH NOTES Tennessee is 44-10 vs Mississippi all-time. UT is 6-4 in their last ten overall matches and 8-2 in the last ten matches in Knoxville.
Of all the teams in the conference, UT has their best record against the Rebels with a .815 winning percentage.
Since 1997, the Lady Vols are 15-6 on Senior Day.
In the rally-scoring era, Tennessee is 2-5 in Saturday matches in November.
In the last match between the teams earlier this season, UT’s Erica Treiber and UM’s Emily Stroup both recorded the 1,000th kill of their careers.
Back in March of this year I mentioned that I had updated the coaching milestones stats page so that it would now track Eve Rackham’s records. I jokingly wondered whether she could reach the first milestone on the page in 2018 — 25 wins — adding “no pressure!” Apparently there wasn’t any because she is one win away from doing it!
The Lady Vols have reached 25 wins 11 times in program history, the last time being in 2011. A win over Mississippi would mark the third fastest the team reached that milestone.
Tennessee has won 13 home matches this season so far. A win over Mississippi would tie for the third most since 1978.
A win over Mississippi would give UT its 16th SEC win, tying for the second most in school history. It would be their third best conference mark by winning percentage.
This match is Second Harvest Night. You can bring a donation of 2 canned food items to get free admission.
MATCH SCHEDULE
MISSISSIPPI REBELS
14-17, 4-13 SECSaturday, November 24, 1:00pm ET
Knoxville TN // Online Stream // Live Stats
The Lady Vols earned their biggest win in years with a 3-0 victory over #13 Florida! The win clinches at least a share of a second place finish in the SEC! This was just the second sweep of the Gators in program history and the first since 1988! Much more soon!
UPDATE: Danielle Mahaffey led both teams with 11 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. Erica Treiber had 10 kills and led both sides with 5 blocks. Lily Felts once again just missed a double-double with 9 kills and 9 digs. Sedona Hansen led both teams with 19 assists. Callie Williams picked up her first double-double of the year with 18 assists and 13 digs. Madison Coulter also had 13 digs.
Tennessee held all of Florida’s players to single digit kills. The last time a winning opponent did that to Florida was 2010 (Purdue in the NCAA Tourney).
The Lady Vols held Florida to a .118 hitting percentage — that’s the second lowest UT has held a ranked opponent in the rally scoring era.
UT held the Gators to their second lowest hitting percentage and second lowest statistical points scored all season.
The Lady Vols notched the fifth highest hitting percentage of all Florida’s opponents this season.
Florida came into the match ranked 37th in the country in aces. UT held them to a one — a season low for UF.
Tennessee won their 10th consecutive match of the season for the first time since 2015. It’s UT’s longest SEC winning streak since 2011.
UT is now 4-3 vs ranked opponents this year.
This was the team’s first sweep of a ranked opponent since 2010, and just the 4th since 2001.
In rally-scoring era matches where both teams are ranked, Florida and Tennessee are tied 4-4.
With Kentucky’s win tonight, Tennessee will officially finish the season in second place in the SEC. In the preseason coaches poll they were picked to finish tenth. Since 2014 (when the preseason poll stopped using divisions), that’s the biggest jump by any team from prediction to actual result.
With 2,116 people on hand, this was the 3rd highest attended match in school history.
The Lady Vols are 6-3 in Thanksgiving Eve matches and an undefeated 4-0 when playing a ranked opponent.
UT STORY // UF STORY
It’s the final week of the regular season! And a holiday week as well! Today we’ll look at the first match of the week vs #13 Florida.
MATCH NOTES Tennessee is 13-50-1 vs Florida all-time. UT is 2-8 in their last ten overall matches and 2-8 in the last ten matches in Knoxville.
The Gators currently have an 8 match winning streak vs the Lady Vols.
This will be the 9th match in school history played the day before Thanksgiving (with 8 of those matches coming in the last decade). UT is 5-3 — but an undefeated 3-0 when playing a ranked opponent.
When Tennessee wins a set vs Florida, they usually win the match. The team is 13-11-1 in those situations.
If the match heads to a fifth set, the odds are even more in Tennessee’s favor. In the 9 all-time five-set matches between the teams, UT has won 7 of them.
Coming into the season only one team (Kentucky) has more wins vs Florida over the past ten years than Tennessee.
Both teams are ranked coming in to the match for the first time since 2011. Tennessee won that meeting. In the rally-scoring era, they’ve played each other while ranked 7 times with Florida barely holding a 4-3 advantage.
Tennessee is 3-3 vs ranked opponents this season. Florida is 1-3.
While the Gators and Lady Vols are tied for second place in the SEC, because the conference now plays an unbalanced schedule, UF has had an easier road so far. Florida has only played 4 matches vs the current top 6 teams in the conference and has a 2-2 record against them. Tennessee has played 7 matches vs the current top 6 teams in the conference and has a 5-2 record against them.
With a victory today, Florida would earn their 24th win of the season — a feat they have accomplished for 28 consecutive years.
Tennessee is looking for their 10th consecutive win of the season. The last time they did that was 2015. However, this run is all league matches. The last time UT won ten SEC games in a row was 2011.
