I know I say it every year, but where does the season go! The Lady Vols are down to one match left, vs LSU at home. And for four seniors it will be their last time playing on Rocky Top.

KANISHA JIMENEZ

Jimenez, who joined the team in 2014, has appeared in 108 matches of the 122 played during her career. She currently has 666 kills, 206 blocks, 740 digs, and 66 aces.

Jimenez had 25 points in a 2016 match vs Towson, the highest by any player during her four seasons. Her 5 aces vs Furman earlier this season match the most scored by anyone since 2014.

You can read more about Jimenez’ background before coming to Tennessee here.

KENDRA TURNER

Turner also joined the squad in 2014. She appeared in 92 matches of the 122 played during her career. She currently has 266 kills and 123 blocks.

Turner had 23 kills in a match vs Missouri during her freshman year, which matches the most kills by any player during her four seasons.

You can read more about Turner’s background before coming to Tennessee here.

STEPHANIE BUSS

Buss joined the team in 2015 after playing in all 29 matches for Cal State Fullerton her freshman year. She appeared in 54 of the 90 matches played during her UT career. She currently has 184 kills and 81 blocks.

Buss hit at least .300 in over 20% of the matches she played in. The SEC named her a member of the conference Fall Academic Honor Roll.

MACKENZIE COOLER

Cooler joined the team last season. She played in all but 9 of College of Charleston’s 66 matches her underclassman seasons and was named to the All-CAA Rookie Team. She played 11 matches for UT.

In the over 340 matches played since 2007, only 8 featured a setter getting at least 5 kills — a feat Cooler achieved vs Milwaukee in 2016. The SEC named her a member of the conference Fall Academic Honor Roll.

The Lady Vols were swept by Georgia this afternoon 26-24, 25-20, 25-18. More tomorrow.

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs led the Vols in kills with 11. Erica Treiber had 6 while hitting .545. Treiber and Alyssa Andreno put down 5 blocks each and Madison Coulter added four more. Callie Williams had 26 assists. Brooke Schumacher had 15 digs.

For the 20th time in 26 matches this season, Tennessee out-blocked their opponent.

Tennessee snapped a four-match skid with a win vs Mississippi in four sets this evening (20-25, 25-15, 25-10, 25-19). More tomorrow.

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs and Erica Treiber led the Vols with 13 and 12 kills and .343 and .423 hitting percentages respectively. Alyssa Andreno had 9 kills and a match-leading 9 blocks. Callie Williams earned a double-double with 12 digs and a career-high 46 assists. Brooke Schumacher dug up 17 balls, Madison Coulter 16, and Keyton Kinley 12.

Tennessee held the Rebels to 10 points in the third set — that ties the team’s lowest SEC opponent set score in the rally scoring era.

Schumacher has 441 digs on the season, moving her into the school all-time top ten in that category.

Tennessee heads home for their final three matches of the regular season, with Mississippi and Georgia on deck this weekend.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 42-10 vs Mississippi all-time. UT is 6-4 in the last ten meetings and 8-2 in the last ten meetings in Knoxville. This is the only match between the schools this season.

Tennessee is 45-27 all-time vs Georgia. UT is 7-3 in the last ten meetings and 9-1 in the last ten meetings in Knoxville. In their match earlier this season the Vols won 15-5 in the fifth set, led by a huge match off the bench from Stephanie Buss — she had 15 kills this season coming into that match, then put down 16 vs the Bulldogs.

UT needs to win their last three matches to ensure a regular season winning record. Two of the top five teams in the conference are part of that schedule — and the Vols have already defeated them both earlier this year.

In the past ten seasons, Tennessee and Mississippi have only gone to five sets twice, both UT wins in 2011 (the year the team won the SEC with a 19-1 record).

Of the 31 matches played between Tennessee and Georgia during the rally scoring era, only 2 were decided in four sets.

The Bulldogs have earned 11 weekly SEC awards this season, topping their previous school record of 4. The Rebels have picked up 1 conference award this year. So far, the Vols have won none. If that holds it would be just the second season the team was locked out since 1998.

Brooke Schumacher is 1 dig away from reaching the school single-season top ten digs list. She’s 87 digs shy of the career top ten digs list.

LINKS OF INTEREST

The Lady Vols are ranked #88 in the latest RPI.

Apologies for missing this, but Tennessee is receiving votes in the latest PrepVolleyball College Top 50 rankings — and has been for the previous three weeks as well.

VFL Films has a video interview with freshman Callie Williams discussing her family’s volleyball heritage.

