• Tennessee has revealed their schedule for the upcoming season.
• UT has 10 matches against 7 teams that made the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
• The Lady Vols will face three in-state opponents, the most since 2014.
• The team is heading to California for the first time since 2006. Their last match in the state was a 3-1 loss to USC. However, in the rally scoring era UT is 7-2 in matches played in the state.
• Tennessee will play San Diego in back to back matches. The last time the Lady Vols played a non-conference opponent twice in the same year was 2005, when they lost to Missouri in the first month of the season before defeating them in the NCAA Tournament on their way to the Final Four. The last time the team scheduled a non-conference opponent twice in the same regular season was 1995, when they played both St. Mary’s (CA) and Arizona State in back to back days.
• UT was projected to finish 10th in the conference in the SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
• Tennessee has announced the addition of Brooklynne Villano to the team. An incoming sophomore transfer from Jacksonville State, the outside hitter is the sister of former Lady Vol Bridgette Villano.
• The probably final roster (barring any unannounced walk-ons) is online at the official Tennessee website, and consists of a total of 17 players: 3 seniors, 5 juniors (one a fourth year redshirt), 5 sophopmores, and 4 freshman.
• With the season arriving next month, updates here will start coming more frequently. So be sure to start checking back often!

• PrepVolleyball named Tennessee’s incoming recruiting class the 28th best in the nation, and 4th best in the SEC. “The 2018 class will help lay a foundation for the future and looks to impact the program right away. Each player will fill a need and add high-level club experience to the Lady Vol roster.”

  Since 2003, when the recruiting ranking started, Tennessee has been ranked or an honorable mention every season except 2004.

• The previous article also notes that Emma Schriner, who graduated early and joined the team in the spring, will transfer and not be joining the team in the fall.
• Congratulations to high school junior and future Lady Vol Maddie Bryant who was named to PrepVolleyball’s Defensive Dandies list of the nation’s top full-time defensive players. “She is fearless, covering the court incredibly well with an uncanny ability to read the opposition like no one else.”
• Teams are starting to release fall schedules, but Tennessee is not one of them yet! But we can start extrapolating it based on schedules from other teams. Here’s what I’ve found so far:

  FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14,
  at Dayton, 7:00pm

  SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
  vs Ohio State, 10:30am (at Dayton)
  vs Evansville, 4:30pm (at Dayton)

  SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
  vs Kentucky

  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3
  vs Alabama

  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10
  at Kentucky

  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19
  at Texas A&M

  FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2
  at Mississippi

  WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21
  vs Florida

  SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24
  vs Mississippi

• Coach Eve Rackham has hired her second assistant coach after Tyler Adams was introduced last month. Gavin Watt will be coming to Knoxville after spending a season at North Carolina as a volunteer assistant. Prior to that, Watt spent four years as an assistant coach at Lehigh University under former Tennessee head coach Bob Bertucci. Bertucci coached the Lady Vols from 1979 to 1986 and is the UT coaching leader by winning percentage (.666).
• Congratulations to Callie Williams who was named to the VOLeaders Academy Class of 2018-19. The program teaches student-athletes how to have “a positive influence on their teams, the campus community and the rest of the world”.
• The team had three weekends of spring volleyball matches this month. In the first they faced Ohio State, Bowling Green, and Lipscomb, winning 5 out of 6 sets played. In the second weekend they played Kennesaw State, Chattanooga, and West Florida, again winning 5 out of 6 sets played. And in the final weekend of play they took on UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest, and North Carolina, winning 4 out of 6 sets (both losses being by tight two-point margins against the ACC teams).

  Rackham said, “This team has made so many improvements since January, and really embraced the challenge of getting a little better every time we get an opportunity to practice or compete. I think today was a great way to finish the spring and see where we are. There is a ton of work ahead but we made significant progress in individual development and team systems.”

• Tennessee has officially announced the addition of the two players mentioned in last month’s update, Giana Pellizzon and Addisyn Rowe. Check the link for full bio info and quotes from the coach on each player.
• Congratulations to former Tennessee assistant coach A.J. Bonetti on being named to the staff at Maryland!
• Congratulations to former Tennessee assistant coach Nikki Dailey on being named to the staff at Virginia!
• Congratulations to former Tennessee Director of Volleyball Operations Kevin Cardoza on being named assistant coach at the University at Albany!
• Not much news to report, so I’ve been working on some other updates over on the Stats page:

  Tennessee Coaching Staff: View the former head coaches and assistants that have led the team over the years. Obviously the data gets a little harder to come by the further back you go, but here’s what I’ve been able to pull together. I actually had this page almost done right before UT announced the resignation of Rob Patrick, but decided to hold off until I could add info on the new coach.

