The fifth-ranked Gators finally broke their losing streak vs Tennessee, getting a three set win in Gainesville this afternoon (25-13, 25-21, 25-15).

Whitney Heeres had 8 kills and hit .300. Shealyn Kolosky had 7 kills and 2 blocks. Jamile Lea and Raina Hembry led both teams with 3 blocks each. Lexi Dempsey had 16 assists. Ellen Mullins led the match with 16 digs.

UT STORY | UF STORY | BOX SCORE

The Lady Vols got their first conference win of the season tonight in a sweep at South Carolina (25-19, 25-18, 25-17). UT hit an impressive .318, just the second time this year they’ve been in the .300s. They held the Gamecocks to .072 — a season worst for them.

Raina Hembrey led the team with 10 kills and 4 blocks while hitting an amazing .667. Shealyn Kolosky was just behind her with 9 kills and 3 blocks. Ashley Mariani had 6 kills and 3 blocks. And returning from an injury, Jamie Lea had 5 kills and 2 blocks and hit .364.

Abby Brewer had a team-leading 17 assists. Lexi Dempsey picked up another double double with 13 assists and 11 digs. Ellen Mullins added in 11 more digs. Team service ace leader Nikki Brice added two more to her stats.

UT STORY & VIDEO | SC STORY | BOX SCORE

WIN/LOSS RECORDS

• Tennessee is 13-42-1 all-time vs Florida. They’re 4-6 in the last ten meetings, and 4-6 in the last ten meetings in Gainesville.
• Tennessee is 35-26 all-time vs South Carolina. They’re 9-1 in the last ten meetings, and 7-3 in the last ten meetings in Columbia.
• The Lady Vols are looking to end a seven match losing streak, the third longest in school history. The last time they lost seven in a row was 1997.
• All seven losses were conference matches. The last time UT lost seven straight SEC matches was 1997. They’ve tied the 1995 team for worst SEC start at 0-7.

SOUTH CAROLINA

• South Carolina is fourth in the SEC in hitting percentage, while Tennessee is fourth in clamping down on an offenses’ hitting. The Gamecocks are 6-0 when hitting over .300 this year. UT has held 19 of their 21 opponents under that number.
• SC is 7-3 at home this year so far.
• South Carolina won the matchup earlier this season. They haven’t defeated the Lady Vols two times in a row since 2006-2007.
• UT assistant coach Alan Edwards and South Carolina assistant coach Julie Darty just missed working together at Mercer University in Georgia. In 2004, Bears head coach Edwards left for Wyoming as Darty was joining the team as a freshman outside hitter.

FLORIDA

• Since Mary Wise took over Florida in 1991, no other team in the country has defeated them more than Tennessee.
• Florida has only lost two matches at home to unranked teams in the past 19 years: Tennessee in 2011 and Tennessee in 2012.
• The Lady Vols currently are on a three-match winning streak vs the Gators. UT is the first SEC team to do that since Wise’s first season in 1991, when LSU swept them in their three meetings that year.
• Only five other schools nationally have ever beaten Florida three times in a row during the Wise-era. And it’s a pretty impressive list for Tennessee to be part of:

• 3-time National Champion Long Beach State
• 3-time National Champion Nebraska
• 2-time National Champion Pacific
• 5-time National Champion Penn State
• 3-time National Champion USC

ELLEN MULLINS

• Ellen Mullins is closing in on several records: (assuming my numbers are right!)

• 37 digs away from the SEC career top ten list
• 119 digs away from the SEC season top ten list
• 133 digs away from the UT career record
• 167 digs away from the UT season record
• 279 digs away from the SEC season record

MORE INFORMATION:

• South Carolina (11-9, 3-5): Friday 10/25 at 7:00pm ET
  website | notes from SC | live stats | online video
• #5 Florida (18-2, 7-1): Sunday 10/27 at 1:30pm ET
  website | notes from UF | live stats | online video [$] | TV: Sun Sports | Radio: ESPN850
• Tennessee (8-13, 0-7): website | notes from UT
• See what these teams are saying on Twitter…

