In a closely fought match, the Lady Vols fell in four to Memphis (25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21). More soon.
UPDATE: Shealyn Kolosky was one off her career high with ten kills — with no errors on 19 attacks for a stellar .526 hitting percentage. She also had a match-leading seven blocks. Kendra Turner and Kanisha Jimenez had nine kills each while Iesha Bryant added in eight more. Kelsey Bawcombe had six blocks, six kills, and six digs. Jimenez put back five blocks. Lexi Dempsey earned 37 assists. Bridgette Villano and Claudia Coco combined for the bulk of the team’s digs with 16 and 11 respectively.
The Lady Vols outhit and out blocked the Tigers, while Memphis had the edge in kills and aces. Tennessee’s 12 service aces were the most in two years. Like last night, UT’s team hitting percentage was high despite the outcome: this time .224 was good for 12th best in a loss since 2001.
Despite a late comeback attempt, UT couldn’t prevent an Austin Peay sweep (25-18, 25-17, 25-23). Much more later tonight.
UPDATE: Kanisha Jimenez had 13 kills on 29 attacks with just one error for a .414 hitting percentage. She also had 11 digs to earn a double double. Jamie Lea had 7 kills. Iesha Bryant had 6 kills, hitting .400. Shealyn Kolosky had 5 kills and hit .455. Lexi Dempsey put up 26 assists and Taylor Johnson another ten.
Austin Peay only had eight hitting errors — no other UT opponent in the rally scoring era (2001-present) has had fewer. As a team the Lady Govs hit .384 — the 12th highest in APSU history and the sixth highest by a UT opponent since 2001. Tennessee did pretty well themselves, hitting .262 — the fourth highest hitting percentage by the Lady Vols in a loss since 2001.
After the long offseason, and a longer than usual start of season on the road, the Lady Vols finally take the court in Knoxville tonight. Here is some last minute info:
- The Knoxville News-Sentinel profiles Lady Vol defensive specialist Claudia Coco today while coach Rob Patrick talks about how the new players this year are going to give the team more options on the court than they had last year.
- Coach Patrick was on local radio station WNML this morning to promote the Lady Vol Classic. Topics discussed included: finally playing at home, reasons behind the schedule, how hard the team has worked since January, the competitive practices, the weekend’s opponents, and how this year’s incoming class is similar to 2002, with inexperienced but talented athletic players who will improve and build to bigger and better things as their careers progress. The audio of the broadcast will be online this morning at the show’s website under the 9:00-9:15 segment. (Audio is usually deleted after a day.)
- Tennessee has several promotions for this weekend. Tonight all tickets are just $1 and hotdogs and small drinks will be just $1 through the intermission. On Saturday donate two school supplies at either match and you’ll receive free admission. And on Saturday night the first 100 people to donate school supplies will get a free hotdog.
- Coach Patrick usually does a “chalk talk” for fans 45 minutes before most home games. However, other than a mention on UT’s volleyball tickets page, I haven’t heard if that’s going to continue this season or not.
- Tennessee doesn’t have “season tickets” for volleyball, but if you head to the ticket office (right below the volleyball parking area at Thompson Boling Arena) during business hours you can pre-buy a ticket to every home match for just $29.
- Match notes, a video preview, a live blog, and more are online at the official site.
- UPDATE: UT has posted a story titled A Welcome Homecoming For Tennessee that focuses on the transition the newcomers to Rocky Top have faced, moving from high school and club to college — and having to contribute so early in their careers.
Tennessee finally gets to play to the home crowd, taking on Austin Peay, Memphis, Mercer, and Montana State at the annual Lady Vol Classic.
- The Lady Vols are 29-7 in home openers since 1978. Under coach Rob Patrick the team is 14-3 and have won 11 of their last 12. In their opening week at home UT is 76-22 since 1978, and 40-12 under Patrick.
- Coach Patrick is 38-10 in Lady Vol Classic matches.
- UT is meeting two of their opponents this week for the first time in program history. They’ve already faced five such opponents this year.
- Tennessee is 3-0-1 vs Austin Peay, winning the 2013 meeting in three. Last year the Lady Govs went 13-22, and were fourth in the OVC with a 9-7 record. This year the team is 3-9 with wins over Binghamton, Bryant, and Evansville.