  Historical Rosters: The Tennessee record book has an alphabetical list of (almost) every player to have worn the orange and white and the years they were on the team. This page takes that data and extrapolates a year by year roster of Lady Vol teams.

  Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame: Here are the six UT volleyball players and one coach in the school sports hall of fame. (Might be time to discuss potential additions to that last…)

  Facility Records: I’ve still got some work to do on this page, but a lot of info is there already. Here you can read a blurb about four facilities the team has called home over the years and view the match attendance records by building. Coming soon – team and player records by venue.

  Also of note, the Milestones page has been updated to keep track of new coach Eve Rackham’s records, though there is not much to see there yet! Can she reach that first 25 win milestone in her first season? (No pressure!)

• UT head coach Eve Rackham is putting together her staff. Tyler Adams has been named an assistant coach for the Lady Vols. He held the same position at North Carolina for the past seven seasons along side Rackham. Whitney Miller has been named Director of Volleyball Operations.

  Rackham said of the new hires: “When putting together a staff, my hope was to find people that I not only completely trust, but who share my vision and comprehend the work ethic required at this level. There is no doubt Tyler is that person. He and I have been a part of championship teams together and understand the culture needed for success. I am looking forward to getting to work with him again… Whitney is the perfect fit for our Director of Operations position. She is proactive, detail-orientated, organized and not afraid of hard work. I also appreciate the positivity she approaches every day with and believe our players will find her to be a great role model.”

• Eight Lady Vols have been named to the 2017 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll. They are: Alyssa Andreno, Stephanie Buss, Mackenzie Cooler, Sedona Hansen, Breana Jeter, Asha Phillips, Brooke Schumacher, and Erica Treiber.

  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 196 honorees all-time, just two shy of leading the conference.

• Congratulations to UT recruits Lily Felts and Emma Schriner who were named to the PrepVolleyball High School All-America Team! The state of Tennessee had the eighth most players on the list with five — three of whom are from Knoxville.
• Best of luck to Keyton Kinley who will be leaving Knoxville for Norman to play for Oklahoma this fall.
• Joining the five other players already announced for the 2018 recruiting class, is Giana Pellizzon who, according to her high school’s Twitter account, officially signed with the team this week. Santa Margarita High School won the California Division I State Championship last season.
• While there is no official word yet, Marshall’s Addisyn Rowe (whom VolleyMob notes no longer appears on the Thundering Herd’s roster) could be transferring to Tennessee, according to RichKern.com. Rowe led the team in blocking and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team last season.
• Tennessee’s social media accounts celebrated National Girls & Women in Sports Day this week by posting team photos from the past. Included were the 1981, 1984, 1994, and 2017 squads.

Today is National Girls & Women in Sports Day! We're thankful for all the women who came before and all who are still to come! ?? #NGWSD pic.twitter.com/2OCJGA6RhI

— Tennessee Volleyball (@Vol_VBall) February 7, 2018

Here are a few of the press stories about new volleyball head coach Eve Rackham from over the past week.

“Eve Rackham plans to be herself as Tennessee Lady Vols volleyball coach”
— Knoxville News Sentinel

“A ‘Ferocious Competitor’, Rackham was Destined to Lead”
— UT Sports

“Rackham eager to bring volleyball back to championship level”
— Daily Beacon

“UT tabs Eve Rackham as new volleyball coach”
— Daily Times

“What They’re Saying About Eve Rackham”
— UT Sports

UPDATE:
“El Molino grad Eve Rackham picked to lead Tennessee volleyball program”
— Santa Rosa Press Democrat

As Tennessee prepares for the future with new head coach Eve Rackham, let’s take a last look back at some of the amazing numbers put up by the man who led the Lady Vols the longest and most successfully: Rob Patrick.

I had hoped to get this piece done before UT hired a new coach and, while I knew this would be a faster search than the previous one, I thought I might have at least another week or two to finish. When head coach Julie Hermann left the team in February of 1997, it took UT until June to announce a replacement! That new hire was also a first time head coach who’d had success as an assistant and recruiter.

