Tennessee announced four new players who will be joining the team for the 2016 season: Alyssa Andreno, Tessa Grubbs, Sedona Hansen, Asha Phillips. Coach Rob Patrick said, “What jumps out about our 2016 class is the dynamic, athletic qualities of the group. They move quickly. They’re powerful. Each one of these players has the ability to come in and compete for playing time as freshmen. They will provide very experienced depth to our team.” Check out the official site for details. After the season, I’ll have more information here about the incoming class. Welcome to all the new Tennessee Vols!

(Sorry for the delay, and missing part two of those notes! Things got hectic and the weekend got away from me.) Once again, Tennessee played tough but couldn’t put enough together to win a set, falling to #15 Florida 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-19). Stephanie Buss lead the Vols with 13 kills and a .435 hitting percentage. Kanisha Jimenez had 11 kills and Kendra Turner nine. Buss, Erica Treiber, and Raina Hembry had three blocks each. Brooke Schumacher had nine digs. Lexi Dempsey picked up 39 of the team’s 40 assists.

Tennessee hit .286 in the match. That’s the third best hitting percentage by the Vols in a loss in the rally scoring era. In fact, three of the top five UT hitting averages in a loss since 2001 have come in the past few weeks. On November 6th, Tennessee hit .326 in a 3-1 loss to Alabama. On October 7th, UT hit .266 in a four set loss to LSU.

The Vols will have a ten day break before their next match, a late Thanksgiving-eve game with Auburn in Knoxville at 9pm.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // UF STORY

• Tennessee is 13-46-1 all-time vs Florida. The team is 4-6 in their last ten matches.The Gators currently hold a four match winning streak in the series. The last time Florida won five in a row over UT was 2007-2009.
• The Vols are a respectable 27-50 (.351) against ranked opponents since 2001, and 15-35 (.300) when they themselves are unranked.
• The first time UT faced a ranked Florida team was 1991 — and the Gators have amazingly been ranked in every Tennessee game since then!
• Florida has already lost four SEC matches. Under head coach Mary Wise they have never lost more than that in a single season.
• The match this weekend will air on SEC Network+, available online or via your mobile device. If you’re in the car or can’t watch a video for some other reason, the Florida call will also be broadcast on ESPN Gainesville radio, which you can listen to via their website or the Tunein app on your phone.
• While the Gators hold an impressive all-time 13-46-1 lead, seven of the the Vols’ wins have come in the past 11 years. Tennessee has won at least one match against Florida in five of the last 11 years. In fact, UT has almost double the wins vs Florida in that time than the next closest SEC team: Tennessee has won seven, Kentucky just earned their fourth this season.
• Last time vs Florida: The Vols hung tough but couldn’t close the tight sets in their 3-0 loss to #17 Florida (25-19, 25-11, 25-23). Kanisha Jimenez had nine kills. Raina Hembry had six, and four blocks. Lexi Dempsey put up 22 of the team’s 23 assists, and put back three blocks. The Vols held Florida to just a single ace, their lowest total in a match to that point in the season.

The Vols lost their fourth match in a row (a season first), falling to South Carolina in three (25-22, 25-21, 25-16). Kendra Turner had 14 kills and two blocks. Kanisha Jimenez had seven kills, along with ten digs and two blocks. Erica Treiber had five blocks. Lexi Dempsey put up 26 assists, ten digs, and two blocks. Brooke Schumacher dug up 15 balls.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // SC STORY

The Vols take on South Carolina in Columbia tonight in a nationally televised match.

• UT announced that the volleyball team “maintained its perfect multi-year graduation success rate… The volleyball program has had a 100 GSR score nine consecutive years in the 11 years the score has been measured.”
• Tennessee is 37-27 all-time vs South Carolina. The team is 8-2 in their last ten matches.
• SC is 7-6 at home this season, but Tennessee has a five match winning streak on their court, dating back to 2009.
• The Vols are 1-3 when playing on television this year
• This series is the longest-running in South Carolina history, and the third longest for Tennessee. The teams first met in 1974.
• In both the last two matches vs these teams, South Carolina won the first and third sets while Tennessee won the second and fourth sets. Last season the Gamecocks won the fifth 15-9 while this year the Vols took the final set 15-9.
• Last time vs SC: Tennessee earned a hard fought comeback win against the Gamecocks in five. Erica Treiber led the team in five categories with 16 kills, a .452 hitting percentage, three aces, five blocks, and 21.5 points. Bridgette Villano had 28 digs. Tennessee won the match despite having fewer kills, attacks, assists, blocks, and points.
• The Gamecock’s have an assistant coach who played in every match between Tennessee and her alma mater. Shonda Cole was with South Carolina from 2003-2006. Despite only going 1-7 vs the Vols, her career numbers vs UT are impressive — in rally scoring era matches she stands at #2 in points, #3 in kills, #4 in attacks, and #5 in aces.

