The Lady Vols dropped a four-setter to Florida this evening (22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-16). More info soon.

UPDATE: Morgahn Fingall paced the team in kills with 14. Danielle Mahaffey had 11. Mahaffey led the match with 6 blocks. Fingall had 4. Natalie Hayward put up 41 assists. Madison Bryant had 12 digs, while Lily Felts and Breana Runnels added 11 more each.

Tennessee hit a season low .177. (Their previous low was .180 in a win over #9 Baylor!)

The Lady Vols face off against their fifth ranked opponent of the season at #23 Florida.

UT is 14-53-1 all-time vs the Gators. Tennessee is 1-9 in the last ten meetings and 2-8 in their last ten in Gainesville.

If my research is correct, this will be the first match in the history of the series where Tennessee is ranked higher than Florida in the AVCA Coaches Poll. In the rally-scoring era (since 2001), the teams are 4-4 when both are ranked, with Florida having the higher rank each time. From 1991 to 2000, Florida was ranked in every meeting while Tennessee was not. And neither team was ranked in the meetings between 1984 and 1990.

The last time both teams were ranked was 2018, in head coach Eve Rackham-Watt’s first season when UT was also ranked #22. The Lady Vols swept #13 Florida for just the second time in program history and the first since 1988.

Both Tennessee and Florida have played four ranked opponents coming in to this match and both have gone 1-3. Tennessee’s win came against Baylor, whom Florida lost to twice.

Most of UF’s wins vs UT over the years have come in sweeps. However, when Tennessee is able to win a set vs Florida, they usually win the match. The team is 14-12-1 in those situations.

If the match heads to a fifth set, the odds are even more in Tennessee’s favor. In the 9 all-time five-set matches between the teams, UT has won 7 of them, including the last 6. And 4 of the last five have been on Florida’s court.

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	1.15 291 12	12.92 18 2	2.93 3 1	14.95 146 4	14.22 8 1	.270 23 3	.186 85 6
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.50 101 2	12.94 17 1	2.62 21 3	14.47 176 7	13.97 18 2	.292 6 1	.181 69 2

POLLS AND RANKINGS

	SEC	AVCA	RPI	PABLO	RICH KERN	VOLLEY TALK	MASSEY
	4	22	12	16	25	25	18
	2	23	29	18	24	24	24

Gainesville FL
#23 Florida
14-6, 8-2
Wednesday, Novmeber 4th, 7:00pm ET	Stats | Audio | SEC Network+

Despite a new home crowd record of 3,376 rooting them on, the Lady Vols couldn’t avoid the sweep from the defending National Champion Kentucky Wildcats (25-17, 25-19, 25-19). More details tomorrow.

UPDATE: Breana Runnels led the offense with 12 kills, with Morgahn Fingall just behind with 11. Danielle Mahaffey put down three blocks; Fingall and Runnels added 2 more each. Natalie Hayward had 29 assists. She also tied a career high she set last week with 4 service aces. Lily Felts had 13 digs.

The Lady Vols are back home for a mid-week match with SEC Championship implications against the defending National Champions.

UT is 30-53 all-time vs Kentucky. Tennessee is 1-9 in the last ten meetings, and 4-6 in the last ten meetings in Knoxville.

Tennessee has faced the defending NCAA National Champion four previous times in school history, and have yet to win a set.

UT VS DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
CHAMPIONSHIP		RESULT
YEAR	TEAM	DATE
2020	Kentucky	? 10/27/2021
2006	Nebraska	L 0-3 8/24/2007
1983	Hawaii	L 0-3 10/10/1984
1982	Hawaii	L 0-3 12/10/1983
1981	USC	L 0-3 12/11/1982

Kentucky and Tennessee rank first in second in the league at the halfway point, but both teams might have been looking too far ahead this past weekend. The #5 Wildcats played two matches vs unranked Arkansas with each going all the way to five sets, while the Lady Vols won a five-setter and then were swept by 9-12 LSU.

With their loss to LSU, UT no longer controls their own fate for the conference championship, but there are still in the hunt. Here’s a look at what the top five teams in the SEC have left on the road to the title.

