After a wildly successful non-conference schedule, the Vols start league play this weekend at Auburn and at Georgia. (And yes, you read that right! Now that we’re starting SEC coverage, it’s time to end my mild form of civil disobedience and get serious!)

• The SEC season actually starts tonight. Mississippi State heads to Alabama on the SEC Network, and Arkansas visits LSU on ESPNU.
• UT is 18-19 since 1978 vs their first conference opponent of the year. Head coach Rob Patrick’s teams are 9-9, having lost the last three.
• Tennessee is 29-16-1 all-time vs Auburn. The team is 6-4 in their last ten meetings. The Vols have only lost five matches to Auburn in the rally-scoring era, but the Tigers currently hold a three match winning streak in the series. The last time Auburn won four in a row over UT was 1995-1998.
• Tennessee is 42-27 all-time vs Georgia. The team is 6-4 in their last ten meetings. The Vols have lost eight matches to Georgia in the rally-scoring era, but the Bulldogs currently hold a three match winning streak in the series. The last time Georgia won four in a row over UT was 1994-1995.
• Vol senior Megan Hatcher is the only player on the roster who was on the team the last time Tennessee beat Auburn or Georgia.
• This weekend will see an A5 reunion of sorts, with alumnae of the volleyball club on all three rosters: two for Auburn, four for Georgia, and Claudia Coco for Tennessee.
• Auburn’s Breanna Barksdale has played Tennessee as part of two schools: AU and Cincinnati.
• Both head coaches meeting Tennessee this weekend have has faced off against the Vols at all of their collegiate coaching jobs.
• Georgia head coach Lizzy Stemke is 3-3 with the Bulldogs, was an assistant coach of the #1 Nebraska team that defeated UT in front of the second largest crowd to watch a Tennessee volleyball team play in 2007, and was an assistant coach with North Carolina when the Vols swept her team at a tournament in Los Angeles in 2006.
• Auburn head coach Rick Nold is 3-3 with the Tigers, was the head coach at Jacksonville State who were swept by UT in 2005 when they made the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament appearance here in Knoxville, and defeated the Vols in five in 2001 as an assistant at Louisville (one of only two matches in the rally-scoring era I don’t have stats for).
• Several of the opposing assistants have coached against the orange and white with other teams too. Auburn’s Eysha Ambler was at Pitt in 2010, Auburn’s Chuck Crawford (a Miami OH alum like UT coach Rob Patrick) was at Georgia Tech in 2013, and Georgia’s Josh Lauer was previously at Alabama.
• Stemke’s brother Rob Fitzgerald was a Tennessee baseball player from 2002-2005. During his senior year he hit .332, was named to the Academic All-District Team, and helped UT to a berth in the College World Series and a final #8 ranking.

Tennessee finished their non-conference schedule this past weekend with a stellar 14-1 record.

• UT tied their 2004 winning streak record of 14 best-of-five matches in a row. (In 1980, Tennessee won 22 matches in a row, but 17 of them were best-of-three. In 1973, Tennessee won 20 matches in a row, all of which were best-of-three.)
• The team also ended their season opening winning streak with 14 matches, the top run when only counting best-of-five games.
• Both streaks are the program record in the NCAA era (1981-present).

NOTE: All records and superlatives below are from the rally-scoring era, since 2001.

TENNESSEE vs HAMPTON:

• Bri Holmes had nine kills and hit .500. Kelsey Bawcombe had eight kills. Stephanie Buss had three blocks. Taylor Johnson had 18 assists. Bridgette Villano and Megan Hatcher had seven digs each.
• Brooke Schumacher had four aces and Johnson had three. This was just the 17th match where two or more Lady Vols had at least three aces — and the first time since the beginning of the 2012 season.
• UT had 12 aces, third best in a match.
• The team hit .400, just the 18th time they’ve reached that milestone in a match. The margin between Tennessee’s hitting percentage and Hampton’s was the third widest.
• UT had only 65 attack attempts, beating their previous match low by seven swings.
• UT held Hampton to 73 attack attempts (the fewest by a UT opponent), 20 digs, (second fewest), 38 actual points (third fewest), 18 kills (fourth fewest), 18 assists (fifth fewest), a -.027 hitting percentage (seventh lowest), and 25 statistical points (seventh fewest).