The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2013 season. The national ranks go up to 334 teams and 150 players; the conference tracks all 13 teams and the top 20 players. Tennessee’s rank in the polls are also included. The arrows and colors indicate movement from last week. Click the underlined links to see the national rankings charted week-to-week.

moved UP from last week

stayed EVEN with last week

moved DOWN from last week

POLLS (National & SEC Ranks)

AVCA Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
RichKern.com Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
Volleyball Magazine Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
Pablo Ranking	170 ↓11	13 ↔
RPI	143 ↓23	13 ↔

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills
318 ↓5	230 ↓5	204 ↓1	2 ↔	264 ↑1	228 ↓11

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (All Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
13 ↔	12 ↔	10 ↔	1 ↔	13 ↔	13 ↔	4 ↔

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (Conference Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
13 ↓1	13 ↓1	11 ↑1	1 ↔	13 ↓2	13 ↔	7 ↔

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	157 ↔
Digs	Ellen Mullins	2 ↓1
Kills	Jamie Lea	139 ↓2
Points	Jamie Lea	169 ↓10

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (All Matches)

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	9 ↔
Blocks	Raina Hembry	13 ↓1
Digs	Ellen Mullins	1 ↔
Digs	Lexi Dempsey	17 ↓1
Digs	Nikki Brice	19 ↓1
Kills	Jamie Lea	10 ↔
Points	Jamie Lea	11 ↔

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (Conference Matches)

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	8 ↑1
Blocks	Raina Hembry	10 ↑2
Digs	Ellen Mullins	2 ↔
Digs	Lexi Dempsey	15 ↓1

I’m going to be taking the rest of the week off to take care of some other obligations. Starting next week, my schedule through the rest of the year is all but wide open so look for me to catch up on everything very soon! Sorry for the inconvenience but thanks for your understanding. See you next week!

UPDATE: I’m back — sorry for the interruption! One of the other sites I work for was celebrating its 10th birthday and I was in charge of going through the archives and writing an anniversary article every day.

Today I’ll get the stats all caught up from the games I missed and then we’ll be back on track for this week — with national/conference statistics coming tomorrow and notes for this weekend on Thursday.

Despite starting strong and staying right with the Razorbacks, Tennessee fell in four matches to Arkansas this afternoon (13-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-22). While the Lady Vols may have lost their first Dig for the Cure match, they did raise over $1,800.

Whitney Heeres had 12 kills and 3 blocks, while Shealyn Kolosky had 11 kills, 3 blocks, and hit an impressive .455. Ashley Mariani had 9 kills and Carly Wishlow had 8. Wishlow and Raina Hembry led the team with 5 blocks each.

Ellen Mullins had 32 digs, the third most in a four-set match in program history. She moved into the school top ten for season digs, and now stands at 420. Lexi Dempsey had 40 assists, 7 digs, and 2 aces.

Statistically the team held their own — Tennessee out hit Arkansas .192 to .183, had more digs, matched them in blocks, and had only one less ace. The Lady Vols had less hitting errors, less service errors, less blocking errors, and less ball handling errors.

UT STORY AND VIDEO | UARK STORY | BOX SCORE

Missouri kept their undefeated season going with a 3-0 win over the Lady Vols (27-25, 25-10, 25-16).

Shealyn Kolosky led in kills with 7 while hitting .353, while Ashley Mariani was just behind her with 6. Whitney Heeres and Raina Hembrey had 2 blocks each. Lexi Dempsey once agains earned a double double with 20 assists and 11 digs. Ellen Mullins had 15 digs. Megan Hatcher also reached double digits with 10 digs.

While Tennessee looked energized and had an amazing first set (getting two set points before the Tigers could catch up), the second set wasn’t as pretty. With only 10 points the team had their second lowest scoring set of the rally scoring era.

UT STORY & VIDEO | MU STORY | BOX SCORE

Just a big reminder that tonight’s match vs Missouri does not begin until 8:30pm, 90 minutes later than normal for a Friday night game, due to it being broadcast on Fox SportsSouth. If you do forget, you’ll be bored for just 45 minutes because then you can head down to the Ray Mears room of TBA to listen to coach Rob Patrick talk about the team, the upcoming match, and answer fan questions. That should begin around 7:45pm. Also, tonight all tickets are just $1.