Patrick at Stanford, 1996

That volleyball program making the move to a new coach was in a very different situation. The team had had only 4 winning seasons in the previous 12 years and made one NCAA Tournament appearance. They’d been knocked out of the SEC Tournament in the first round eight years in a row. And an embarrassing lawsuit involving coaches had not gone UT’s way. After a search that seemed to take forever — or as the local paper headlined it at the time: “Lady Vols’ Coaching Search Goes On… And On” — the school announced the hiring of Stanford assistant coach Rob Patrick. The rest is Tennessee volleyball history. (If you want an in-depth look at his first season on Rocky Top, be sure to check out one of my previous articles.)

Here’s a far from complete look back at Patrick’s career by the numbers:

• Patrick spent 21 seasons as the Lady Vol head coach. The previously longest tenured coaches were here for 8 years: Jo Hobson from 1965-1972 and Bob Bertucci from 1979-1986.
• Patrick led the team to 16 winning seasons in 21 years. Only once did the team have back-to-back losing seasons (2013-14).
• Patrick’s teams had 20-win seasons 11 times. Drop that threshold by one and Patrick’s teams had 19-win seasons 14 times in 21 years. (Put another way, of his 16 winning seasons he won at least 19 games every time but twice.)
• Tennessee made 9 NCAA Tournaments during Patrick’s tenure. The team had been to 5 total in the years before his arrival.
• Patrick won 409 matches, the most by far of any UT volleyball coach. His .621 winning percentage is second all-time behind Bertucci (.666).
• 18 Lady Vols have won All-America honors all-time. 16 of them were on Patrick’s watch.
• Tennessee has won 2 SEC Championships since 1997. Only Florida has won more (17) and only Missouri (2) can match.
• Until last month when Florida got there, Tennessee was the last SEC team to make the Final Four — under Patrick in 2005. Tennessee is one of only three SEC teams to ever make it to the National Semifinals. LSU is the third, last reaching it in 1991.
• At the time, UT was just the fifth different school in the eastern time zone to ever make a Final Four. Since 2005, only two other teams have joined that club.
• Tennessee has finished in the top 25 of the Coaches Poll 8 times in school history. 6 of them came with Patrick squads.
• Since PrepVolleyball started their list in 2004, 24 top 100 prospects have come to play for Tennessee — with three more on the way next season.
• Since PrepVolleyball started their list in 2003, Tennessee has been ranked or named an honorable mention for having a top recruiting class every season except one (2004).
• Tennessee has placed at least 5 players on the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll all 21 years of Patrick’s tenure — UT is the only league team to have done so in that time.
• Patrick stands at #2 all-time in SEC history in wins by a coach at a single conference school. He also is the second longest serving coach at a single conference school. He’s one of only two coaches in league history to reach 400 wins. (Mary Wise is the other on all counts.)
• Patrick is one of only two coaches to ever win the SEC Coach of the Year award three times (Mary Wise is the other with 12).
• Patrick is one of only three SEC coaches all-time to win Region Coach of the year twice. (Mary Wise got it 8 times, Wayne Kreklow twice. Laurie Corbelli won it once with an SEC school and twice with two schools not in the SEC.)

I think these numbers make the case rather forcefully that Rob Patrick is without question the greatest coach in Tennessee volleyball history. And a strong case can be made that, at this point, he may be the second most successful coach in SEC history as well. But coaches know full well when they sign up that job security in their profession is not something you can count on. The number that keeps you safe is not how many years you’ve been here, nor even total wins — but what have you won lately.

So, I’m not here to say the university was wrong if they wanted to consider other options. However, if they were thinking that and knowing his contract was set to expire at the end of the year, why wait until December? Why not give the fans a chance at giving this coach, the top coach in school history, a proper send off during the season? Yes, it might have been a bit of a distraction, and maybe the coach himself preferred it this way, so keep in mind this is all speculative on my part. But it seems to me an opportunity was missed that I hope gets corrected one day in the future.

I am excited about the future of Tennessee volleyball under coach Rackham! But the program has lost a big piece of its history without much fanfare, and so as the baton is officially passed let’s recognize and thank coach Patrick for his contributions to the Lady Vols over two decades.

In 1997, a 36 year old first time head coach came to Knoxville and told the local paper the most common thing he heard from potential recruits when talking about UT was they didn’t know much about us. “I feel like a preacher, going out and spreading the word about Tennessee”.