TENNESSEE vs CAMPBELL:

• Raina Hembry and Kanisha Jimenez had nine kills each. Erica Treiber had seven. Hembry had three blocks. Jimenez and Dempsey had eight digs each. Dempsey had 30 assists.
• Hembry hit .727, the tenth best with double digit attack attempts.
• UT had only 46 points, their third fewest in a win.

TENNESSEE vs NORTH CAROLINA STATE:

• Hembry had 13 kills, hit .417, and had six blocks. Jimenez had ten kills and three blocks. Dempsey had 27 assists and four blocks. Trekker had three blocks. Villano had 16 digs.
• UT held NC State to a single service ace.
• NCSU held UT to a .081 hitting percentage, their 14th worst.
• For the entire weekend, five separate Lady Vols had two or more aces in a match. Tennessee had 21 total aces, while only allowing their opponents nine in return.

Tennessee picked up their first loss of the season in an extremely close 3-0 game (25-22, 27-25, 25-22). Every set of the match reached 20-20 with a race for five points. UT finishes their non-conference schedule 14-1. More tomorrow soon.

UPDATE: Raina Hembry and Lexi Dempsey earned All-Tournament honors. Stats have been updated.

UT moved to a impressive 14-0 with a sweep of Campbell (25-19, 25-15, 25-15). More tomorrow. (UPDATE: Stats have been updated.)

Tennessee defeated Hampton this afternoon 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-12) to improve to 13-0 on the season. Stat pages are updated. Recap on Sunday.

• The Knoxville News Sentinel has written an article about the Lady Vols titled “UT volleyball has no doubt things are changing”: “The Vols are 12-0, achieving the program’s best start of an NCAA-era season, which dates back to 1981. Rob Patrick said Tuesday that the turnaround reflects everything from improved leadership to effective setting, better team defense and more experience.”
• The official site has a similar piece titled “Attitude, work push Vols to record start”: “Tennessee’s volleyball players were fed up with the way the last two seasons had unfolded. So was their head coach… ‘We literally sat down with each other and said we’re not going to stand for another losing season,’ junior Raina Hembry said.”
• The Daily Beacon, the college paper, has posted a feature on freshman Erica Treiber: “Much like her Tennessee volleyball team, Erica Treiber is blowing away expectations. The true freshman currently leads a 12-0 Vols volleyball team in hitting percentage and blocks per set.”
• Junior libero Bridgette Villano sat for a Q&A with the official site: “As the Vols have gotten off to their best start in more than 40 years, Bridgette Villano has been a consistent, steadying force on the back row, leading the team in both digs (207) and digs/set (4.81).”
• UT has posted their match notes for the NC State Classic tournament.

The Lady Vols finish off the non-conference portion of their schedule this weekend at the NC State Classic, where they’ll face Hampton, Campbell, and North Carolina State.

• Tennessee is meeting Hampton and Campbell for the first time in school history. All total, UT will have faced eight opponents for the first time this season.
• Tennessee is 7-4 all-time vs North Carolina State. UT lost the last meeting in 1992.
• UT will meet it’s third HBCU opponent of the season this weekend. Historically black colleges and universities are “institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community… There are 106 historically black colleges and universities in the United States… Most were created in the aftermath of the American Civil War.” After this week, Tennessee will have faced five HBCUs in program history: Alabama A&M (2010), Coppin State (2015), Delaware State (2015), Hampton (2015), and Tuskegee (1976).
• The Lady Vols have common opponents with all the teams they meet this weekend. Hampton lost to UNC Greensboro 3-0, Campbell lost to North Florida 3-1, and NC State defeated Jacksonville 3-1. The Wolfpack also faced two SEC opponents, falling to Mississippi 3-2 and sweeping South Carolina.
• Since 2001, Tennessee is 2-0 vs the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, 4-1 vs the Big South Conference, 16-6 vs the Atlantic Coast Conference, and 7-4 in matches played in the state of North Carolina.
• Not only has the team began the season with the second best start in program history, their 12 match run is also the fifth longest winning streak at any point in a season in school history.
  