8-0	REMAINING MATCHES: at #2 UT; at #8 SC; at #8 SC; vs #11 UGA; vs #8 TAMU; vs #8 TAMU; at #8 AU; at #8 AU; vs #3 UF; vs #3 UF	Kentucky controls their own fate – win out and they are the SEC Champions. Out of the top five teams in contention, their remaining strength of schedule is right in the middle. They still have three matches against top three opponents, with two of them ending the season, but they get them at home.
8-2	REMAINING MATCHES: vs #1 UK; at #3 UF; vs #6 UM; at #3 MSU; at #3 MSU; vs #12 UA; at #12 UA; at #13 MU	After their loss this past week to LSU, Tennessee now requires some help to win the league title. If UT wins out, including a win tonight vs Kentucky, they will need the Wildcats to suffer another loss for a share of the championship. The Lady Vols’ best hope for that will be rooting for the Gators in their matches in Lexington to end the season. Tennessee has the second toughest schedule remaining.
7-2	REMAINING MATCHES: at #13 MU; vs #2 UT; at #5 UARK; at #5 UARK; vs #8 AU; vs #8 SC; vs #8 SC; at #1 UK; at #1 UK	Florida controls their destiny in conference play – win out and they are guaranteed a share of the SEC title. However, the Gators have the toughest road remaining of these five teams. They face UT at home, but have to travel to Kentucky for two matches. They also face Arkansas twice, a team that gave the defending champs all they could handle last week.
7-2	REMAINING MATCHES: at #11 UGA; vs #12 UA; at #13 MU; at #13 MU; vs #2 UT; vs #2 UT; at #5 UARK; at #5 UARK; vs #8 AU	A surprising Mississippi State team needs some help, but they have a realistic shot at a share of the SEC Championship. They have the easiest schedule remaining of these teams. They’re the only team here that has already played both Kentucky and Florida. If they can get through Tennessee and Arkansas, and Florida or Tennessee can give Kentucky a pair of losses, the Bulldogs would get their first ever SEC trophy.
5-4	REMAINING MATCHES: vs #13 MU; at #12 UA; at #12 UA; vs #3 UF; vs #3 UF; at #8 TAMU; vs #3 MSU; vs #3 MSU; at #8 SC	Arkansas is the longest shot here, but they have the second easiest road left. They just need a little chaos and the Wildcats to fall apart! If they were to win out, Tennessee were to lose to Mississippi State and Florida, Tennessee and Florida were to beat Kentucky, and Kentucky were to lose one more game… We’d have several teams with four conference losses sharing the title!

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	1.14 292 11	12.99 16 1	2.98 3 1	15.03 133 4	14.32 7 1	.273 18 3	.177 62 2
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.34 190 6	12.63 29 3	2.44 57 6	13.90 219 9	13.81 27 4	.274 16 2	.183 71 3

Tickets are available online for $5.

Tennessee has several promotions going on tonight in an attempt to break the school attendance record.
– Free shirts for the first 3,000 fans
– Chances to win prizes all throughout the match
– 20% purchases at the Vol Shop table
– Free admission for kids under 12

Be sure to look over Thompson Boling Arena’s clear bag policy.

Parking and other gameday information can be found online as well.

Knoxville TN
#5 Kentucky
15-3, 8-0
Wednesday, October 27th, 6:00pm ET	Stats | ESPNU+

After putting a scare into Tennessee yesterday, LSU went for the kill today defeating UT 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-23). More details on this weekend’s matches tomorrow.

UPDATE: Morgahn Fingall and Lily felts paced the offensive attack with 9 kills each, with Breana Runnels just behind with 8. Danielle Mahaffey had 3 blocks. Natalie Hayward had 27 assists. And Felts and Madison Bryant had 11 digs.

Tennessee is 11-2 is three-set matches this year.

Tennessee got a scare in a Baton Rouge, winning by the bare minimum in five (25-14, 23-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-13). More info soon.

UPDATE: Breana Runnels led the match with 21 kills. Danielle Mahaffey had 13, Morgahn Fingall 11, and Lily Felts 10. Mahaffey had 7 blocks, and Fingall and Natalie Hayward added 5 each. Hayward put up 48 assists. With 14, 13, and 11 digs, Runnels, Hayward and Felts earned double-doubles in the match. Libero Madison Bryant also dug up 14 attacks.

The Lady Vols finish a run of five road matches this week at LSU.

UT is 27-38 all-time vs LSU. They are 6-4 in there last ten meetings but 4-6 in their last ten meetings in Baton Rouge.

LSU head coach Fran Flory earned her 400th win at LSU yesterday, coming back from down 0-2 to rally back vs South Carolina.