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS
Wednesday, November 11th 6:00pm ET // Columbia SC			2015 Record: 10-16 (3-10 SEC) WEBSITE // VIDEO (ESPNU) // STATS

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	LAST TEN MATCHES VERSUS
	2010 3-1 HOME	2010 3-0 AWAY	2011 3-1 AWAY	2011 3-0 HOME	2012 3-1 HOME	2012 3-0 AWAY	2013 1-3 HOME	2013 3-0 AWAY	2014 2-3 HOME	2015 3-2 HOME

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	TEAM STATISTICAL RANKINGS
	ACES PER SET	ASSISTS PER SET	BLOCKS PER SET	DIGS PER SET	KILLS PER SET	HIT PERCENT	OPP HIT PERCENT
	11th SEC 257th NCAA 1.06	11th SEC 182nd NCAA 11.55	6th SEC 89th NCAA 2.26	3rd SEC 115th NCAA 15.36	10th SEC 176th NCAA 12.46	8th SEC 109th NCAA .226	2nd SEC 53rd NCAA .173
	7th SEC 197th NCAA 1.17	8th SEC 127th NCAA 12.10	9th SEC 165th NCAA 2.03	4th SEC 157th NCAA 14.86	9h SEC 131st NCAA 12.98	9th SEC 146th NCAA .210	11th SEC 231st NCAA .216

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	INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
ACES PER SET	Kelsey Bawcombe 0.27	Aubrey Ezell 2nd SEC 42nd NCAA 0.40
ASSISTS PER SET	Lexi Dempsey 9th SEC 85th NCAA 10.14	Aubrey Ezell 7th SEC 68th NCAA 10.42
BLOCKS PER SET	Erica Treiber 6th SEC 96th NCAA 1.13	Darian Dozier 8th SEC 1.04
DIGS PER SET	Bridgette Villano 3rd SEC 89th NCAA 4.52	Joely Cabrera 2.99
KILLS PER SET	Kanisha Jimenez 2.92	Dessaa Legros 8th SEC 3.26
POINTS PER SET	Kanisha Jimenez 3.48	Dessaa Legros 3.54
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Erica Treiber 10th SEC 91st NCAA .347	Darian Dozier 12th SEC 115th NCAA .336

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An injury riddled Tennessee squad played the #21 Wildcats close for most of the match but fell in three this afternoon (25-20, 25-22, 25-13). Kanisha Jimenez had ten kills while Kendra Turner was just behind with nine. Stephanie Buss had a big game in her first start in an SEC match, with six kills, a .312 hitting percentage, and five blocks. Erica Treiber and Raina Hembry had four blocks each. Lexi Dempsey had 19 assists. Taylor Johnson picked up nine more in the third set. Brooke Schumacher led the team with 11 digs.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // UK STORY

Tennessee stayed with the Tide for four sets, but was only able to win one this evening, falling 25-21, 25-22, 25-27, 25-18. Erica Treiber had 15 kills, hit .667, and had seven blocks. Kanisha Jimenez picked up her seventh double double of the seasons with ten kills and and eleven digs. She also had four blocks and three aces. Kendra Turner had eight kills and three blocks. Lexi Dempsey put up 44 assists, surpassing 1,000 digs on the season. Brooke Schumacher had 15 digs.

Tennessee had a season low seven hitting errors and hit .326. That’s the lowest number of errors and the highest hitting percentage in a loss for UT in the rally scoring era. Alabama’s .355 average was the most allowed this year.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // UA STORY

Sorry this post is late and abbreviated! I mistakingly thought the team had Friday off this week and these games were Sunday and Wednesday! Since we’ve already played Alabama once this season these notes will focus on the Kentucky match.