  UT ALL-TIME WINNING STREAKS
  1980	22*
  1973	20*
  2004	14
  2011	13
  2015	12
  * streak includes shorter best of three matches



• Tennessee has cracked the top 100 of the Pablo Rankings for the first time since the opening weeks of the 2013 season. The team is up to the #62 spot after beginning the year at #245.
• This past weekend the team set or matched season highs in attack attempts, service aces, solo blocks, and total blocks. The team was out-dug for the first time and allowed an opponent to hit over .200 for the first time — but just barely (.201).
• Lexi Dempsey earned two double-doubles (CofC and JU) — bringing her season total to six and her UT career total to 28.
• Bridgette Villano reached 20+ digs in a match just once prior to this season. She’s done it four times already this year. Two of those matches came this past weekend (CofC and WOF). Over the course of the tournament she averaged 4.9 digs per set.
• Last week, Raina Hembry knocked back the second most total digs of her career in two separate matches (CofC and JU), had the second most total points of her career in two separate matches (UE and JU), matched her career best in solo blocks (JU), earned her second highest career hitting percentage (WOF), and had the second and third most kills she’s ever gotten in a match (UE and JU).
• UT is 5-0 in three set matches, 6-0 in four set matches, and 1-0 in five set matches.
• After already racing past their win totals from the past two years, Tennessee is just five wins away from guaranteeing their first winning regular season since 2012.

HAMPTON LADY PIRATES
Friday, September 18th 4:30pm ET // Raleigh NC			2015 Record: 0-9 (0-0 MEAC) WEBSITE // STATS
CAMPBELL FIGHTING CAMELS
Saturday, September 19th 10:00am ET // Raleigh NC			2015 Record: 4-6 (0-0 Big South) WEBSITE // STATS
NORTH CAROLINA STATE WOLFPACK
Saturday, September 19th 7:00pm // Raleigh NC			2015 Record: 8-1 (0-0 ACC) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS

Congratulations to Tennessee’s Raina Hembry who was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after her performances at the College of Charleston Invitational this past weekend:

“Hembry was named to the All-Tournament Team as Tennessee won the College of Charleston Invitational. With a strong blocking performance all weekend, Hembry helped Tennessee hold opponents this week to a .166 hitting percentage. Through 12 matches, only one team has hit above .200 (Jacksonville, .201). Hembry totaled 19 total blocks last week and now leads the team with 1.06 blocks per match this season. Tennessee is off to a 12-0 start, its best start to a season in the NCAA era.”

Hembry is the first Lady Vol to earn the weekly conference defensive honor since Ellen Mullins in November 2013. This is the first time two players have earned SEC Player of the Week awards in back to back weeks since Mullins and Leslie Cikra did it in November 2012.

Tennessee defeated the homestanding College of Charleston 3-1 (27-25, 25-18, 13-25, 25-20), finishing the tournament undefeated and moving their season record to 12-0. That stands as the second best start in school history, but the 20-0 record was set with the shorter best-of-three matches. The official site also notes it’s the best start of the NCAA era — the overall record, set in 1973, was under the old AIAW system. More soon.

UPDATE: Bri Holmes led both teams with 17 kills. She also hit .432 and had three blocks. Kanisha Jimenez had 13 kills and nine digs. Erica Treiber had eight kills, hit .444, and knocked back six blocks. Raina Hembry had seven blocks, while Stephane Buss added four more. All told UT had 15 team blocks, a season high. Lexi Dempsey took over the fifth spot on the rally-scoring era Tennessee career doubles list, with 48 assists and 17 digs. Bridgette Villano had 21 digs, while Megan hatcher and Brooke Schumacher added nine more each.

