Tennessee played the #6 team in the country tight but Kentucky got the win (25-21, 25-18, 30-28). More tonight.

UPDATE: Alyssa Andreno led the team in kills with 8 and blocks with 5. Stephanie Buss and Breana Jeter had 7 kills each. Madison Coulter had 4 blocks and Erica Treiber had 3. Sedona Hansen earned another double-double with 18 assists and 11 digs. Callie Williams had 14 assists and 7 digs. Brook Schumacher dug up 12 balls.

There were 9 ties in the first set, 8 in the second, and 20 in the third set. Tennessee has hit .200 or better in 5 of their 8 losses this season.

The Lady Vols get a break this week with only one match on the schedule — but it’s a big one!

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 30-47 all-time vs Kentucky. The teams split their two meetings last season. The Vols are 2-8 in their last ten meetings, and 3-7 in their last ten in Lexington.

The UT/UK series is the most played and longest continuously played series in program history — through how long depends on who you ask. According to Tennessee the teams have faced off 77 times since their first meeting in 1973, and have played each other every year since at least 1978. Kentucky, however, doesn’t have the 1973 game in their records but does include two matches in 1977 that Tennessee is missing. Combining all these games would make the actual series record 31-48 in UK’s favor.

The Wildcats are currently on an 11 match win streak.

Kentucky’s #6 ranking matches the third highest in their history. In 1983 and 1993, they went as high as #5.

The Lady Vols are 2-8 in their last ten matches vs ranked opponents. The last ranked team Tennessee defeated was #23 Kentucky in the final week of the 2016 season.

Since 2008, Tennessee is 5-6 vs Kentucky when the Wildcats are ranked. Four of those UT wins came during matches where the Vols themselves were unranked — two when Kentucky was in the top ten.

SEASON UPDATE

With ten matches remaining and the SEC season almost half over, here are a few updates about the season so far.

SINGLE SEASON RECORDS

• Brooke Schumacher could end the year on UT’s top ten single-season digs and digs per set lists.

• Erica Treiber could end the year on UT’s top twenty single-season blocks list and top ten single-season blocks per set list.

• Alyssa Andreno could end the year on UT’s top twenty single-season blocks per set list.

• Treiber and Andreno could end the year on UT’s top twenty single-season hitting percentage list.

CAREER RECORDS

• Schumacher is 111 digs shy of becoming the 15th member of UT’s 1,000 digs club.

• Sedona Hansen is 25 assists away from making UT’s top ten career assists list.

• Treiber is 17 blocks away from making UT’s top ten career blocks list.

• Callie Williams is 85 assists away from making UT’s top twenty career assists list.

• Kanisha Jimenez is 17 digs away from making UT’s top twenty-five career digs list.

• Treiber is 81.5 points away from making UT’s rally-scoring era top ten career points list.

OTHER STATS

• Rob Patrick is 3 wins away from his 200th SEC win — with a caveat! That record only includes regular-season victories, not SEC Tournament wins. Including those victories, he is at 206 right now.

• Four of the top 60 single match dig performances by a Lady Vol occurred this year. Schumacher has the #5, #31, and #56 games of all-time, while Hansen has #42.

• Tennessee is on pace to have the fewest hitting errors they’ve ever had in the rally scoring era. That may not be as great a stat as it first seems because their kills and attacks are on track to be the lowest in that time frame too, while their hitting percentage is right at their average. One of the reasons they may be getting fewer attack attempts, and thus kills, is their blocking is up. The team is on track to have one of their best years in that stat in the past decade. They’re also holding down opponent kills and hitting percentage.

LINKS OF INTEREST

UT ranks 58th in the latest RPI. UK is 5th.

Congratulations to the four Knoxville high schools in the state tournament this week. Hardin Valley was knocked out early, Catholic made the finals, and Webb and Berean Christian won it all.