Sunday’s match vs Arkansas is also being broadcast on Fox SportsSouth and will begin at 1:00pm, 30 minutes earlier than usual for a Sunday match. This will be the annual Dig for the Cure match to raise money for breast cancer research. Fans wearing pink will get in free. Kids 12 and under will be free as well. The first 250 fans will get a free pink bag. Coach Patrick will give his chalk talk 45 minutes before the match. And the team will sign autographs after the match. The past few seasons there has also been a silent auction as part of the Dig for the Cure match but I haven’t found any news on that. A silent auction will be held so bring your wallet!

NOTES:

• Tennessee is 2-2 all-time vs Missouri.
• Tennessee is 17-15 all-time vs Arkansas. They’re 9-1 vs the Razorbacks over their last ten meetings. UT is 6-4 in the last ten meetings in Knoxville.
• With Missouri ranked #25 this week, at least one of the teams has been ranked in four of their five meetings.
• The two newcomers to the SEC, Missouri and Texas A&M joined the conference last year and Tennessee has faced them both a total of four matches since then. Three of those four matches were decided in five sets.
• Missouri has the best record in the country with 19 wins and no losses — one of only three undefeated teams left. The Lady Vols will be trying to prevent them from reaching 20-0, which would be their best start in school history.
• The Tigers lead the nation in hitting, and are second in assists and kills.
• Four of the past five matches with Arkansas have ended with Tennessee sweeping.
• Missouri is ranked #12, and Arkansas #16 in the initial RPI rankings of 2013.
• Both matches this weekend will be televised. In their last 20 matches on TV, Tennessee is 15-5. They’re 7-1 when those matches were at home.
• The cause is obviously the most important aspect of this event, but just for fun here are some statistics on the previous Dig for the Cure matches. The Lady Vols are 5-0 in the fundraising matches, and 15-2 in individual sets. And over the past five years the team and fans have raised over $7000.

DIG FOR THE CURE MATCHES:

2008	3-0 win vs Auburn	$1000+
2009	3-0 win vs Auburn	$1000+
2010	3-0 win vs Auburn	$1300+
2011	3-0 win vs Alabama	$2650
2012	3-2 win vs Missouri	$1600+

LINKS:

• The Weekly Spike, Episode 7
• Coach Rob Patrick on Vol Calls

MORE INFORMATION:

• #25 Missouri (19-0): Friday 10/11 at 8:30pm ET | website | notes from MU | live stats |
  online video: ESPN3 | TV: SportsSouth
• Arkansas (6-6): Sunday 10/13 at 1:00pm ET | website | notes from UARK | live stats |
  online video: ESPN3 | TV: SportsSouth
• Tennessee (8-9): website | notes from UT
• See what these teams are saying on Twitter…

The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2013 season. The national ranks go up to 334 teams and 150 players; the conference tracks all 13 teams and the top 20 players. Tennessee’s rank in the polls are also included. The arrows and colors indicate movement from last week. Click the underlined links to see the national rankings charted week-to-week.

moved UP from last week

stayed EVEN with last week

moved DOWN from last week

POLLS (National & SEC Ranks)

AVCA Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
RichKern.com Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
Volleyball Magazine Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
Pablo Ranking	165 ↓3	13 ↔
RPI	143 ↑8 (from RKPI)	13 ↔ (from RKPI)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills
306 ↓3	202 ↓25	198 ↓30	2 ↓1	260 ↓6	192 ↓24

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (All Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
13 ↔	12 ↔	10 ↑1	1 ↔	13 ↔	12 ↔	3 ↔

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (Conference Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
11 ↓1	10 ↓3	12 ↓2	2 ↓1	10 ↔	11 ↓4	7 ↔

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	153 ↑NR
Digs	Ellen Mullins	1 ↔
Kills	Jamie Lea	142 ↓7
Points	Jamie Lea	165 ↑NR

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (All Matches)

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	9 ↔
Blocks	Raina Hembry	13 ↑1
Digs	Ellen Mullins	1 ↔
Digs	Lexi Dempsey	15 ↑5
Digs	Nikki Brice	18 ↓2
Kills	Jamie Lea	12 ↓1
Kills	Ashley Mariani	18 ↔
Points	Jamie Lea	11 ↑1