Holmes was named the tournament MVP. Dempsey and Hembry were named to the all-tournament team.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY & VIDEO // CofC STORY

UT got another win after falling in the first set this morning, defeating the Jacksonville Dolphins in four (17-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-16). The win gives the teams their 11th straight victory to start the season, which matches the second best in school history. More tonight.

UPDATE: Raina Hembry and Bri Homes had 12 kills apiece. Hembry also had seven blocks. Stephanie Buss had nine kills while hitting .533. Kanisha Jimenez had four blocks and 14 digs. Lexi Dempsey had three blocks and earned another double-double with 44 assists and 12 digs. Bridgette Villano dug up 18 balls and had a career high three aces.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY // JU STORY

The Lady Vols defeated Wofford in four (22-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-17) to start the season 10-0. Bri Holmes had a match high 19 kills, and hit .390. Erica Treiber had 11 kills, hit .333, and put down four blocks. Raina Hembry had nine kills while hitting an impressive .571. Kanisha Jimenez had four blocks and 11 digs. Lexi Dempsey had 43 assists. Bridgette Villano had 20 digs. The team hit .300, the third time this season they’ve reached that number.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY & VIDEO // WOFFORD STORY

Tennessee heads to South Carolina this weekend where they’ll face Wofford, Jacksonville, and the tournament hosting College of Charleston.

• Tennessee is meeting Wofford for the first time. They’ve already faced five first-time opponents this year, and will meet two more next week.
• Tennessee is 2-0 all-time vs Jacksonville. The team won a five-set match back in 1981, and a four-set match in 1998.
• Tennessee is 4-0 all-time vs the College of Charleston. UT won a match each year from 1979 to 1981, and the most recent match in 2005.
• All three of UT’s opponents this weekend have already faced SEC competition this year. Wofford lost to Georgia 3-1. Jacksonville lost to Auburn 3-2 and Mississippi 3-0. And College of Charleston defeated Alabama 3-2.
• Since 2001, the Lady Vols are 12-1 against members of the Southern Conference, 9-1 vs the Atlantic Sun, and 1-0 vs the Colonial Athletic Association.
• UT is 4-3 in the state of South Carolina — vs teams not named “South Carolina” — since 2001.
• If Tennessee can get through the weekend without losing a match they would have the best start in program history since 1973, when that squad began the year 20-0 (though all those matches were shorter best-of-three games).
  

  UT ALL-TIME BEST STARTS
  1973	20*
  1986	11
  2015	9
  2004	9
  * streak includes shorter best-of-three matches

• Senior setter Lexi Dempsey has 26 career double-doubles in her three seasons in Knoxville. That’s good for the sixth most by a Lady Vol in rally-scoring era matches. And she’s in good company. The five players above her? Third Team All-American Julie Knytych, Third Team All-American Nikki Fowler, Second Team All-American Kelsey Robinson, Third Team All-American Amy Morris, and Honorable Mention All-American Mary Pollmiller.
• Before former Tennessee athletics director (and namesake of the new volleyball training facility) Joan Cronan took that position at UT, she coached volleyball (among other sports) and was the first women’s AD at College of Charleston. Under her watch, the women’s athletics program was named the best in the country in 1980 by the American Women’s Sports Foundation. She was later named to the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
• College of Charleston head coach Jason Kepner took the job in 2007 when the previous coach, Sherry Dunbar, left the program to take over at Indiana. Dunbar was UT head coach Rob Patrick’s first assistant coach hire in 1997 when he came to Tennessee. She remained with the Lady Vols until 2003 when she left for Charleston.
• Three people on the opposing sidelines this weekend have some history against Tennessee. Jacksonville University head coach Julie Darty was an assistant coach at South Carolina in 2012 and 2013. Wofford DS Reagan Petty played against UT last season with Alabama. And though CofC assistant coach Katelyn Bishop started in over half of USC’s matches in 2006, she watched as her teammates took on Tennessee that season.