• Tennessee is 34-15 all-time vs Alabama. The team is 7-3 in their last ten meetings. The Crimson Tide had a three match winning streak in the series, until UT broke it earlier this year. Eleven of the last 16 matches with Alabama have been sweeps for one team or the other.
• Tennessee is 29-45 all-time vs Kentucky. The team is 4-6 in their last ten meetings. The Wildcats currently hold a five match winning streak in the series. The last time Kentucky won six in a row over UT was 1993-1995.
• The last time vs Alabama: UT earned a 3-1 victory in front of what had to be one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard in Knoxville. Kanisha Jimenez controlled the match with 18 kills and 14 digs. Erica Treiber put back eight blocks. Kendra Turner made her season debut at home. And Lexi Dempsey was impressive with 39 assists. The Vols won despite being outhit by the Tide — just the 20th time that’s happened in the rally scoring era. Their .161 average was the 13th lowest in a win during that timeframe.
• The UT/UK series is the most played and longest continuously played series in program history. Both sides claim different matches, but according to Tennessee the teams have faced off 74 times since their first meeting in 1973, and have played each other every year since at least 1978.
• This is the first season since 1990 that Tennessee has not travelled to Lexington to face the Wildcats.
• Tennessee is 1-1 vs ranked opponents so far this season.
• The Vols are 1-2 when playing on television this year.
• Kentucky has been one of the top teams in the SEC for some time now. They’ve appeared in ten consecutive NCAA tournaments. They’ve been a fixture in the polls. But despite that, they’re still waiting for their first SEC title since 1988. Their three best most recent chances were all thwarted by Tennessee.
• For a lot of their history, a UT/UK match ended the regular season. In 2008, #17 Kentucky was looking to become just the second team other than Florida to win a league title since 1992. A win over the unranked Vols in Lexington and they would share the trophy with the Gators. Tennessee pulled off the upset with a 16-14 victory in the fifth set.
• In 2009, the Florida hegemony was put on hold as either LSU or Kentucky were going to win or share the title. All the #10 Wildcats had to do was defeat the unranked Vols in the last match of the regular season. UT went up 2-0 but UK fought back to tie it. In the fifth set, Kentucky led 14-10, giving them four championship points — before Tennessee scored the last six in a row to once again dash their title hopes.
• in 2011, #15 Tennessee came into the final match with a guaranteed share of the conference championship. With a victory over #16 Kentucky they would win the title outright. With a loss Kentucky would get a share of the elusive title. For the third time in four years, the Vols broke the Wildcats’ hearts at the end of the season, this time in a 3-1 decision.
• The good news for Kentucky is since that 2011 match, the UT/UK match no longer ends the SEC season! The bad news is, that while they would have time to bounce back, a loss to the Vols would create a much tighter race since the top four teams in the league are just one game apart in the standings.
• More possible good news for UK? Every odd numbered year since 2009 has seen a team other than Florida win the SEC.
  

  SEC CHAMPIONS SINCE 2009
  2009	LSU	25-7 (18-2)
  2010	Florida	29-2 (20-0)
  2011	Tennessee	28-4 (19-1)
  2012	Florida	27-5 (19-1)
  2013	Missouri	35-1 (18-0)
  2014	Florida	28-4 (18-0)
  2015	?

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ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
Friday, November 6th 8:00pm ET // Tuscaloosa AL			2015 Record: 11-13 (5-5 SEC) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS
#21 KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Sunday, November 8th 1:00pm ET // Knoxville TN			2015 Record: 17-7 (10-2 SEC) WEBSITE // SEC NETWORK // STATS

Tennessee lost to Texas A&M this afternoon in three (25-14, 25-23, 25-18). More soon.

UPDATE: Two days later doesn’t really qualify as soon, but here are the details anyway! Kendra Turner led the attack for the Vols with 11 kills; she also had three blocks. Bri Holmes had nine kills. Raina Hembry had six blocks in the three set match. Lexi Dempsey earned career double-double #35 and season double-double #12 with 28 assists and ten digs. Brooke Schumacher picked up nine digs in the libero jersey.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // TAMU STORY

Tennessee picked up their first win over LSU in their last five tries, earning a 3-0 victory (25-17, 25-18, 26-24). Kendra Turner had 11 kills and two blocks. Kanisha Jimenez had ten kills, hit .346, had nine digs, and two blocks. Bri Holmes had nine kills. Raina Hembry and Erica Treiber had two blocks each. Bridgette Villano led the team with 15 digs — and broke into the UT all-time single season top ten digs list. Brooke Schumacher had ten. Lexi Dempsey had ten along with 31 assists.