- Tennessee is 22-7 vs Memphis. UT is 8-2 in the last ten matches, but the teams haven’t met since 2000. Last year the Tigers went 15-17, and were seventh in the American with a 7-11 record. This year the team is 6-4 with wins over Saint Louis, UT Martin, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, South Alabama, and Mississippi State.
- Tennessee is meeting Mercer for the first time. Last year the Bears went 1-27, and were last in the Atlantic Sun with a 0-18 record. This year the team is 3-6 with wins over Kent State, College of Charleston, and Alabama A&M.
- Tennessee is meeting Montana State for the first time. Last year the Bobcats went 6-25, and were ninth in the Big Sky with a 4-16 record. This year the team is 3-6 with wins over New Mexico State, Canisius College, and Bethune-Cookman.
- Since 2001, UT is 8-1 vs the OVC, 1-0 vs the American (22-3 including matches vs its predecessor), and 10-1 vs the SoCon. Tennessee is playing a Big Sky team for the first time since 1996.
- The Lady Vols started the season way back on August 29th, and have spent the last three weekends on the road. There are 20 days between that first match of the season and the first home match of the year. That’s the second longest amount of time Tennessee fans have had to wait to see the team play in Knoxville.
LONGEST WAIT FOR FIRST HOME MATCH 1981 9/15 – 10/13 (21 days) 7-7 2001 8/31 – 9/21 (21 days) 4-3 1996 8/31 – 9/20 (20 days) 6-5 1997 8/30 – 9/19 (20 days) 3-8 2014 8/29 – 9/18 (20 days) 5-5 The 1981 stretch included a home exhibition match vs a Brazilian team.
The 2001 stretch originally included a home tournament
that was cancelled after the terrorist attacks.- UT is facing the last two of the three fellow Tennessee teams it will play season. The Lady Vols have played another state school every year since 1973 except 2006, 2011, and 2012.
- The Lady Vols are 135-27-4 (.825) vs other Tennessee schools. Coach Rob Patrick is 24-2 (.923).
- UT has only lost two matches to in-state rivals since 1991: Tennessee Tech in 1997 and ETSU last year.
- In their four previous meetings with UT, Austin Peay has only won a single set: during a 1-1 tie in 1976.
- Memphis and Tennessee have played 29 matches since 1973, but only one has ever gone to five sets: a Lady Vol win in 1980.
- A couple of Austin Peay freshmen have local connections. Peyton Walker attended Knoxville’s West High School. And Ashley Slay played high school volleyball at Ensworth School for head coach — and former Lady Vol — Ann Mullins.
- Austin Peay head coach Taylor Mott played volleyball in the SEC from 1992-1995 with Mississippi.
- Memphis head coach April Jauregui was the starting outside hitter for the Tigers the last time Tennessee played them in 2000. UT assistant coach Erica Lear also started in that match.
- Lear served as an assistant coach under Jauregui at Memphis last year.
- Mercer head coach Damian Elder was an associate head coach at SEC rival South Carolina. And somewhat similarly to UT coach Patrick, he got his start in Division I volleyball at Stanford where he was a volunteer assistant coach during a national championship season.
More information:
- Austin Peay: Thursday 9/18 at 7:00pm ET
website | match info from APSU | live stats- Memphis: Friday 9/19 at 8:00pm ET
website | match info from U of M | live stats- Mercer: Saturday 9/20 at 12:30pm ET
website | match info from MU | live stats- Montana State: Saturday 9/20 at 7:00pm ET
website | match info from MSU | live stats- Tennessee: website | match info from UT
- See what these teams are saying on Twitter…
- The Lady Vols finished their third weekend of play with wins vs Kennesaw State and Loyola (MD) and a loss to Coastal Caorlina — all in four sets. After ten matches their record is even at five wins, five losses.
- Tennessee is now 1-0 vs the Owls, 1-0 vs the Greyhounds, and 1-1 vs the Chanticleers all-time. Since 2001, UT is 8-1 vs the A-Sun, 3-0 vs the Patriot League, and 4-1 vs the Big South.
- Loyola’s ten points in the second set of their match was the fifth lowest opponent set score of the rally scoring era for the Lady Vols.