WOFFORD TERRIERS
Friday, September 11th 4:30pm ET // Charleston SC			2015 Record: 5-3 (0-0 SoCon) WEBSITE // STATS
JACKSONVILLE DOLPHINS
Saturday, September 12th 10:30pm ET // Charleston SC			2015 Record: 2-4 (0-0 A-Sun) WEBSITE
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON COUGARS
Saturday, September 12th 7:00pm // Charleston SC			2015 Record: 4-4 (0-0 CAA) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS

Tennessee picked up a 3-1 win (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-15) over the Purple Aces to improve to 9-0 on the season. More soon….

UPDATE: Kanisha Jimenez led the team with 16 kills and hit .351. Raina Hembry had 14 kills; she hit .385 and had three blocks. Erica Treiber had 11 kills, hit .348, and had six blocks. Kelsey Bawcombe picked up her third career double double with 11 kills and 11 digs. She also had three aces. Lexi Dempsey put up 48 assists, just three shy of her career best. Bridgette Villano had a match high 18 digs, and Brooke Schumacher had 12.

Tennessee is now 9-0. That matches the third best start in program history. It’s also ties the school’s eighth longest all-time winning streak.

BOX SCORE // UT STORY & VIDEO // UE STORY

Congratulations to Tennessee’s Erica Treiber who was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after her performances at the Tennessee Volleyball Classic this past weekend:

“Treiber earned a spot on the DISH Tennessee Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team after posting a .409 hitting percentage with 35 kills, 15 total blocks and eight digs as the Volunteers won all four matches in the tournament. In her match against UNC Greensboro, she registered career-highs of 11 kills and a .786 hitting percentage. Treiber has started all eight matches as Tennessee is off to its best start (8-0) since beginning the 2004 season at 9-0.”

Treiber is the first Lady Vol to earn weekly conference honors since Ellen Mullins in November 2013, and the first to earn the Freshman of the Week award since Tiffany Baker in November 2011.

Tennessee had another successful weekend, going 4-0 in the Tennessee Volleyball Classic. They have a Tuesday night match at home vs Evansville this week before leaving Knoxville for two weeks of away tournaments.

• Tennessee is 1-0 all-time vs Evansville, having faced them for the first time last season.
• Since 2001, UT is 2-2 vs Missouri Valley Conference teams.
• In the past 12 years the Lady Vols have only played six matches on a Tuesday, and are 4-2.
  

  UT TUESDAY MATCHES SINCE 2003
  9/14/2004	Lipscomb	3-0
  9/19/2006	Louisville	3-1
  10/16/2007	Louisville	1-3
  10/14/2008	ETSU	3-0
  10/19/2010	Florida	0-3
  9/9/2014	Evansville	3-1

• Nine of the 15 Purple Ace players come from outside the contiguous United States. Seven are from the US territory Puerto Rico, one is from Buenos Aires, and one is from Serbia.

  EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES
  Tuesday, September 8th 7:00pm ET // Knoxville TN			2015 Record: 3-4 (0-0 MVC) WEBSITE // VIDEO // STATS

• In just two weeks Tennessee has already matched their win total for the entire 2014 season.
• With just eight matches under their belt, the Lady Vols have already had three matches with eight or fewer hitting errors this season. That matches or betters every full season for the past 15 years except one.
• Lexi Dempsey and Kanisha Jimenez picked up double doubles this past weekend. It was the 26th of Dempsey’s career and the seventh of Jimenez’. They now have the sixth and 16th most double doubles of any UT players in rally-scoring era matches.
• Tennessee has notched a .230 hitting percentage or better in all but a single match this season. They haven’t allowed an opponent more than .185.
• The Lady Vols have started the season with an eight match winning streak. That’s the third best season-starting run in school history (counting only best of five matches), and the 10th longest (best of five) winning streak in program history.
  

  UT ALL-TIME WINNING STREAKS bold years are season-starting streaks
  1980	22*
  1973	20*
  2004	14
  2011	13
  2011	11
  1986	11
  1982	11*
  2008	9
  2005	9
  2004	9
  2004	9
  1983	9
  1973	9*
  2015	8
  1982	8
  1982	8
  1979	8*
  * streak includes shorter best of three matches