Now 21 years later, another 36 year old first time head coach is in town. But things are different this time. When she was asked about getting recruits to consider UT she said, “the good thing about Tennessee is that it’s a university everyone knows. It’s got a national brand and we can go anywhere… I know that this place will sell itself.”

Thanks for that coach Patrick. You’ve left some big shoes to fill — and I don’t mean those fancy white ones you used to save for big games! Tennessee will not be the same without you, and, thankfully, Tennessee is not the same because of you.

Kim Zenner, Rob Patrick, and Sherry Dunbar
1997 Lady Vol coaching staff

Tennessee’s new volleyball coach, Eve Rackham, was introduced officially here in Knoxville at a press conference this afternoon. You can watch a replay at the official website. Here’s what she had to say:

“I’m incredibly excited and honored to be the new head volleyball coach at the University of Tennessee. This is an amazing place with great people who have been so welcoming and warm. Knoxville is an unbelievable city. I’m just so excited to finally be here.”

“Tennessee volleyball is a program with great potential. Rob Patrick laid a foundation that I hope to build on and believe that we can. This is a great place and we’re going to do great things.”

“We have a great group of girls who are ready to get to work. I know they’re eager, they’re excited to improve. And I’m also just looking forward to building a championship culture where we can build strong women.”

On her plan: “I need to get in the gym with the kids and see where we’re at. We have a lot of work to do, I know. But I’ve also watched film of the girls and I have a good starting point. I need to get a staff in place. And we need to get to work. It’s going to take some time but I think we have the pieces here. Then it’s about recruiting and it’s about getting the highest level of athlete that we can to come to Tennessee and building from there.”

On being ready for this step up in her career: “When I started coaching I always knew I was going to be a head coach, so for me it was a matter of where and not if. So after this season I felt like I was going to look but I was only going to leave for the right place. And there was no doubt when this job came open that this was the place I wanted to be. Where I felt like you could be successful. Where I felt like the resources were there. And where they cared about female athletics and they wanted to see a program rise. And I felt like I could build on what was already there.”

On returning UT to a tournament-quality team: “I think the talent is here. Like I said, I’ve watched film. I know that the girls who are here have the talent to do it. And they were close last year. We had a 5-13 SEC record and there were five matches we lost in five. So if you turn that around and you win those matches, those really close ones, we’re 10-8 and the season looks a whole lot different. So we need to get to work. There’s some things we’ve got to change and some system things we need to work on. But in terms of the talent I think it’s here. And like I said, building from there with bringing in new recruits.”

On UT’s recruiting footprint: “The good thing about Tennessee is that it’s a university everyone knows. It’s got a national brand and we can go anywhere. I believe the best players in the state of Tennessee should come to the University of Tennessee. So that’s where we’ll look first. But I think we can reach out to the west coast, we can get players from the midwest, we can recruit it Texas, and in Florida. I’m not concerned about that. I know that this place will sell itself.”

On what she looks for in players: “The big thing for me first and foremost is I want kids with a ton of passion, who love to play. When I went to the facility yesterday to meet with the team the girls were in there and I thought that was a great first sign. I want kids who just love to play. And not, you know, when it’s the first day of preseason. I’m talking about on a Wednesday in October after a midterm. Are you still excited to play? So obviously there’s a certain talent level and a physical level we’re looking for. But when you talk about those intangible things, I want kids with a lot of passion, who want to compete, and they want to play hard, and they want to play for the team.”

UT has announced the hiring of Eve Rackham as the new head coach for Tennessee volleyball today. Rackham has been the assistant coach at North Carolina since 2009, and was named the AVCA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year in 2014.

“I am honored to be named the new head volleyball coach at the University of Tennessee. While I will always cherish my time at the University of North Carolina, I could not be more excited for this opportunity. I look forward to building on the foundation of success laid by Rob Patrick during his 21 years… By accepting the coaching position at the University of Tennessee, I intend to help return the volleyball program to national relevance. Tennessee is a special place with top-notch facilities, tremendous school spirit, strong academics and a tradition of champions. These are all the elements for building a successful program and for helping our players develop as students-athletes and as strong women. I am confident recruits will see the opportunities available to them here, and I look forward to fostering a winning program the community can embrace.”

Welcome to Rocky Top, coach!

Thanks again for your patience as we finally get around to taking a quick look back at the 2017 season!