- Raina Hembry had three solo blocks vs Loyola. Since 2001, only two Lady Vols have ever notched more in a match.
- Tennessee’s long ten match road trip is finally over! Luckily this is a fairly rare occurrence — it’s only happened nine times since 1978. Four of those trips started the season.
- The longest road trip since head coach Rob Patrick took over the program was his very first time on the sidelines. In 1997, the Lady Vols started the season, and Patrick’s UT career, with 11 straight road games: to Chattanooga TN, Bloomington IN, and Lincoln NE.
- 1980 wasn’t a good year for Knoxvilians to see their home team playing volleyball. At the Olympics, the USA Volleyball squad was a no-show due to the boycott of the Soviet games. And closer to home the Lady Vols only had six matches in Knoxville. A whopping 51 matches were out of town games for UT!
ROAD TRIPS OF AT LEAST 10 MATCHES 2014 10 matches
5-58/29 – 9/13
16 days to start season1997 11 matches
3-88/30 – 9/13
15 days to start season1996 11 matches
6-58/31 – 9/14
15 days to start season1982 10 matches
9-110/22 – 10/30
9 days during season1980 25 matches
18-710/30 – 11/22
24 days to end season1980 13 matches
13-010/3 – 10/11
9 days during season1980 13 matches
3-109/19 – 9/27
9 days during season1979 13 matches
10-39/28 – 10/6
9 days to start season1978 16 matches
10-5-110/13 – 10/24
12 days during season- Six players (excluding newcomers) matched or exceeded a personal career high this past weekend: Lexi Dempsey (points vs CCU), Megan Hatcher (digs vs Loyola), Raina Hembry (aces, solo blocks, total blocks in a four set match, and points in a four set match vs Loyola), Jamie Lea (digs vs CCU), Ashley Mariani (hitting percentage vs Loyola), and Bridgette Villano (assists vs Kennesaw State; aces, digs, and points vs Loyola).
The Lady Vols evened up their season opening 10 match road trip record to 5-5. In yesterday’s early morning match, UT defeated Kennesaw State 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-19). Kendra Turner had 19 kills and hit .366. Jamie Lea was just behind with a double double: 18 kills, 12 digs, and 4 blocks. Kanisha Jimenez earned 7 blocks and 11 digs. Iesha Bryant and Raina Hembry both put of 6 blocks each. Lexi Dempsey got a double double with 44 assists and 13 digs. Bridgette Villano had 12 digs.
UT STORY / BOX SCORE / KSU STORY
In the second match, Tennessee beat Loyola 3-1 (25-13, 25-10, 27-29, 25-21). Lea and Turner had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Hembry and Ashley Mariani had 7 each while both hitting over .460. Bryant had 7 blocks — 3 of them solo. Shealyn Kolosky had 5 blocks. Villano had 24 digs and Megan Hatcher 14. Dempsey picked up 35 assists. Jimenez served up 3 aces, while Hembry and Villano got two each.
UT STORY / BOX SCORE / LOYOLA STORY
In today’s match, Coastal Carolina got some revenge for UT’s win last season, taking out the Lady Vols 3-1 (25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 25-18). Lea and Mariani hit 14 kills apiece. Mariani hit .423. Lea got another double double with 17 digs. Villano dug up 13 balls. And Dempsey had 41 assists. Lea was named to the All-Tournament team.
Tennessee hits the road for the third week in a row, this time for a tournament in Conway SC (just outside Myrtle Beach) where they’ll face Kennesaw State, Loyola, and Coastal Carolina.
- UT is meeting two of their opponents this week for the first time in program history. They’ve already faced three such opponents this year and will play two more next week.
- This is the first meeting with Kennesaw State. Last season the Owls went 13-17, and were fifth in the Atlantic Sun with an 8-10 record. This year the team is 4-3 with wins over UNC Asheville, fellow state teams Belmont and Chattanooga, and common opponent Evansville. They’ve lost to Youngstown State, Elon, and Purdue.
- This is the first meeting with Loyola (MD). Last season the Greyhounds went 8-20, and were sixth in the Patriot League with a 5-11 record. This year the team is 1-6 with a win over Quinnipiac. They’ve lost to Coppin State, NJIT, La Salle, Dartmouth, Saint Francis (PA), and Howard.