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (Conference Matches)

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	7 ↓2
Blocks	Raina Hembry	17 ↓3
Digs	Ellen Mullins	3 ↓2

WIN/LOSS RECORDS

• It’s hard to believe it but this weekend marked the halfway point of the season. After the first 16 matches, Tennessee had an even 8-8 record. They’re 0-1 to start the last 16 matches.
• UT’s 0-3 conference start is their worst since 2002. In total, it’s just the 4th time the team has lost their first 3 matches vs SEC opponents, also doing so in 1994 and 1995.

PLAYER RECORDS

• For the 3rd week in a row Ellen Mullins tops the nation in digs.
• Back at home she is 255 digs short of the Tennessee season record, and 221 digs shy of the school career record.
• Her average of 6.02 digs per set for the season would be the new UT record if she maintains it, and she currently sits at 2nd place with 4.06 digs per set on the career chart.
• She’s at #12 in the SEC career record book. Extrapolating from her current pace, she could end up at #4 on the conference career list and #2 on the SEC season list.
• Lexi Dempsey’s 11 double doubles leads the SEC this year. And after just 17 matches, she already has the 13th most career double doubles at UT in the rally scoring era.

OPPONENT RECORDS

• In the 32 meetings between the teams since 1997, Georgia had swept Tennessee only 2 times before this weekend.
• Kentucky served up 10 aces against Tennessee.
• That was the most by any team since 2007, when Utah was upset by the Lady Vols in front of the largest crowd to ever see Tennessee play volleyball — 11,076 at the Qwest Center in Omaha NE.
• Until this weekend no team had reached double digit aces vs Tennessee in a three-set match in the rally scoring era.
• It’s the 2nd most aces per set since 2001 — that year Alabama had 14 in a four-set match.
• The school record for opponent aces is 20, set in 1991 by Auburn. The national record for most aces in a Division I match is 49, set by Western Illinois over Michigan in 1982 — almost unbelievably, Western Illinois lost that match!
• The Wildcats held Tennessee to 35 statistical points and 49 actual points, both the 4th lowest tallies of the rally scoring era.

DOUBLE DOUBLES

Lexi Dempsey	vs UGA	30 assists, 19 digs	10th career
Lexi Dempsey	vs UK	25 assists, 10 digs	11th career

SEASON LEADERS

Kills	Jamie Lea	189, 3.38ps
Attacks	Jamie Lea	592, 10.57ps
Hit %	Carly Wishlow	.201
Assists	Lexi Dempsey	582, 9.39ps
Aces	Nikki Brice	16, 0.26ps
Digs	Ellen Mullins	373, 6.02ps
Solo Blocks	Whitney Heeres	10
Block Assists	Raina Hembry	43
Total Blocks	Raina Hembry	45, 0.94ps
Points	Jamie Lea	211.5, 3.78ps

19th ranked Kentucky got a three set win over Tennessee in Lexington this afternoon (25-14, 25-16, 25-19). More tonight.

UPDATE: Only one player from either team reached double digit kills. For UT, Whitney Heeres led with 8. Carly Wishlow had 7. Heeres also led the Lady Vols with 2 blocks. Lexi Dempsey earned her 11th double double of the year with 25 assists and 10 digs. Ellen Mullins had 7 digs.

Kentucky’s 10 service aces were the 6th most by a UT opponent since 2001, and the most in a three-set match.

UT STORY | UK STORY | BOX SCORE

The Lady Vols lost their first SEC road trip of the year, falling to Georgia (25-21, 25-16, 25-23). They hit .202, their second highest hitting percentage in a loss this season, and only averaged 3 hitting errors per set, the second lowest of any match this year.

Raina Hembry had 9 kills and hit .412; she also had 3 blocks. Shealyn Kolosky had 8 kills. Lexi Dempsey picked up her 10th double double of the year with 30 assists and a season high 19 digs. Ellen Mullins moved into the school career top 20 digs list with 13 more tonight.