"She just grew up in the gym. She was around it all the time."

As the daughter of a hall of famer, @callie_w1 was born for the game ? pic.twitter.com/vEEc98I6qi

— Tennessee Volleyball (@Vol_VBall) November 15, 2017

MATCH SCHEDULE

	MISSISSIPPI REBELS 16-12, 7-8 SEC
	Friday, November 17, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

	GEORGIA BULLDOGS 18-9, 8-6 SEC
	Sunday, November 19, 1:30pm ET Knoxville TN // ESPNU // 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	1.03 272 11	12.38 103 7	2.08 154 9	16.09 83 2	13.33 93 7	.211 139 9	.186 96 3
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.87 324 13	11.42 210 10	2.67 22 3	15.41 130 5	12.33 202 9	.217 118 8	.197 134 5
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.64 18 1	12.94 46 4	1.83 234 11	13.65 265 9	13.74 48 3	.249 47 3	.203 167 9

Tennessee officially welcomed five 2018 recruits to Rocky Top last week. They are: Emma Schriner, a 6-3 OH from Jamestown High School in Williamsburg VA; Lily Felts, a 5-11 OH from Berean Christian School here in Knoxville; Rocky Perinar, a 6-0 OH from Minooka Community High School in Channahon IL; Danielle Mahaffey, a 6-0 OH/RS from Northwest High School in Cincinnati OH; and Emma Binn, 5-9 L/DS from TC Roberson High School in Asheville NC.

Head coach Rob Patrick said, “This class presents one of the most physically gifted groups of young ladies we have brought in at one time. We are extremely excited about the high level of success they have had in their club and high school careers… We have really addressed some of our needs…”

Full details and notes from the coach are up at the official site.

Tennessee dropped another tough five-set match, losing to the Tide today in Tuscaloosa (21-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-18, 15-11). More tomorrow.

UPDATE: Madison Coulter led UT with 13 kills. Stephanie Buss had 12 and Alyssa Andreno had 10. Combined the three only had 4 attack errors: Andreno hit .450, Coulter .407, and Buss .393. Erica Treiber put down 6 blocks, Coulter had 5, Andreno 4, and Tessa Grubbs 3. Treiber added 3 aces for the team as well. Brooke Schumacher dug up 15 balls. Sedona Hansen put up 28 assists, and Callie Williams had 24.

The Lady Vols hit .270 in the match. That’s their 2nd highest average in a loss this season, and their 7th highest of the year in total win or lose. It also stands as the 8th best percentage in a loss at UT in the rally scoring era.

Alabama’s 70 kills were the most by a UT opponent this year.

Schumacher is 1 dig away from reaching the school single-season top ten digs list.

Tennessee fell in four sets at Auburn this evening (25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20). More tomorrow.

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs led the team with 10 kills, with Madison Coulter and Breana Jeter just behind with 9 each. Erica Treiber had 8 blocks, Stephanie Spencer had 4, and Alysa Andreno, Grubbs, and Jeter had 3 apiece. Both setters picked up double-doubles: Sedona Hansen with 25 assists and 16 digs, and Callie Williams with 15 assists and 11 digs. Brooke Schumacher had 26 digs. Coulter added 16 more.

Schumacher became just the 15th member of the Tennessee 1,000 career digs club. She also had over 25 digs for the fifth time this season. She’s just the third Lady Vol to accomplish that feat, along with Chloe Goldman and Ellen Mullins.

The team had 25 block assists, which ranks in the top 50 in the rally scoring era — but only 5th best this season!

Tennessee makes their final road trip of the regular season with a trip to the state of Alabama to face two conference foes.

MATCH NOTES

UT is 30-19-1 all-time vs Auburn. Tennessee is 4-6 in the last ten meetings and 6-4 in the last ten in Auburn. The Vols lost the last match vs the Tigers in five. Sedona Hansen had a school top 50 digs performance with 27, while AU’s Jessie Earl set the UT record for opponent digs with 36.

UT is 35-17 all-time vs Alabama. Tennessee is 5-5 in the last ten meetings and 6-4 in their last ten in Tuscaloosa. The Vols lost the last match vs the Crimson Tide in five. Brooke Schumacher had a school top 50 digs performance with 31, while the team had the 23rd most digs since 2001.

Tonight’s match is the first played at Auburn since 2015. The previous three meetings were all in Knoxville.