- Tennessee is 1-0 vs Coastal Carolina, winning the 2013 meeting in four. That year the Chanticleers went 19-12, and were second in the Big South with a 10-4 record. This year the team is 4-2 with wins over Eastern Washington, FAU, Jacksonville, and North Florida. Their losses have come to UNC Wilmington and Fairfield.
- Since 2001, UT is 7-1 vs the A-Sun, 4-0 vs the Big South, and 2-0 vs the Patriot League.
- The Lady Vols are 1-1 in the rally-scoring era when playing non-conference opponents in the state of South Carolina: a sweep in the last match of 2003 vs Winthrop, and a 3-2 NCAA Tournament loss to Clemson to end the 2008 season.
- Tennessee will already reach their tenth road game of the season this week. And while teams obviously prefer to play in friendlier confines, the Lady Vols have a great track record for matches outside Knoxville. At home, UT wins over 70% of the time. But on the road, that number only drops to 64%.
WIN/LOSS PERCENTAGES SINCE 2001 HOME 128-51 .715 AWAY 106-67 .613 NEUTRAL 48-19 .716 ROAD (A & N) 154-86 .642 - Iesha Bryant has 31 total blocks in the first seven matches of year. Since 2001, only five other players have gotten off to a better start — Bryant is the only freshman among them.
- Three NCAA Division I schools feature “Loyola” in their names. UT is 2-1 vs Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, 1-0 vs Loyola in Chicago, and is meeting Loyola in Baltimore for the first time.
- Two of the opposing head coaches this season previous served as assistants in the SEC. CCU’s Jozsef Forman coached at Mississippi State and Auburn, while KSU’s Keith Schunzel was on staff at Kentucky.
More information:
- Kennesaw State: Friday 9/12 at 9:00am ET
website | match info from KSU | live stats- Loyola (MD): Friday 9/12 at 5:00pm ET
website | match info from Loyola | live stats- Coastal Carolina: Saturday 9/13 at 1:00pm ET
website | match info from CCU | live stats- Tennessee: website | match info and live blog from UT
- See what these teams are saying on Twitter…
It was a tough week on the road for the young Lady Vols squad, as they went 0-3 at the Iowa State Invite before picking up a win at Evansville. Here are a few notes about the games.
- Tennessee is now 0-1 vs Northern Illinois, 1-2 vs Iowa State, 0-1 vs Omaha, and 1-0 vs Evansville. Since 2001, Tennessee is 6-3 vs the MAC, 5-3 vs the Big 12, 2-1 vs the Summit League, and 2-2 vs the MVC.
- Including last week’s match vs Appalachian State, UT was swept a school record-tying four times in a row for just the third time in program history.
- Northern Illinois had ten aces vs the Lady Vols. That’s an NIU three set record and the fourth most in any match in NIU history. It was also the most aces by a UT opponent in a three set match in the rally-scoring era (2001-present).
- Tennessee’s ten points in the second set vs the Huskies was the third lowest number of points scored in a set since 2001.
- Iowa State had 8 aces vs UT. That’s the fifth most aces by an opponent in a three set match since 2001. Adding in the ten Northern Illinois served up earlier that afternoon, and Tennessee tied its rally-scoring record for most aces against them in back-to-back matches.
- The Cyclones match was also tough offensively for the Lady Vols. Since 2001, they had: the fewest assists, the second smallest kill total, the second smallest statistical point total, the fifth smallest actual point total, and the seventh lowest hitting percentage in a match.
- Things didn’t improve much vs Omaha, where they had the ninth smallest kill and points total since 2001.
- A few days later the team turned things around, grinding out a win vs the Purple Aces of Evansville — despite only putting up the fifth lowest hitting percentage in a victory since 2001.
LOWEST HITTING PERCENTAGE IN A WIN SINCE 2001 2013 Morehead State .050 2009 Lipscomb .089 2007 Utah .109 2004 Florida .123 2014 Evansville .124
- Since the season started, three players have achieved attacking milestones: Raina Hembry reached 500 career attacks vs Northern Illinois, Ashley Mariani reched 1,000 career attacks vs Cleveland State, and Jamie Lea reached 1,000 career attacks vs Northern Illinois.