Tennessee volleyball commitment Lily Felts leads Berean Christian to first state title

Kayleigh Hames leads Webb to fifth consecutive state volleyball title

Catholic falls to Portland in Class AA volleyball state championship game

MATCH SCHEDULE

	#6 KENTUCKY WILDCATS 16-2, 7-0 SEC
	Sunday, October 22, 1:30pm ET Lexington KY // 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	0.95 300 13	11.48 199 9	2.80 18 3	14.89 153 5	12.42 181 9	.233 75 7	.180 75 3
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.17 212 9	13.60 11 1	2.38 61 6	13.12 284 12	14.94 4 1	.328 3 1	.214 225 11

Tennessee picked up win #10 of the season with a four-set victory over Missouri (25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 25-21). More tonight.

The Vols were led by Erica Treiber who had 15 kills, 8 blocks, and hit .519. Alyssa Andreno was right with her knocking down 12 kills and 6 blocks, while hitting .550. Breana Jeter had 6 blocks. And Tessa Grubbs had 7 kills. Sedona Hansen had 24 assists and 13 digs. Callie Williams added 17 more assists for the team. Brooke Schumacher had 11 digs.

Tennessee earned a convincing win today despite only leading in two major categories: hitting percentage and blocks, two categories they have done well in all season.

UT had another low hitting error day with just 16 to Mizzou’s 30. Tennessee’s season high this year in just 23 — and that was in the first match of the year.

Sedona Hansen picked up career double-double 27 this afternoon, moving her into 6th place at UT in double-doubles notched during rally scoring matches.

The Lady Vols’ 14 blocks were the 20th most for the team in a four-set match since 2001.

With a dominating fifth set performance, the Lady Vols get the win at Georgia (15-25, 25-22, 17-25, 27-25, 15-5). Stephanie Buss, who had 15 kills this season coming into the match, put down 16 vs the Bulldogs. She hit .387 and had 4 blocks. Tessa Grubbs had 13 kills. Erica Treiber had 8 kills, hit .467, and had 6 blocks. And Madison Coulter had 7 kills. Alyssa Andreno had 4 blocks and Breana Jeter added 3 more. Sedona Hansen earned a double-double with 37 assists and 11 digs. Callie Williams put up 21 assists. Brooke Schumacher dug up 26 balls.

In the rally scoring era, UT has only held one team to fewer than 5 points in a fifth set. This was Tennessee’s first true road win since October 2016. The team had not played back-to-back-to-back five-set matches since 2012.

Tennessee looks to get back on track this week at Georgia and hosting Missouri. Notes will be lighter (and later!) than nornmal this week due to some personal obligations.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 45-27 all-time vs Georgia. The Vols won the only meeting last season. The teams are 7-3 in their last ten meetings, and 6-4 in their last ten in Athens. UT looks to continue a three-match winning streak.

Tennessee is 2-8 all-time vs Missouri. The Vols won the only meeting last season. The teams are 1-3 in Knoxville. UT hopes to halt a six-match losing streak.

Seven of the last ten meeting vs Georgia have been sweeps — 5 for the Vols and 2 for the Bulldogs.

Tennessee has two wins vs Mizzou — a 3-2 win in 2012 and a 3-1 win in 2005. The Lady Vols have yet to sweep MU.

UT is looking for their first win in a televised match this season. The team is 7-3 in matches vs UGA on TV since 2001.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	GEORGIA BULLDOGS 12-7, 2-4 SEC
	Wednesday, October 11, 7:00pm ET Knoxville TN // ESPNU // LIVE STATS

	MISSOURI TIGERS 11-7, 4-1 SEC
	Sunday, October 15, 1:30pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

Tennessee dropped another nail-biter, this time losing to Alabama 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-9). More soon.

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs had 19 kills. Madison Coulter earned her first career double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. She and Erica Treiber led the match with 5 blocks each. Sedona Hansen picked up career double-double number 25 with 30 assists and 15 digs. Callie Williams put up 22 assists. Brooke Schumacher’s 28 digs were the 31st most in a match at UT all-time. And Asha Phillips dug up an additional 11 balls.