(Just because it’s been so long since I got to do a stat like this, here goes!) With a win vs Florida today and a win vs Mississippi on Saturday, and with Kentucky losing their match tonight vs South Carolina and Saturday against Auburn, Tennessee would win a share of the SEC Championship!
RANKINGS — AVCA Coaches Poll: 22
— NCAA RPI: 29
— Pablo Ranking: 22
— RickKern.com: 22
— PrepVolleyball: 18
— VolleyTalk: 20
— Massey Ratings: 17MATCH SCHEDULE
FLORIDA GATORS
23-5, 14-2 SECWednesday, November 21, 5:00pm ET
Knoxville TN // Online Stream // Live StatsNATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS
aces
per setassists
per setblocks
per setdigs
per setkills
per sethitting
percentopp hit
percentSTAT
NCAA
SEC1.00
296
1313.03
32
22.20
108
414.99
169
414.17
15
2.253
32
4.194
131
4STAT
NCAA
SEC1.52
37
211.58
191
112.83
12
112.86
310
1312.62
164
11.258
27
3.154
12
1
Tennessee improved their winning streak to nine with a 3-1 victory over Arkansas this afternoon (25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 25-23). More tonight…
UPDATE: Erica Treiber led the team with 18 kills; Tessa Grubbs was just behind with 17. Addisyn Rowe put down 12. Treiber and Rowe hit over .400. Rowe had 5 blocks and Treiber had 4. Sedona Hansen scored her 45th career double-double with 28 assists and 12 digs. Callie Williams had 21 assists. Madison Coulter dug up 20 or more ball for the 5th time this year. Lily Felts just missed a double-double with 13 digs and 9 kills. Brooke Schumacher had 12 digs.
The Lady Vols got a huge victory tonight, defeating #23 Missouri 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-12). A lot more coming soon!
UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs led the team with 20 kills — the 7th time she’s reached that milestone this year. Rocky Perinar had a big night with 11. Erica Treiber had 9, Lily Felts 8, and Danielle Mahaffey 6. Addisyn Row and Treiber had 4 blocks each. With a mid-match switch to a 5-1, Sedona Hansen put up 48 of the team’s 55 assists. Madison Coulter had 15 digs. Hansen completed the double-double with 11. And Asha Phillips had 9.
Treiber’s 3 aces in the match brought her season total to 41. She’s just the 3rd Lady Vol in the rally-scoring era to reach 40 aces in a year.
The win is Tennessee’s 3rd over a ranked opponent this season, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since 2012.
The victory guarantees UT’s 2018 season will only have single digit losses for just the 11th time in program history.
The Lady Vols held the Tigers to 12 points in the final set — that’s the 9th fewest a conference opponent has scored vs UT since 2001, but the 3rd time they’ve done it this season! It’s the lowest Tennessee has held a ranked opponent (SEC or not) in a set during that time.
This was UT’s first ever win at Missouri.
Tennessee has now won 8 matches in a row — all SEC games.
Here are a few extra items of interest for tonight’s match vs Missouri. Be sure to check out the original notes I posted Saturday.
Tennessee will be attempting to win their 8th match in a row for the first time since 2015. The last time the team won 8 SEC matches in a row was 2011.
As mentioned in Saturday’s notes, Missouri and Tennessee did remain ranked in this week’s Coaches Poll, which makes this match the first UT game featuring two ranked teams since August 31, 2012, and the first ranked UT vs ranked MU matchup since the teams’ first two meetings in 2005.
Tonight’s match will air on the SEC Network. UT is 4-2 on TV this season. This will be the 7th Lady Vol match to be televised in 2018 — a regular season record for the team.
Tessa Grubbs was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. She’s the first Lady Vol to earn a repeat weekly award since Erica Treiber picked up two Freshman on the Week honors in 2015, and the first to get a second Offensive award at Tennessee since Leslie Cikra in 2012.
A Michigan newspaper has a great article about Tennessee senior Erica Treiber.
Tennessee
men’sathletic director Phil Fulmer penned an open letter to Vol fans about the school’s successful weekend offootballsports.Here’s where Tennessee stands in the latest rankings:
— AVCA Coaches Poll: 22
— NCAA RPI: 32
— Pablo Ranking: 28
— RickKern.com: 25
— PrepVolleyball: 20
— VolleyTalk: 20I prefer to keep the personal lives of the players and coaches out of this blog. But you couldn’t not notice coach Eve Rackham’s absence on the sideline Sunday. The online streaming commentators noted that Tyler Adams was the “acting head coach” and that Rackham was “on leave” and would “be back to coach some of the home matches down the stretch of the season”. Tennessee has chosen not to reveal anything publicly, so here’s hoping everything is well with her and that we’ll see her back as soon as possible!
Tennessee picked up a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-15) win in Starkville this afternoon, earning their 7th victory in a row.
With the win, Tennessee will finish the season with 10 or fewer losses for the 15th time in school history.
More soon!
UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs dominated the match with 22 kills — just a single kill off the UT rally-scoring record for a three-set match. She hit .571, just .008 off her career high. Addisyn Rowe had 12 kills while hitting .421. Lily Felts had 9 kills. And Erica Treiber had 8 while hitting .438. Four players had 2 blocks each: Treiber, Rowe, Alyssa Andreno, and Danielle Mahaffey. Brooke Schumacher was the only player on either side of the court to reach double digit digs with 11. Sedona Hansen led the team with 37 assists and Callie Williams added 13 more.
For the 6th time this season, UT didn’t allow a single opposing player to reach double digit kills.
Mississippi State only had 10 hitting errors on the match — that ties the 10th fewest by a UT opponent in the rally scoring era. This match marks just the 2nd time an opponent has lost with 10 or less hitting errors in that time.
MSU’s .260 hitting percentage was the 16th best by a UT opponent in a losing effort since 2001. Two other losing Tennessee opponents had higher hitting matches earlier this season.
Tennessee has only five games remaining in the regular season: the next three on the road and the last two at home. Today’s notes will cover the away matches at Mississippi State, Missouri, and Arkansas.
MATCH NOTES Tennessee is 45-12 vs Mississippi State. The teams are tied 5-5 in their last ten matches. UT has a 6-4 advantage in the last ten matches in Starkville.
Tennessee is 4-8 vs Missouri. UT has never won in Columbia.
Tennessee is 20-20 vs Arkansas. The Razorbacks have a 6-4 advantage in their last ten matches. But UT leads 6-4 in the last ten matches in Fayetteville.
Tennessee will be attempting to win their 7th match in a row on Sunday for the first time since 2015. The last time the team won 7 SEC matches in a row was 2012.
The Lady Vols have faced all three of these teams earlier in the year in Knoxville, and went 3-0. The MSU match was a sweep, while the other two matches went to five sets.
Tennessee has played Mississippi State 57 times in program history — that’s the 6th most UT has played any team. They’ve won 45 of those matches — the 2nd most wins they have against any single team. Of those wins, a school record 31 of them were by sweeps.
If #24 Missouri and #23 Tennessee win their Sunday games and remain ranked in the next Coaches Poll, their match on Wednesday would be the first UT game featuring two ranked teams since August 31, 2012. It would be the first ranked UT vs ranked MU matchup since the teams’ first two meetings in 2005.
The Lady Vols won the first ever matchup with Arkansas in 1994. Tennessee didn’t have a winning all-time record again vs the Razorbacks until 2011. They lost the advantage again in 2014. With a win in their next match, UT would regain the all-time lead with a 21-20 record.
UT currently is tied for 2nd in the SEC with Florida. The Lady Vols can finish no lower than 5th this season. Even that lower placement would be a big improvement — over the past five years the team has finished 7th, 8th, 11th, and 13th twice.
RANKINGS — AVCA Coaches Poll: 23
— NCAA RPI: 28
— Pablo Ranking: 23
— RickKern.com: 27
— PrepVolleyball: 20
— VolleyTalk: 21MATCH SCHEDULE
MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS
5-21, 1-12 SECSunday, November 11, 2:00pm ET
Starkville MS // Online Stream // Live Stats
#24 MISSOURI TIGERS
21-5, 11-3 SECWednesday, November 14, 7:00pm ET
Columbia MO // Online Stream // Live Stats
ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS
11-12, 5-8 SECSunday, November 18, 2:00pm ET
Fayetteville AR // Online Stream // Live StatsNATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS
aces
per setassists
per setblocks
per setdigs
per setkills
per sethitting
percentopp hit
percentSTAT
NCAA
SEC1.01
298
1312.76
55
22.23
96
414.76
189
413.94
27
2.248
39
4.191
125
4STAT
NCAA
SEC1.08
257
1110.44
286
131.83
235
1013.97
254
911.11
289
13.168
265
13.243
310
12STAT
NCAA
SEC1.34
134
612.58
71
32.70
18
213.79
264
1013.67
50
3.269
17
2.163
33
2STAT
NCAA
SEC1.31
160
712.51
79
41.81
243
1114.36
226
713.05
85
4.220
120
11.220
235
9
Tennessee got win #20 with a victory over Texas A&M this evening (25-21, 25-12, 23-25, 25-19). More tonight.
Tessa Grubbs led both teams with 18 kills. Lily Felts had 10, Erica Treiber 8, and Addisyn Rowe and Danielle Mahaffey 7 each. Five players hit over .350 with at least five attempts: Rowe at .500, Treiber at .467, Alyssa Andreno at .429, Mahaffey at .375, and Grubbs at .361. Only one UT match since 2001 had more players do that. The team had a very slow start blocking but eventually found the floor. Treiber led the team with 4; Andreno had 2. Sedona Hansen put up 26 assists and Callie Williams had 19. Brooke Schumacher led the team in digs with 12.
Tennessee has won 20 matches in a season for the first time since 2015, the 11th time in the rally-scoring era, and the 23rd time in program history.
The Lady Vols got their 20th win in their 25th match of the year — that ties for the fifth fastest time to the milestone in school history.