- Three players (excluding newcomers) matched or exceeded a personal career high this past weekend: Lexi Dempsey (kills in a three-set match, hitting percentage), Jamie Lea (digs), and Ashley Mariani (recorded her first career solo block).
Tennessee got back in to the win column with a four-set victory over Evansville this evening (25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21). Jamie Lea led the offense with fourteen kills on 39 attacks, while Kendra Turner and Ashley Mariani added in seven more each. Raina Hembrey put back 6 blocks. Lexi Dempsey had 42 assists. Three players had double-digit digs: Kanisha Jimenez with 14, Bridgette Villano with 11, and Claudia Coco with 10. Jimenez also served up four aces, the most by a Lady Vol in two years and the third most in a four set match in the rally scoring era.
The Lady Vols dropped the final match of the Iowa State Challenge to Omaha (25-18, 25-17, 25-22). Thirteen UT players saw court time during the match, including all six newcomers. Kanisha Jimenez had 7 kills, hit .316, and picked up 12 digs. Jamie Lea had 6 kills and six digs. Iesha Bryant had 4 blocks. Bridgette Villano had 12 digs, while Taylor Johnson contributed 8 and Megan Hatcher 7. Johnson had 14 assists, and Lexi Dempsey had 9. Tennessee returns to action on Tuesday vs Evansville.
Tennessee lost their second match of the day to the homestanding Cyclones in three sets (25-14, 25-17, 25-16). Raina Hembry had five kills. Iesha Bryant put back five blocks. Kanisha Jimenez had twelve digs. Taylor Johnson had eleven assists, and Lexi Dempsey seven. Tomorrow the team will face Omaha.
Tennessee lost their first match at the Iowa State Challenge to Northern Illinois in straight sets (27-25, 25-10, 25-20). Jamie Lea and Raina Hembry had seven kills each, while Iesha Bryant, Kanisha Jimenez, and Ashley Mariani were right behind with six. Bryant hit .462 with no errors and put down 3 blocks. Jimenez hit a .333. Lexi Dempsey had 31 of the team’s 32 assists. While Lea and Bridgette Villano each dug up 14 balls. The team faces host Iowa State later tonight.
Tennessee hits the road again this week for a tournament in Iowa — where they’ll face Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Omaha — and a Tuesday game in Indiana vs Evansville.
- UT is meeting three of their four opponents over the next week for the first time in program history. They’ll face four more such teams this season.
- The Lady Vols are visiting the state of Iowa for the first time in the rally-scoring era. They’ve played nine matches in Indiana since 2001, going 5-4, with their last match coming in 2010 — a loss to the Hoosiers that saw the team just two points away from a Sweet Sixteen berth.
- This is the first meeting with Northern Illinois. Last season the Huskies went 19-13, finishing fourth in the MAC with a record of 10-6. This year the team is 1-2, with a win vs Presbyterian and losses vs Colorado and Northwestern.
- Tennessee is 1-1 all-time vs Iowa State. They were swept in the first meeting in 1989, and beat a #10 ranked squad in 2012 by the largest UT fifth set margin in the rally-scoring era: 15-4. Last season the Cyclones went 18-10, finishing fourth in the Big 12 at 11-5. This year the team is 0-2 after playing in the AVCA Showcase vs #3 Stanford and #13 Florida State.
- This is the first meeting with Omaha. Last season the Mavericks went 7-22, finishing eighth in the Summit League with a record of 2-12. This year the team is 1-2, with a win vs Central Michigan and two five-set losses vs Drake and UMKC.
- This is the first meeting with Evansville. Last season the Purple Aces went 9-20, finishing ninth in the MVC with a record of 4-14. This year the team is 0-4, with losses vs Youngstown State and Belmont and upcoming UT opponents Kennesaw State and Austin Peay.
- Iowa State is receiving votes in the latest Coaches Poll, with an unofficial ranking of #33.
- Since 2001, Tennessee is 6-2 vs the MAC, 5-2 vs the Big 12, 2-0 vs the Summit League, and 1-2 vs the MVC.
- Evansville assistant coach Maria Escoto-Lopez faced Tennessee in 2010 as a player for Oklahoma.
- The Lady Vols played eight matches on Tuedays in 2001 and 2002, but only five in the years since. The match vs the Purple Aces will be the fourteenth Tuesday match since 2001, and the first since 2010.