The Vols are playing a rare Thursday night match. In the rally scoring era, Tennessee has only played on this day of the week 7 times. Four of those matches were early season tournaments in September. The other three were NCAA Tournament matches. Their last Thursday match was in 2015. The team is 4-3 on Thursdays since 2001. This is the first SEC match in that time UT has played on Thursday.

Both meetings between these teams in 2017 went to five. However, five-set matches vs AU and UA are relatively rare. Since 2001, only three games vs Alabama were decided 3-2. Only four games with Auburn have gone to five in that time.

Brooke Schumacher is 11 digs shy of becoming the 15th member of UT’s 1,000 digs club.

Rob Patrick is 2 wins away from his 200th career SEC regular-season victory.

UT dropped to #67 in the latest RPI.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	AUBURN TIGERS 13-8, 6-6 SEC
	Thursday, November 9, 8:00pm ET Auburn AL // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

	ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 16-11, 4-9 SEC
	Sunday, November 12, 2:00pm 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	1.31 124 3	12.70 64 5	1.46 307 13	15.63 111 4	13.56 67 5	.210 138 9	.195 124 4
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.86 327 13	11.43 203 10	2.68 23 3	15.30 135 5	12.37 195 9	.218 121 8	.191 114 3
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.23 149 5	11.19 236 12	2.37 56 6	15.72 105 3	12.06 228 12	.184 225 11	.198 142 7

Tennessee plays another top team tough but not enough to get the win as they lose to #4 Florida in straight sets (25-23, 25-19, 25-20). More soon.

UPDATE: Sorry for the delay!

Erica Treiber moved into the UT top ten for career blocks with her 3 in this match.

Tennessee was held to their lowest hitting percentage of the season.

The Vols held Florida to a .230 hitting percentage. The Gators have been held to under .260 only five times this year. Three of those teams are currently in the top ten. The other two are both Tennessee.

Tennessee dropped a four set match to South Carolina this evening 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21. More later.

UPDATE: Erica Treiber had 11 kills and hit .375. Tessa Grubbs had 10 kills and hit .385. Madison Coulter had 9 kills while hitting .444. Sedona Hansen earned career double-double #30 with 23 assists and 13 digs. Callie Williams put up 17 assists. Brooke Schumacher had 20 digs, a number she’s reached 8 times in her career. Coulter added in 10 more digs.

South Carolina’s 69 kills matches the most by a UT opponent this season — Auburn had 69 as well, but had to go to five sets to get there.

Tennessee hit .248, the 6th time they hit .200 or better in a loss this season.

The Vols were held to 3.5 team blocks, the second lowest of the year.

Been a busy week for me so lighter and later notes for the South Carolina and Florida matches in Knoxville this weekend.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 37-30 all-time vs South Carolina. UT is 5-5 in their last ten meetings, and 8-2 in their last ten at home. The visitors have a three-match winning streak vs Tennessee. The Vols lost a four-set match in Columbia earlier this season, despite leading in hitting, blocks, and points, and matching them in aces and digs. Tennessee hit .306 in the match, their 3rd highest percentage in a loss in the rally scoring era.

Tennessee is 13-49-1 all-time vs Florida. UT is 3-7 in their last ten meetings, and 3-7 in their last ten at home. The Lady Vols are hoping to snap a seven-match losing streak. The Vols were swept by the Gators earlier this season when they were the #1 team in the country. Tennessee held UF to a .252 hitting percentage in the match — only (currently ranked) #3 Texas, #6 Kentucky, and #7 Nebraska have done better this year.

After defeating the Vols and earning his 101st win in seven seasons at South Carolina, Scott Swanson was dismissed as head coach of the Gamecocks. Since that match, Dottie Hampton has been promoted to interim head coach and the team is 1-6.

Tennessee will face two big servers this weekend. South Carolina’s Aubrey Ezell is 11th in the nation with 0.48 aces per set, while Florida’s Carli Snyder is #9 with 0.51.

Sunday’s match will be the 4th time this season UT has faced a top-ten opponent.

This will be the 34th time in program history that the Vols have faced a top-five team. They’ve won twice: #2 Penn State and #4 Florida in 2005.

Tennessee is a respectable 28-57 (.329) vs ranked opponents in the rally-scoring era when they themselves are unranked. They’ve won such a match each of the last two seasons.

Tennessee is near the top and bottom of two stats nationally. The Lady Vols rank 16th in the country in blocks per set. But the team is the 5th worst team in Division I in aces per set.

Brooke Schumacher is 51 digs away from becoming the 15th member of UT’s 1,000 digs club.