For the third match in a row, Tennessee out-hit their opponent in a losing effort. The Vols had just 22 hitting errors vs Alabama (and Auburn too) — the 11th fewest in a five-set match in the rally scoring era. UT’s 90 team digs were the 23rd most since 2001.

Tennessee lost a nail-biter to Auburn this evening (25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-11). It was their first home loss and first five-set loss of the year. More soon.

UPDATE: Erica Treiber led the Vols in kills and blocks with 16 and 7 respectively. Tessa Grubbs had 14 kills and 4 blocks. Alyssa Andreno had 9 kills and 5 blocks. Callie Williams put up 24 assists. Sedona Hansen earned her 24th career double-double with 16 assists and a team-leading 27 digs (the 41st most in a match in school history). Brooke Schumacher picked up her first ever double-double with 18 digs and 10 assists. And Kanisha Jimenez added 14 digs.

For the second match in a row, UT outhit their opponent in a loss. The team held Auburn to .174. Tennessee’s single ace was the fewest in a five-set match since 2014.

Auburn’s Jessie Earl had 36 digs in the match — the most ever by a Tennessee opponent.

The Alabama schools head to Knoxville this week as Tennessee takes on Auburn this Wednesday and the Crimson Tide on Sunday.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 30-18-1 all-time vs Auburn. The Vols won the only meeting last season. The teams are 5-5 in their last ten meetings, and 7-3 in their last ten in Knoxville.

Tennessee is 35-16 all-time vs Alabama. The Vols won the only meeting last season. The teams are 6-4 in their last ten meetings, and 7-3 in their last ten in Knoxville.

Five-set matches between these teams are relatively rare. Since 2001, only two games vs Alabama were decided 3-2 — the last was in 2006. Only three games with Auburn have gone to five in that time period.

The Tigers are starting to make a push in the rankings. Auburn is #40 in the RichKern.com poll, #38 in the Pablo Rankings, and #21 in the RPI.

The Vols are 0-2 in televised matches this season. They’ve only played Auburn once before on TV since 2001, a sweep loss in 2015.

This Wednesday’s match is Dig Pink night. Tennessee has held a Dig for the Cure/Dig Pink match every year since 2008. In previous years the team — clad in those iconic pink jerseys — raised money with auctions of UT volleyball items, pledged donations per dig, fans raising money per minute on a treadmill, and other games and events before and during the match. But in the past two years or so, there have been some cutbacks: no pink jerseys, no big fundraisers, and not much promotion or followup. No matter whether the plans are big or small, though, it’s the cause that is the most important aspect of Dig Pink night — breast cancer awareness and support for people with the disease. The table below has the stats for the past ten years of Dig Pink matches, including the amount raised during the games. In the first seven years of the event, the team and fans contributed over $10,000. This year’s opponent is Auburn, a team they have faced during three previous Dig Pink matches. The Lady Vols are 6-3 overall.

UT BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH MATCHES
2008		Auburn	W 3-0	$1000+
2009		Auburn	W 3-0	$1000+
2010		Auburn	W 3-0	$1300+
2011		Alabama	W 3-0	$2650+
2012		Missouri	W 3-2	$1600+
2013		Arkansas	L 1-3	$1800+
2014		Kentucky	L 0-3	$ total not announced
2015		Florida	L 0-3
2016		Mississippi	W 3-0
2017		Auburn

LINKS OF INTEREST

This week’s AVCA Coaches Poll

The first official RPI of the season is out. The Lady Vols rank 61st.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	AUBURN TIGERS 10-3, 3-1 SEC
	Wednesday, October 4, 8:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK // LIVE STATS

	ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 12-5, 1-3 SEC
	Sunday, October 8, 1:00pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKS (updated)

		aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.23 184 9	12.92 50 4	1.48 301 13	15.79 86 3	13.71 54 4	.226 94 8	.170 49 3
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.17 215 11	11.52 187 11	2.88 15 3	14.52 176 5	12.52 166 11	.236 69 7	.175 72 5
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.39 107 4	11.02 237 13	2.63 31 4	15.37 117 4	12.05 219 12	.189 197 12	.173 63 4

Tennessee and South Carolina played a fairly even match statistically, but the Gamecocks get the win 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 27-25, 25-17). Alyssa Andreno led the team with 16 kills while hitting .583. Kanisha Jimenez had 11 kills. Erica Treiber had 10 kills and no errors to hit .417. She also led the match in blocks with 8. Jimenez contributed 5 — including 2 solos. And Breana Jeter put down 4. Sedona Hansen earned a double-double with 26 assists and 15 digs. Callie Willaims put up 23 assists. Brooke Schumacher dug up 16 balls.

The Lady Vols outhit South Carolina, had over 2.5 times the team blocks, and had more statistical points, while tying the Gamecocks in aces and digs.

Tennessee hit .306 in the match, their 3rd highest percentage in a loss in the rally scoring era. They also had 8 more team blocks, the 6th biggest advantage in blocks the team has had in a loss since 2001.

Tennessee was swept by #1 Florida in Gainesville this evening (25-17, 25-18, 25-19). Erica Treiber had 10 kills. Alyssa Andreno had 7. Sedona Hansen put up 23 assists. Asha Phillips led the team with 10 digs. The Vols had a season-low 3.5 team blocks. UT held the Gators to a .252 hitting percentage, their third-lowest of the year — only Nebraska and Texas held them lower.

Tennessee is on the road this week with matches at Florida and South Carolina.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 13-48-1 all-time vs Florida. The Gators won both meetings last season. The teams are 3-7 in their last ten meetings, and 2-8 in their last ten in Gainesville. The Lady Vols are hoping to snap a six-match losing streak.

Tennessee is 37-29 all-time vs South Carolina. The Gamecocks won the only meeting last season in five. The teams are 6-4 in their last ten meetings, and 5-5 in their last ten in Columbus.

UT will be facing a #1 team for the 7th time in school history and looking for their first upset. The first #1 team Tennessee faced was Hawaii in 1982, the inaugural year of the poll.

Florida has reached #1 in the poll three times in their history — 1996, 2010, and 2017 — and the Vols have played them while they held the top spot each time.

TENNESSEE VERSUS #1
	Hawaii	1982	L 2-1
	Hawaii	1983	L 3-0
	Pacific	1984	L 3-0
	Florida	1996	L 3-1
	Nebraska	2007	L 3-0
	Florida	2010	L 3-0
	Florida	2017	?

Four teams have held the #1 spot in the AVCA Coaches Poll this season, and as of this Friday the Vols will have faced two of them. The other is Minnesota who was #2 when UT played them but held the top spot for three weeks.

UF is one of just two teams in the country with 4 wins over top 20 opponents.

UT’s last two matches vs #1 were televised — this one will not be.

The head coaches of Tennessee, Florida, and South Carolina have all celebrated milestone wins in 2017. Rob Patrick earned win #400 at UT, Mary Wise got win #800 with the Gators, and in his last match, Scott Swanson reached win #100 with the Gamecocks.

SC is 6-0 in three-set matches this year, but only 2-5 when the match goes to four or five sets.

Tennessee is 1-4 in their last five televised matched vs South Carolina.

LINKS OF INTEREST

This week’s AVCA Coaches Poll

The Lady Vols are doing relatively well in a couple of recent ranking systems. The team started the season at #74 in the Pablo Rankings but is currently up to #53. And in an early look at the unofficial RPI, UT stands at #50.