The win gives the Vols their 20th victory of the season, a feat they’ve now accomplished 22 times in program history. This is the ninth fastest the team has reached that milestone. Under coach Rob Patrick the team has reached 20 wins 11 times.

Tennessee is now 9-1 at home, 9-2 in three-set matches, and 5-0 wearing smokey grey.

Finally, prayers to Bridgette Villano who was injured in the match. We’re all thinking about you and wishing you the best.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY, VIDEO, & PHOTOS // LSU STORY

• Rob Patrick and Raina Hembry discuss the team’s competitiveness in today’s local newspaper. Hembry: “We’re always kind of, not one-upping each other, but wanting to be the best we can possibly be… I think it drives us to be better people, better athletes.”
• The school is collecting items for the Second Harvest Food Bank this weekend. Those bringing two non-perishable food items will get into the matches for free.
• Kids 12 and under will get free admission if they wear their Halloween costume to the LSU match. The first 250 kids will get trick or treat bags.
• On Sunday, all kids 12 and under get in free with the first 100 receiving vouchers for a free hotdog and drink. There will also be a post-match volleyball clinic for kids 8th grade and below. To register, email rkundert@utk.edu by 5pm on October 30th.

LSU TIGERS
Friday, October 30th 7:00pm ET // Knoxville TN			2015 Record: 9-11 (5-4 SEC) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Sunday, November 1st 1:30pm ET // Knoxville TN			2015 Record: 13-6 (6-2 SEC) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS

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	LAST TEN MATCHES VERSUS
	2010 1-3 AWAY	2010 1-3 HOME	2011 3-1 AWAY	2011 3-0 HOME	2012 3-2 AWAY	2012 3-0 HOME	2013 2-3 HOME	2014 0-3 HOME	2014 1-3 AWAY	2015 1-3 AWAY
	1983 3-0 NEUT.	1985 0-3 HOME	1987 3-0 NEUT.	1994 0-3 AWAY	2004 3-1 HOME	2012 3-0 AWAY	2012 2-3 HOME	2013 0-3 AWAY	2014 0-3 HOME	2014 0-3 AWAY

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	TEAM STATISTICAL RANKINGS
	ACES PER SET	ASSISTS PER SET	BLOCKS PER SET	DIGS PER SET	KILLS PER SET	HIT PERCENT	OPP HIT PERCENT
	11th SEC 245th NCAA 1.09	10th SEC 176th NCAA 11.58	6th SEC 93rd NCAA 2.24	3rd SEC 92nd NCAA 15.54	10th SEC 172nd NCAA 12.49	6th SEC 100th NCAA .228	2nd SEC 30th NCAA .160
	8th SEC 204th NCAA 1.15	12th SEC 218th NCAA 11.14	8th SEC 119th NCAA 2.16	1st SEC 44th NCAA 16.23	12th SEC 227th NCAA 11.91	12th SEC 248th NCAA .172	8th SEC 162nd NCAA .200
	13th SEC 283rd NCAA 0.99	1st SEC 40th NCAA 12.99	4th SEC 58th NCAA 2.41	10th SEC 260th NCAA 13.49	2nd SEC 40th NCAA 13.93	2nd SEC 10th NCAA .281	13th SEC 261st NCAA .226

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	INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
ACES PER SET	Kelsey Bawcombe 9th SEC 0.30	Cati Leak 5th SEC 0.32	Shelby Sullivan 0.21
ASSISTS PER SET	Lexi Dempsey 9th SEC 82nd NCAA 10.14	Cheyenne Wood 5.54	Stephanie Aiple 2nd SEC 16th NCAA 11.36
BLOCKS PER SET	Erica Treiber 6th SEC 107th NCAA 1.12	Olivia Beyer 5th SEC ? NCAA 1.15	Jazzmin Babers 3rd SEC 29th NCAA 1.34
DIGS PER SET	Bridgette Villano 2nd SEC 87th NCAA 4.51	Haley Smith 3rd SEC 89th NCAA 4.49	Amy Nettles 10th SEC 3.69
KILLS PER SET	Kanisha Jimenez 2.99	Gina Tillis 7th SEC 3.32	Jazzmin Babers 9th SEC 3.17
POINTS PER SET	Kanisha Jimenez 3.55	Cati Leak 10th SEC 3.76	Jazzmin Babers 6h SEC 130th NCAA 3.97
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Erica Treiber 8th SEC 101st NCAA .345	Gina Tillis .190	Jazzmin Babers 1st SEC 6th NCAA .435