Tennessee is ranked in the top 15 nationally in four different categories: assists, blocks, kills, and hitting percentage. Ava Bell is #2 in the country in hitting percentage. Danielle Mahaffey is #9 in the country in blocks per set. And Natalie Hayward is #16 in the country in assists per set.

There have been only 8 five-set matches in the 32 matches played in the past twenty years. 3 of them have come in the last 5 meetings.

In an articled titled 13 fun predictions for the rest of the 2021 college volleyball season on the NCAA website, the writer predicts Tennessee will be a top 16 seed in the Tournament.

Tennessee will have played half their SEC schedule after their first match this weekend. They will be either 8-1 with a win or 7-2 with a loss, either of which will put them in the top two of the conference at the 2021 mid point. They’ll also have one of their top halfway point league records of the past two decades.

UT HALFWAY THROUGH SEC SCHEDULE
YEAR	W-L	RECORD
2021	8-1 7-2	.889 .778
2020	6-4	.600
2019	3-6	.333
2018	7-2	.778
2017	3-6	.333
2016	4-5	.444
2015	4-5	.444
2014	1-8	.111
2013	1-8	.111
2012	7-3	.700
2011	9-1	.900
2010	7-3	.700
2009	8-2	.800
2008	6-4	.600
2007	3-7	.300
2006	6-4	.600
2005	5-3	.625
2004	8-0	1.000
2003	6-2	.750
2002	4-4	.500
2001	3-4	.429

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	1.05 305 11	13.14 10 1	3.10 2 1	15.27 115 4	14.52 3 1	.276 14 2	.166 39 2
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.05 309 12	11.61 135 8	2.73 12 3	14.69 159 6	12.87 127 9	.230 87 8	.207 186 9

Baton Rouge LA
LSU
(8-11, 4-6)
Friday, October 23rd, 6:00pm ET	Stats | SEC Network+
Friday, October 24th, 3:00pm ET	Stats | ESPNU

Congratulations to Ava Bell on being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week. This is her second weekly league award of the season, having previous won the Offensive honor.

“Tennessee’s Ava Bell, a senior middle blocker from Austin, Texas, led UT in blocks Friday night as she posted 10 in the four-set victory at Georgia. Bell put down nine kills on a .529 hitting percentage and ended the night with a pair of digs.”

The Lady Vols are up one spot to #20 in the latest Coaches Poll and down one spot to #6 in the RPI. They’re #20 in the RichKern.com Poll, #15 in the Pablo Rankings, and #19 in the Volley Talk Poll.

The Lady Vols got their fifteenth win of the season with a four set victory against Georgia this evening (22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-18). More details tomorrow.

UPDATE: Morgahn Fingall led the team with 15 kills. Lily Felts had 12, and Breana Runnels 11. Ava Bell put down 8 blocks; Fingall and Nicole Shanahan had 5 each. Natalie Hayward earned UT career double-double #17 with 40 assists and 13 digs. Madison Bryant dug up 11 attacks.

With 14 team blocks, Tennessee put up the 22nd most in a four set match for the school in the rally-scoring era.

The Lady Vols have hit over .300 8 times this season.

This win was UT’s 50th all-time over Georgia in 80 all-time recorded matches.

The Lady Vols are playing game three of their five match road series tonight, this time visiting Athens to take on Georgia.

UT is 49-30 all-time vs Georgia. Tennessee is 6-4 in the last ten meetings and 6-4 in the last ten road matchups.

The Lady Vols will be the fifth ranked team UGA has played this year. They took 2 sets vs #22 Pepperdine, 1 set off #4 Nebraska, and were swept by #18 Georgia Tech and #22 Florida.

Despite being geographical neighbors, Tennessee hasn’t played a match in the state of Georgia vs any other team than the Bulldogs since 2001.

With a 14-3 record and 11 matches to go, UT would clinch a winning season with a victory today. (Though winning today then losing the next 10 matches wouldn’t feel like much of a winning season!)

Four Lady Vols are ranked in the top 100 nationally in several statistical categories. Natalie Hayward is 15th in the country in assists per set. Danielle Mahaffey is 10th and Ava Bell in 91st in blocks per set. Mahaffey is 25th in hitting percentage. And Morgahn Fingall in 100th in points per set.