MATCH SCHEDULE

	FLORIDA GATORS 9-0, 1-0 SEC
	Friday, September 29, 7:00pm ET Gainesville FL // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

	SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS 8-5, 1-0 SEC
	Sunday, October 1, 1:00pm ET Columbus SC // 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	1.27 161 8	12.88 58 6	3.02 10 1	16.79 37 2	13.82 49 5	.272 23 2	.141 13 1
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.18 210 10	11.44 194 12	2.97 13 2	14.26 193 6	12.41 175 11	.242 66 7	.156 25 2
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.35 113 7	11.71 161 9	2.47 55 6	13.45 257 11	12.49 167 10	.264 36 4	.178 81 7

Tennessee earned their first conference win of 2017 with a 3-1 win over Mississippi State (25-23, 24-26, 25-14, 25-11). More tonight

UPDATE: Tessa Grubbs had 20 kills on 40 attacks, hitting .475. Kendra Turner had 14 kills and hit .500. And Erica Treiber had 9 kills while also hitting .500. Alyssa Andreno led the team with 6 blocks. Treiber had 4, while Grubbs and Turner added 3 more each.Sedona Hansen earned a double-double with 28 assists and 13 digs. Callie Williams put up 25 assists. And Brooke Schumacher dug up 16 balls.

UT hit .367 as a team, their highest hitting percentage vs an SEC opponent since 2012.

UT STORY & STATS

PrepVolleyball has released their annual Senior Aces list of the best 250 USA-based recruits in the high school class of 2018. The Vols have four future players honored this year. (Only the top 100 players are ranked, with the next 150 being grouped together.)

Emma Schriner (a 6’3” OH/MB from Williamsburg VA) is UT’s highest ranked recruit on the list at #60, followed by #96 Danielle Mahaffey (a 6’1” RS/OH from Cincinnati OH), #98 Lily Felts (a 5’10” OH from Knoxville TN), and Rocky Perinar (a 6’0” OH from Illinois) who didn’t make the ranked 100 but was named one of 25 players in the group of 150 who just missed making that cut.

Also of note, of the three players from the state of Tennessee to make the list of the best 250 recruits in the country, two are from Knoxville: UT recruit Felts of Berean Christian and, almost topping the list at #4, Nicklin Hames (a 5-11 S) from Webb who will play for Nebraska.

The Vols currently have six players on the squad who earned Senior Aces honors while in high school: Sedona Hansen, Keyton Kinley, Mackenzie Cooler, Erica Treiber, Olivia Schwamberger, and Callie Williams.

Tennessee was swept by Arkansas (25-17, 25-19, 25-21) in the first conference match of the season. More soon.

UPDATE: Kendra Turner led the team in kills with 10. Tessa Grubbs had 8 while hitting .538. Tennessee out-blocked the Razorbacks, with Alyssa Andreno leading the way with 6 and Erica Treiber just behind with 5. Brooke Schumacher had 8 digs. Sedona Hansen had 18 assists while Callie Williams added in 10 more.

Tennessee begins the SEC portion of their schedule with a mid-week televised match at Arkansas before returning home on Sunday to face Mississippi State.

MATCH NOTES

Tennessee is 19-19 all-time vs Arkansas. The two teams split their meetings last season with the Vols getting a 3-1 win in Knoxville and the Razorbacks getting a sweep in Fayetteville. The teams are 5-5 in their last ten meetings, and 7-3 in their last ten in Arkansas.

Tennessee is 43-12 all-time vs Mississippi State. The Bulldogs won both meetings last season. The teams are 5-5 in their last ten meetings, and 8-2 in their last ten in Knoxville.

The Lady Vols are 18-21 when facing their first conference opponent of the year.

This will be the only time UT plays both these teams this season.

Tennessee has had a string of bad luck in televised games since 2013, losing 21 out of 22. But they have since won their last two in a row.

Today’s notes feature a recap of UT’s statistical rankings and top performances to date during their out-of-conference schedule. You can check those out at the end of this article.