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• Tennessee is 21-37 all-time vs LSU. The team is 4-6 in their last ten meetings. The Tigers currently hold a four match winning streak in the series. The last time LSU won five in a row over UT was 1992-1993.
• Tennessee is 6-6 all-time vs Texas A&M. The team is 4-6 in their last ten meetings (which date back to 1983). The Aggies currently hold a four match winning streak in the series.
• Eight of the 12 matches in the Texas A&M series have been sweeps for one team or the other.
• Last time vs LSU, the Vols were two points away from forcing a fifth set before falling in four. The team out hit the Tigers and had more kills, assists, and digs. UT’s .266 hitting percentage was their third highest in a loss during the rally scoring era.
• Fifteen of the 17 players on the A&M roster are from the state of Texas. A third of of LSU’s 18 players hail from the Lone Star State.
• While the Aggies are second in the conference in hitting percentage, with .281, they are last in what they give their opponents, allowing a .226 average.
• Eight players from UT, LSU, and TAMU have earned SEC weekly awards this season — two Vols, two Tigers, and four Aggies.
• With just 67 more assists, senior setter Lexi Dempsey would reach 1,000 on the season. She is 12 away from moving up to #2 on the rally-scoring era career list. And with eight games remaining she could become just the fifth Vol to reach 3,000 assists with 272 more. She currently stands at eighth all-time at UT.
• Junior libero Bridgette Villano is just two digs away from cracking the UT season top ten chart. With another year still to play, she’s already just 100 shy of becoming the 14th Vol to reach 1,000 career digs.

The Vols leave the state of Mississippi with one loss and one win, falling to the Rebels in four and rallying back from two down to defeat the Bulldogs in five.

Bri Holmes led UT in Oxford with 14 kills. Erica Treiber had eight, with four blocks as well. Kanisha Jimenez put back five blocks while Raina Hembry added three more. Lexi Dempsey had 34 of the team’s 36 assists. And Bridgette Villano dug up 14 balls.

Raina Hembrey led the attack vs State with 13 kills, hitting .500. She also had three blocks. Jimenez was just behind with 12 kills. She had five blocks and picked up her tenth career double-double with ten digs. Treiber had seven kills and seven blocks. Dempsey earned career double-double #32 with 37 assists and ten digs. Villano had 25 digs, the fourth time this season she’s reached that milestone in a match.

The Mississippi State game was the first time Tennessee has come back from 0-2 to win since 2012. It was the sixth time they’ve done it in the rally scoring era, the 17th time in school history, and the seventh time vs an SEC opponent.

The victory gives UT their 19th win of the season. Head coach Rob Patrick has now led Tennessee to at least 19 wins in a season 14 times in his 19 years in Knoxville.

10/23: BOX SCORE // UT STORY // UM STORY

10/25: BOX SCORE // UT STORY // MSU STORY

Just a head’s up that I won’t be posting notes for this weekend’s matches vs Mississippi and Mississippi State. I will be doing recaps after each game, and I’ll get back to my normal schedule early next week. Until then be sure to follow UT’s official site and social media accounts, and visit the links to the opposing schools (under “SEC Info” on the right) for all your notes, news, and scores.

Tennessee earned a hard fought comeback win against the Gamecocks in five this afternoon (20-25, 26-24, 21-25, 25-21, 15-9). More soon.

Erica Treiber led the team in five categories with 16 kills, a .452 hitting percentage, three aces, five blocks, and 21.5 points. The kills, aces, and points totals were career highs for the freshman. Kendra Turned had 11 kills. Raina Hembry and Bri Holmes had ten kills each. Hembry also had three blocks while Holmes had seven digs. Kanisha Jimenez had seven kills, 13 digs, and four blocks. Lexi Dempsey put up 48 assists, nine digs, and three blocks. Bridgett Villano had 28 digs, the third time this year she’s had at least 25 in a match. Megan Hatcher had 12.

Tennessee won the match despite having fewer kills, attacks, assists, digs, blocks, and points! The Vols are 2-0 in five set matches this year, 8-1 at home, and 4-0 in smokey gray uniforms.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // SC STORY