Erica Treiber is 3 blocks away from UT’s top-ten career blocks list.

Rob Patrick is 2 wins away from his 200th career SEC regular-season victory.

UT dropped one spot to #58 in the latest RPI.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS 10-12, 3-7 SEC
	Friday, November 3, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

	FLORIDA GATORS 19-1, 11-1 SEC
	Sunday, November 5, 1:30pm 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	1.21 185 7	11.19 232 12	2.30 79 7	13.35 279 11	11.90 238 12	.224 98 7	.205 183 10
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.86 325 13	11.53 201 9	2.82 16 3	15.26 136 5	12.45 187 9	.224 100 8	.182 85 3
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.29 143 3	13.00 37 3	3.11 4 1	15.59 114 4	13.91 33 3	.284 14 2	.131 3 1

Tennessee got a big win on the road over the #3 team in the conference, sweeping LSU 25-23, 25-19, 25-21. Tessa Grubbs had 11 kills while hitting .375. Breana Jeter had 9 kills, hitting .438. Eric Treiber had 7 kills. And Alyssa Andreno had 6 kills while hitting .455. Jeter had 5 blocks and Treiber added 4 more. Sedona Hansen put up 20 assists. Callie Williams had 18. Brooke Schumacher had 16 digs.

The team had their second-best hitting percentage of the year at .311.

There were only two lead changes in the entire match, one of which occurred in the first set as Tennessee fought back from 7 points down.

Tennessee took A&M to five, came back from 5 points down in the deciding set, and then forced the game past 15 points, but a controversial call ended the match in the Aggies’ favor (25-17, 15-25, 25-21, 23-25, 16-14). More tomorrow.

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs led the squad in kills with 12, while Stephanie Buss and Madison Coulter added 10 more each. Alyssa Adreno knocked down 9 blocks, Buss and Erica Treiber had 7 each, and Grubbs had 5. Sedona Hansen put up 23 assists and 23 digs. Coulter also had a double-double with 21 digs. Brooke Schumacher dug up 32 balls. And Callie Williams had 19 assists.

Hansen moved into the UT career assists top ten list with a total of 1,546.

Schumacher’s 32 digs were the 12th most in a match in school history — Hansen and Coulter’s digs numbers both were in the top 150. Tennessee’s 101 digs were the 10th most in a match during the rally scoring era. A&M’s 105 digs were the 5th most by an opponent in that time frame. Aggie Amy Nettles was just two shy of the UT opponent digs record with 34.

Tennessee’s 17 team blocks were the 19th most since 2001.

The Vols have had no aces in a match 3 times this season so far.

The Lady Vols are hitting the road to face two western SEC opponents, Texas A&M and LSU.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 6-9 all-time vs Texas A&M. The Aggies won both meetings last season. UT is 2-8 in their last ten meetings, and 2-4 all-time in College Station. Texas A&M has a seven-match winning streak.

Tennessee is 23-37 all-time vs LSU. The Vols won the only meeting last season. UT is 6-4 in their last ten meetings, and 2-8 in their last ten in Baton Rouge. Tennessee has a two-match winning streak.

Texas A&M has one of the toughest schedules in the country. While the Vols have played 2 teams that have spent time as the #1 team in the country (Florida and Minnesota), the Aggies have played 4 (Florida, Texas, Stanford, and Penn State). TAMU has already played 6 teams ranked in the top eight, and may face 2 more in coming weeks.

UT’s Callie Williams and TAMU’s Samantha Sanders played together as seniors last year at Midway High School in Waco TX.

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. Assistant coach Ethan Pheister was a volunteer coach at Arkansas, while Rumely and Hiler also held their respective positions for the Razorbacks previously.

With 9 matches to go, Tennessee is halfway through their 18-match conference slate, and two-thirds through their 27-match overall schedule. They need to win 4 matches to clinch an overall winning record and 6 wins to clinch their first non-losing SEC season since 2012.

The Lady Vols are up to #57 in the latest RPI.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	TEXAS A&M AGGIES 6-10, 3-6 SEC
	Friday, October 27, 7:30pm ET College Station TX // SEC NETWORK // LIVE STATS

	LSU TIGERS 16-4, 7-2 SEC
	Sunday, October 29, 2:00pm ET Baton Rouge LA // 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	1.29 146 5	11.49 202 10	2.14 131 8	13.60 259 10	12.27 207 10	.192 195 11	.228 269 12
	STAT NCAA SEC	0.94 301 13	11.51 200 9	2.80 18 3	14.99 152 5	12.41 185 9	.231 80 8	.187 99 4
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.09 252 11	12.49 86 6	2.57 35 4	14.51 189 6	13.34 95 7	.237 69 5	.186 98 3

A potentially huge change is coming to NCAA volleyball this season. The number of teams going to the postseason this year has doubled, from 64 to 128. That means a few weeks of extra practice for the players, more matches for the fans, and more chances for recognition or redemption for the teams.