The Lady Vols went 12-15 this season, and I will admit this is the first time since I’ve been doing this I was surprised by the team’s W/L record. But I really think this year’s team was better than the final record shows. In fact, switching just 12 points — 12! — around in five different matches would have resulted in Tennessee having a 17-10 record.

FROM 12-15 TO 17-10 IN TWELVE POINTS
OPPONENT		ACTUAL SCORE	POINT CHANGES	POTENTIAL SCORE
	South Carolina	1-3 23-25 25-17 25-27 17-25	2 points in the first set, 1 point in the third set	3-0 25-23 25-17 26-24
	Auburn	2-3 22-25 25-19 18-25 27-25 11-15	3 points in the first set	3-1 25-22 25-19 18-25 27-25
	Alabama	2-3 20-25 25-23 25-18 23-25 9-15	2 points in the fourth set	3-1 20-25 25-23 25-18 25-23
	Texas A&M	2-3 17-25 25-15 21-25 25-23 14-16	2 points in the fifth set	3-2 17-25 25-15 21-25 25-23 16-14
	LSU	2-3 25-19 25-21 23-25 22-25 9-15	2 points in the third set	3-0 25-19 25-21 25-23

Tennessee put up some good numbers this year. They had the most actual blocks since 2012 and held opponents to the fewest aces in that time as well. And this squad was the most low-error team UT has seen in the rally-scoring era: they had the fewest hitting errors, the fewest service errors, the fewest blocking errors, and the fifth and sixth lowest numbers in ball handling and reception errors. Add all their errors up this year and the team had over 100 fewer total errors than the next best team since 2001.

So why couldn’t the team get over the hump in 2017? They needed just a little more offensive firepower. The Vols had the fewest attack attempts and second fewest kills of any UT team since 2001. It just goes to show how good this team was in so many other areas that they were still on the cusp of a winning season despite those numbers.

The good news? Tennessee is only losing 25% of their 2017 kill production to graduation. Even better news? Four of the recruits expected to join the team in 2018 are hitters — and all were named PrepVolleyball Senior Aces. Whomever Tennessee hires as their next head coach has been left a strong foundation to build on in their first season.

Here’s a probably not complete list of some of the individual marks set this season:

SINGLE MATCH

Brook Schumacher had the 5th most digs in a match in program history vs UTSA with 36. She also had the 12th and 32nd most in two other matches. Sedona Hansen put up the 43rd most digs in a UT match with 27 vs Auburn.

Tessa Grubbs had the 36th most kills in a Tennessee rally-scoring era match with 23 vs LSU.

Erica Treiber hit .800 (8-0-10) in a three set match vs Wofford.

Callie Williams’ 55 assists vs LSU were the 46th most in a school rally-scoring era match.

Kanisha Jimenez and Callie Williams put down 5 aces each in two different matches this year, good for 8th best in since 2001.

Alyssa Andreno’s 11 blocks during the Western Michigan match were the 11th most by a Lady Vol since 2001. Treiber’s 10 vs Furman were the 17th most.

SINGLE SEASON

Treiber hit .326 this year, the 18th best number in a season at Tennessee all-time. She also made school record lists with the 18th best total blocks (131) and 8th best blocks per set (1.30).

Schumacher’s 463 digs in 2017 were the 8th most by a Lady Vol all-time. Her 4.58 digs per set was 5th best all-time.

Andreno had 1.13 blocks per set this year, the 24th best average all-time at UT.

Hansen’s 3.07 digs per set this season is the 25th best Lady Vol number all-time.

CAREER

Treiber moved up to #8 on the UT career blocks chart with 369.

Hansen joined the school career top 10 list in assists with 1,652.

Schumacher is #12 so far in the Tennessee career digs list with 1,069.

As you can see despite a disappointing record, this is not a team to be disappointed in. While missing a piece or two that they really needed, these Lady Vols did their absolute best with what they had — putting up big numbers in their areas of strength, keeping their errors to historic lows, and coming so close to turning their season around despite their weak spots. I’m proud of this squad and am really looking forward to 2018 and seeing what these women can do with another year under their belts and with some new faces on the court to fill in some needs.

Sorry for the lack of updates in this major transitional period for the Tennessee volleyball program. In addition to the usual hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I’m taking care of some personal issues right now that are keeping me away from the blog. I’m hoping to back and writing again by late next week at the earliest. Again, apologies for disappearing but I should be back very soon! Thanks for your understanding.