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	1.07 304 11	13.17 10 1	2.97 7 1	15.51 87 3	14.49 5 1	.274 18 3	.165 41 2
	STAT NCAA SEC	1.42 155 5	11.52 151 9	2.21 106 8	12.83 291 11	12.16 197 11	.218 128 10	.227 263 12

Athens GA
GEORGIA
(5-11, 1-4)
Friday, October 15th, 7:00pm ET	Stats | SEC Network+

Sorry for the disappearing act this week. I’ve been ill for a few days — not COVID! I’ll have some notes for the Georgia match up by tomorrow night. Until then, here are a few items from this week.

Tennessee moved up to #5 in the RPI. They’re #21 in the Coaches Poll, #17 in the Pablo Rankings, #21 in the RichKern.com Poll, and #19 in the VolleyTalk Poll.

Congratulations to Natalie Hayward on being named the overall SEC Player of the Week and the Setter of the Week. This is her third league weekly honor of the year, and fourth of her career. It’s the second time she’s also been named the Player of the Week.

Hayward was profiled today in the local newspaper: “How Natalie Hayward has contributed to Tennessee volleyball’s success this season”.

Official PDF match notes from both Tennessee and Georgia are online

In front of one of the biggest away game crowds I’ve ever seen, the Lady Vols put up a 3-0 win vs South Carolina (25-22, 25-20, 25-17). More tomorrow!

UPDATE: Lily Felts led the offense for UT with 13 kills. She also served three aces in a row for the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th points of the third set. Breana Runnels was just behind with 12 kills. Felts and Runnels also paced the defense with 9 digs a piece. Nicole Shanahan was the Lady Vol blocks leader with 3. Four other players each put up 2 blocks. Natalie Hayward had 34 assists.

In Friday’s match, South Carolina put up the highest hitting percentage by a UT opponent in a loss in the rally-scoring era. Saturday, they were nearly as impressive hitting .293, for the seventh highest hitting percentage in a loss.

Great catch from the official site: coach Eve Rackham Watt’s second victory over the Gamecocks put her at 67 career wins, moving her into fourth place in total wins in program history.

With at least 11 games still to go this year, Tennessee has already hit over .350 in a match six times. That currently ties for the fourth best total in a season since 2001.

TENNESSEE MATCHES HITTING AT LEAST .350
2012	8
2010	8
2011	7
2021	6
2019	6
2008	6
2018	5
2004	5
2002	5
2016	4
2009	4
2005	4
2003	4
2001	4
2015	3
2006	2
2017	1
2013	1
2007	1
2020	0
2014	0

Tennessee got a 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 26-24) victory over South Carolina this evening to earn their fifth league win in six matches.

Breana Runnels and Danielle Mahaffey had 14 kills each. Runnels picked up a double-double with 10 digs, while Mahaffey almost did so with 9 blocks. Lily Felts had 13 kills and 12 blocks for her 22nd career double-double. Natalie Hayward put up 44 assists. Madison Bryant had 9 digs. Both Paola Laborda and Kya Moore served up three aces each — including the game winner from Laborda.

South Carolina’s .311 hitting percentage was the highest by a UT opponent in a loss in the rally-scoring era.

Hello! I’m back from vacation and ready to get back to work. There will be no formal notes for this weekend’s matches at South Carolina. But I am working to get the site stats, data, roster info, etc… back up to date before the first serve tomorrow. Thanks for your patience during my trip! Looking forward to getting back into SEC volleyball with the one-game-out-of-first-place Lady Vols!

This week something will happen that hasn’t occurred in the entire 15 years I’ve been running this site — I’m planning on missing a home match! In my first 14 years, I was only absent for a single game here in Knoxville, due to an unforeseen traffic jam. (If the match had gone one more set I would have made it!) Then a few weeks ago I ended up having to miss two matches when my wife unexpectedly contracted COVID which required me to quarantine just in case. (Thankfully my vaccine held strong, and I did not get it!)

My wife and I had to cancel our 25th anniversary plans last winter due to the pandemic. Earlier this year we made make-up plans for the first week of October. I knew that would be in the midst of volleyball season, but I crossed my fingers and hoped that when the schedule eventually came out, UT would be on the road while I was on vacation.

That didn’t happen! But we’re going anyway!

So there will be no updates for the rest of this week. I’ll catch up on stats and stories in time for next week’s matches. Thanks for understanding, good luck this week, and see ya real soon!