After a 22 year absence, the National Invitational Volleyball Championship is returning this season. Mostly forgotten except in media guide footnotes, the NIVC (originally called the Women’s Invitational Volleyball Championship or WIVC) began in 1989, and according to the NCAA “was created to provide an additional postseason opportunity for NCAA Division I women’s volleyball programs”. It was (and, in this current incarnation, is being) likened to the NIT in basketball. It ran until 1995, after which it disbanded when the NCAA Tournament grew to 64 teams.

(Tennessee actually hosted the second NIVC tournament in Knoxville back in 1990. You can read all about that event here at TNVB.net!)

The new NIVC is being put on by Triple Crown Sports, the group who runs both the preseason and postseason NCAA DI WNIT basketball tournaments. Rather than using a single-site, three-day, pool-play/playoff format as they did in the past version, the NIVC will follow the current NCAA tourney format, with play spread over three weeks in a single elimination tournament at campus sites.

The NCAA selects its tournament participants on November 26. Later that evening the NIVC will announce their field. Each of the 32 Division I conferences will get one automatic selection. This pick is given to the team with the best regular-season conference record not already in the NCAA Tournament. That leaves 32 more spots available. These at-large teams will be selected by looking at the RPI and taking the first 32 teams that weren’t selected for the NCAAs or the NIVC automatic qualifiers. (Teams will need to have at least a .500 overall record if they are ranked in the RPI over #50 or #90 — there are conflicting accounts about which rank is needed.)

After the field is set the NIVC will sort the 64 teams into groups based on team strength. This, along with geographical considerations, will be used to create the bracket. So teams in the higher ranked groups will be pitted against teams in the lower ranked groups in the first round. Whether there will be an announced seeding, I don’t know. The NIVC says they will try to avoid teams from the same conference meeting in the first and second rounds.

All matches will be played at campus sites. The first and second rounds will take place between November 28-30. One school will host three other teams. The third round (of 16) will be held between December 1-3, while the fourth round (of 8) will be held December 4-6. The semifinals will be held December 7-9. And the championship match will be on Tuesday, December 12 at 7pm ET. Schools will be allowed to stream games (with appropriate permission and payment to the NIVC). The final match will be streamed online by ESPN.

When Triple Crown Sports announced their new postseason tournament they used the 2016 rankings to show how the field would have looked if the NIVC had been up and running. Tennessee, #84 in the RPI with a 17-14 record would have been in and would have faced North Carolina State in the first round, followed by Radford or Duke in the second round.

AVCA executive director Kathy DeBoer said, “The return of the NIVC is a wonderful opportunity for volleyball offered to us by Triple Crown Sports. It allows us to expand post-season options for our teams and explore our ability to market our sport to our fans.”

So will it work? I honestly don’t know! If the schools get behind this then I believe it could take off. What coach wouldn’t want a few weeks of extra practice not currently allowed for teams that don’t make the NCAA Tournament? And for fans, it’d be great to get more volleyball against teams you don’t normally get to see. But there are questions. There is a lot of extra money involved. More travel time. More days of school missed. Those all apply to the NCAAs too, but will schools want to spend those resources for a tournament between the #64-#128 teams? Then on top of that, there is the uncertainty of hosting. Scheduling for arena events can be made years in advance. It seems like this could be a nightmare to work out logistically. What if two teams that can’t host meet in the third round, for example?

I do like the idea, but I’m afraid that if the execution is flawed it might hinder future tournaments. Maybe starting out with a smaller field might have been more prudent? But the group running things thinks participation won’t be an issue. A Triple Crown Sports representative posted on another website that they talked to “more than half the teams that would have made [the 2016] field; only one school said their administration would not have accepted”. They added that in the Women’s Basketball NIT they also run, “1-2 teams decline to play each year. For the NIVC, TCS expects the first year to have 4-6 teams decline”. Out of 64 teams, only having that few decline would seem to be an acceptable amount, and if it holds could mean the tournament would be a success. The rep concluded, “The women’s college basketball community loves the WNIT, college volleyball is ready for the NIVC”.