LINKS OF INTEREST

This week’s AVCA Coaches Poll

Daily Beacon weekend recap

Tennessee Journalist weekend recap

MATCH SCHEDULE

	ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS 2017: 10-2 // 2016: 9-21, 7-11 SEC
	Wednesday, September 20, 9:00pm ET Fayetteville AR // ESPNU

	MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS 2017: 9-6 // 2016: 14-18, 6-12 SEC
	Sunday, September 24, 1:30pm ET Knoxville TN // SEC NETWORK+ // LIVE STATS

2017 RANKINGS & TOP PERFORMANCES TO DATE

NATIONAL STATISTICAL RANKINGS – TEAM (out of 329)
aces per set	assists per set	attacks per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	UT hitting	opponent hitting
142	222	206	16	183	190	81	17

SEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS – TEAM (out of 13)
aces per set	assists per set	attacks per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	UT hitting	opponent hitting
7	12	7	2	6	12	7	2

NATIONAL STATISTICAL RANKINGS – INDIVIDUAL (top 150 ranked)
Alyssa Andreno	blocks per set	64
	hitting percentage	90
Brooke Schumacher	digs per set	53
Erica Treiber	blocks per set	34
	hitting percentage	39

SEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS – INDIVIDUAL (top 10 ranked)
Alyssa Andreno	blocks per set	6
	hitting percentage	8
Kanisha Jimenez	aces per set	7
Brooke Schumacher	digs per set	2
Erica Treiber	blocks per set	5
	hitting percentage	4

CAREER HIGHS (matched or exceeded in 2017)
Alyssa Andreno	blocks (solo)	3 (vs Western Michigan)
	blocks (assists)	8 (vs Western Michigan)
	blocks (total)	11 (vs Western Michigan)
Stephanie Buss	blocks (assists)	7 (vs Furman)
	blocks (total)	7 (vs Furman)
Sedona Hansen	aces	3 (vs Wofford)
Kanisha Jimenez	assists	5 (vs UTSA)
	aces	5 (vs Furman)
	blocks (assists)	7 (vs Furman)
	blocks (total)	8 (vs Furman)
Brooke Schumacher	digs	36 (vs UTSA)
Erica Treiber	aces	3 (vs GWU & WMU)
	blocks (assists)	10 (vs Furman)
	blocks (total)	10 (vs Furman)
Kendra Turner	attacks	52 (vs UTSA)

2017 SEASON HIGHS
aces	Kanisha Jimenez	5 (vs Furman)
	Callie Williams	5 (vs USC Upstate)
assists	Sedona Hansen	29 (vs USC Upstate)
attacks	Kendra Turner	52 (vs UTSA)
blocks (solo)	Alyssa Andreno	3 (vs Western Michigan)
blocks (assists)	Erica Treiber	10 (vs Furman)
blocks (total)	Alyssa Andreno	11 (vs Western Michigan)
kills	Kendra Turner	17 (vs UTSA)
points	Kendra Turner	20.5 (vs UTSA)
hitting percentage	Erica Treiber	.800 (vs Wofford)

TEAM MATCH HIGHS (rally scoring era, 2001-2017)
10th most	blocks (assists)	32 (vs Furman)
10th most	blocks (total)	19 (vs Furman)
17th most	aces	9 (vs Wofford)
22nd most	blocks (solo)	4 (vs Western Michigan)

INDIVIDUAL MATCH HIGHS (rally scoring era, 2001-2017)
Alyssa Andreno	3rd most	blocks (solo)	3 (vs Western Michigan)
	11th most	blocks (total)	11 (vs Western Michigan)
Kanisha Jimenez	8th most	aces	5 (vs Furman)
Brooke Schumacher	5th most	digs	36 (vs UTSA)
Erica Treiber	10th most	hitting percentage	.800 (vs Wofford)
	10th most	blocks (assists)	10 (vs Furman)
	17th most	blocks (total)	10 (vs Furman)
Callie Williams	8th most	aces	5 (vs USC Upstate)