- Coach Rob Patrick was an assistant at Stanford for three seasons, with the Cardinal winning the National Championship in 1994, making the Final Four in 1995, and winning the National Championship again in 1996. Nebraska won it all in 1995, with NCAA Championship all-tournament team member Christy Johnson-Lynch, now the head coach of Iowa State, as the starting setter.
- All four of the head coaches at this tournament have served at their schools for at least a decade: UNO’s Rose Shires (25th year), UT’s Rob Patrick (18th year), NIU’s Ray Gooden (13th year), and ISU’s Christy Johnson-Lynch (10th year).
- After their first match vs Northern Illinois this week, Tennessee will have played four “Northern” universities over the years, the others being: Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, and Northern Kentucky. Other “North” schools they’ve faced include: North Alabama, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Northwestern.
- The official site has continued their “#TNVB Serves Up” series of videos with the players. The latest are with Iesha Bryant and Bridgette Villano.
- I’ve been updating data in the stats section while I’ve had extra down time this week. Too many minor things to mention, but one big one I started some time ago but never had time to finish is finally up and running: a list of all the SEC Players of the Week. And not just UT and not just since 2001 either! This is all the conference schools since the mid 1990s.
More information:
- Northern Illinois: Friday 9/5 at 12:00pm ET
website | match info from NIU | live stats- Iowa State: Friday 9/5 at 7:30pm ET
website | match info from ISU | live stats | live video ($)- Omaha: Saturday 9/6 at 7:30pm ET
website | match info from UNO | live stats- Evansville: Tuesday 9/9 at 7:00pm ET
website | match info from UE | live stats- Tennessee: website | match info and live blog from UT
- See what these teams are saying on Twitter…
After a long offseason, I always look forward to going to one of the first road tournaments. While I did get to attend the first match, I missed the second day of competition due to a medical issue. While minor, it is ongoing and definitely limits the amount of time I can spend at the computer. Hopefully I’ll be back 100% very soon and can get back to diving into volleyball stats! Until then, here are some quick tidbits about the opening weekend.
- Since 1978, the Lady Vols are 29-8 in season opening matches. Under Coach Rob Patrick the team is 14-4. The team has won six of their last seven season openers.
- Tennessee started the season off with a sweep for the first time in five years.
- The Lady Vols have started off the season vs an in-state rival twelve times since 1978, and are undefeated. They’re 36-2 in sets in those games, not coming away with a sweep only twice.
- Fourteen of the sixteen players on UT’s roster saw action this weekend.
- Lexi Dempsey and Kanisha Jimenez picked up double doubles, both during the Cleveland State match. Jimenez’ were with kills and digs, while Dempsey’s were with assists and digs. Dempsey has notched 17 double doubles in her career — the ninth most of any Lady Vol in the rally-scoring era.
- The SEC went 11-2 in their opening matches, with only LSU and Mississippi State losing their first games.
- Some photos from the Tennessee Tech match are now online. The lighting at the arena wasn’t great, so neither are the pictures. I also didn’t take many because I assumed I would have the whole weekend to try to get a good shot of everyone.
- The stats have been updated, both on the roster pages and the stats database pages. A kind of fun thing to check out (if checking out volleyball stats is your idea of fun!) is the all-time season record pages. Besides listing the records, the bottom of each page projects how the current players might finish the season at their current pace. For example, with seventeen blocks in the first three matches Iesha Bryant might reach 181 total blocks this year, which would be good for third place in program history. (Please don’t take those numbers too seriously though, especially this early in the season. They will get more accurate as more info is fed in, but even then they’re not meant to be anything other than an potentially interesting data point.)
After winning their season opener, the Lady Vols split a pair of matches on the second day of their season. In the early game they fought to a 3-1 win over Cleveland State (15-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-16). In the night game, they lost 3-0 to a more experienced Appalachian State squad (25-15, 25-21, 25-14). Check out the official site for much more, including stats, stories, and videos with the coach and some players.
Sorry for the lack of updates this weekend. Due to some personal issues, I’ve had to stay offline. And unfortunately that may continue for a few more days. I’m hoping to be able to jump on occasionally to do a few things (like keeping the stats updated). But bigger updates will be on hold for a little while longer.