UT STORY & VIDEO | UGA STORY | BOX SCORE

NOTES:

• Tennessee is 42-24 all-time vs Georgia. The Lady Vols are 9-1 in the last 10 meetings, and have won the last 4 in a row.
• Tennessee is 30-43 all-time vs Kentucky. The Lady Vols are 6-4 in the last 10 meetings, but have lost two in a row.
• Though both teams count it slightly different, the UT/UK match-up is the longest rivalry in program history. Counting matches claimed between each school, they’ve faced each other 73 times. It’s also the longest continuously played match-up with the teams meeting at least once a year every year since 1977.
• The UT/UGA match-up is the second longest in school history with 66 matches, and at least one meeting a year every year since 1979.
• In 13 of their last 19 meetings, UT swept the Bulldogs.
• The last time Georgia beat the Lady Vols in a match that didn’t go to 5 sets was 2002.
• Only 2 matches in the Georgia series since 2000 have been decided in 4 sets.
• Georgia is off to their best start in 20 years with an 11-3 record. They are undefeated at home this year.
• The Bulldogs are looking to even up their 17-18 record in home SEC openers. They’ve won the last 3 in a row.
• Tennessee faces their first ranked opponent of the year in the #19 Wildcats. Since 2001, the team is 26-40 vs ranked foes. However, they’re 4-1 in that time when the ranked opponent is Kentucky.
• UK’s sweep of Tennessee last season was their first over the Lady Vols since 1995.
• Kentucky has done an excellent job protecting their home court since head coach Craig Skinner came on board in 2005. In his first 8 seasons, UK only lost 23 matches at Memorial Coliseum. Tennessee is 4-4 in Lexington during that time period.
• Georgia head coach Lizzy Stemke has been following Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner during her career. Skinner was an assistant coach at Wisconsin; Stemke played there a few years later. Skinner was an assistant coach at Nebraska. Stemke was an assistant coach at Nebraska a few years later. Skinner got his first head coaching job in the SEC. Stemke got her first head coaching job in the SEC a few years later.
• Stemke comes from a family of sports players, including her brother Rob Fitzgerald who played baseball for Tennessee.

MORE INFORMATION:

• Georgia (11-3, 1-1): Friday 10/2 at 7:00pm ET | website | notes from UGA | live stats | live video
• #19 Kentucky (10-3, 2-0): Sunday 10/6 at 1:30pm ET | website | notes from UK | live stats | live audio | live video ($)
• Tennessee (8-7, 0-1): website | notes, video and live blog from UT
• See what these teams are saying on Twitter…

The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2013 season. The national ranks go up to 334 teams and 150 players; the conference tracks all 13 teams and the top 20 players. Tennessee’s rank in the polls are also included. The arrows and colors indicate movement from last week. Click the underlined links to see the national rankings charted week-to-week.

moved UP from last week

stayed EVEN with last week

moved DOWN from last week

POLLS (National & SEC Ranks)

AVCA Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
RichKern.com Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
Volleyball Magazine Poll	NR ↔	NR ↔
Pablo Ranking	162 ↓11	13 ↔
RKPI	153 ↓5	13 ↓2

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills
303 ↓14	177 ↑7	168 ↑2	1 ↔	254 ↓3	168 ↓1

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (All Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
13 ↓1	12 ↔	11 ↓1	1 ↔	13 ↔	12 ↔	3 ↔

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (Conference Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
12	7	10	1	10	7	7

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Digs	Ellen Mullins	1 ↔
Kills	Jamie Lea	135 ↑5

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (All Matches)

Aces	Nikki Brice	18 ↓2
Assists	Lexi Dempsey	9 ↔
Blocks	Raina Hembry	14 ↔
Digs	Ellen Mullins	1 ↔
Digs	Nikki Brice	16 ↔
Digs	Lexi Dempsey	20 ↔
Kills	Jamie Lea	11 ↑3
Kills	Ashley Mariani	18 ↔
Points	Jamie Lea	12 ↑1
Points	Ashley Mariani	20 ↔

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (Conference Matches)

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	5
Blocks	Raina Hembry	14
Blocks	Whitney Heeres	14
Digs	Ellen Mullins	1
Kills	Jamie Lea	12
Kills	Whitney Heeres	14
Points	Whitney Heeres	13