UPDATE (12/22/2017): I’m basically back! As some of you may know I have a medical issue I deal with, and this month I had a scare that thankfully turned out to be nothing to worry about. I hate that it happened at such an impactful time — the end Tennessee’s season, the NCAA Tournament, and a coaching change. But now that my mind isn’t focused on other things I’m looking forward to writing about my thoughts on the 2017 campaign and about the legacy of the longest serving and winningest coach in UT history. And I’ll be doing that… after Christmas! Thanks again for your understanding!

Tennessee has announced that head coach Rob Patrick is leaving the team after 21 years as head coach. Check out the official site for full details. I’ll have more here in the coming week.

Just a heads up that my end of season recap will be up next week. Haven’t forgotten! Just busy!

The Lady Vols came out strong and got within two points of sweeping, but LSU fought back to take the match in five (19-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-9). More soon.

UPDATE: Lots of big numbers. Tessa Grubbs matched career highs with 23 kills and 58 attacks and set a new high with 26 points. Madison Coulter had 12 kills and 17 digs for her third double-double of the season. Breana Jeter had 10 kills and hit .533. Stephanie Buss had 9 kills. Alyssa Andreno had 4 blocks. Callie Williams had career highs with 55 assists, 4 kills, 15 attacks, 3 blocks, and 9.5 points. She earned her 5th double-double of the year. Keyton Kinley had a career-high 22 digs as did Asha Phillips with 13 and Stephanie Spencer with 7.

Tennessee hit .200 or better in a loss for the 8th time this season.

UT outhit their opponent in a loss for the 4th time this year. In the rally scoring era, only the 2006 team can match that.

The team had a season-high 10 service errors.

This was just the second loss for the senior class when leading by two. And it was the first such loss for the team vs an SEC opponent since 2012.

The Vols have lost 24 times in school history when leading 2-0. No other team has done it to Tennessee more than LSU — today’s match was their 4th time. The previous matches were in 1985 (twice!) and 2006.

Tennessee has played 17 matches in school history on the day after Thanksgiving and is 9-8. Three of those losses have come to LSU.

Tennessee plays their last match of the year at home vs LSU.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 24-37 all-time vs LSU. The Vols are 6-4 in the last ten meetings and 6-4 in the last ten in Knoxville. In their match earlier this year, Tennessee got a big win on the road over the #3 team in the conference, sweeping LSU.The team had their second-best hitting percentage of the year vs a league opponent with .311.

Today will be the last match for four seniors — Kanisha Jimenez, Kendra Turner, Stephanie Buss, and Mackenzie Cooler. Under head coach Rob Patrick, the Lady Vols are 15-5 on senior day. They’ve played LSU 3 times in those 20 matches and haven’t lost a set.

The team has played on the day after Thanksgiving 16 times all-time and has a 9-7 record, with two of those losses coming to LSU. Under Patrick, the team is 7-1.

Since 1978, UT is 22-17 all-time in their last regular season match of the year. Under Patrick, the team is 15-5.

Erica Treiber is 3 blocks away from entering the UT single-season top 20.

Coach Patrick is one win away from his 200th regular season conference victory.

In their last match of the regular season, LSU is playing for a chance at a 20 win campaign.

Tennessee head coach Patrick and LSU head coach Fran Flory are two of the top three longest-serving conference coaches in SEC volleyball history. Florida’s Mary Wise tops the list at 27 years. Flory is second with 25 years between Kentucky (5 years) and LSU (20 years). Patrick is third with 21 years. The three are also the only coaches to reach 400 wins while in the league.

Tennessee will finish the season between 9th and 12th in the conference.

After having the Vols thwart their chances four times in the last ten years, Kentucky can clinch a share of the SEC title for the first time in 29 years with a win vs Georgia tonight.

Florida can win at least a share of what would be their 23rd league title with a victory tomorrow vs Missouri.

Kentucky and Florida are the top two teams in the RPI this week. Tennessee is up to #83.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	LSU TIGERS 19-9, 10-7 SEC
	Friday, November 24, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

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	0.88 322 13	11.41 215 10	2.70 23 3	15.47 131 5	12.30 204 9	.215 120 8	.194 125 5
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.91 310 12	12.49 91 6	2.50 37 4	15.09 158 6	13.27 204 6	.228 86 6	.187 95 2