Only one match this past weekend to recap — Tennessee’s four set loss to South Carolina (25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23). The team will get a chance to avenge the loss, as SC is one of the conference opponents UT play’s twice this season.

NOTES

• In the first match of the season vs SEC teams, the Lady Vols loss this year evens their record to 20-20-1.
• Tennessee’s record vs South Carolina falls to 35-26.
• The loss snaps UT’s 9 match win streak against the Gamecocks.
• Tennessee hadn’t lost an SEC opener at home since 2007.
• Starting conference play with a loss isn’t ideal, but it’s not necessarily a bad sign. Of the other 7 squads coached by Rob Patrick that lost their SEC debut, only one ended the season with a losing league record.

CAREER RECORDS MATCHED OR EXCEEDED (players with 20+ matches)

Nikki Brice

assists

SEASON LEADERS

Kills	Jamie Lea
Attacks	Jamie Lea
Hit %	Shealyn Kolosky
Assists	Lexi Dempsey
Aces	Nikki Brice
Digs	Ellen Mullins
Solo Blocks	Whitney Heeres
Block Assists	Raina Hembry
Total Blocks	Raina Hembry
Points	Jamie Lea

Tennessee lost in four this afternoon as they began conference play vs South Carolina (25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23). More soon.

UPDATE: Jamie Lea had 13 kills. Ashley Mariani had 10. Raina Hembry had 7 kills and 5 blocks. Shealyn Kolosky had 6 kills and 2 blocks.

Lexi Dempsey and Ellen Mullins led the match with 42 assists and 26 digs respectively. Megan Hatcher and Nikki Brice each had 11 digs. And Bridgette Villano dug up 10.

UT STORY & VIDEO | SC STORY | BOX SCORE

Since the match is just over 12 hours away, it’s obvious I didn’t get to this in time! Sorry — it’s been a busy week. Hopefully you’re checking out the official site and their great notes package. Also be sure to check out their weekly video. I’ll be back on my normal schedule by Monday!

After two weeks of road tournaments, Tennessee has finished the home portion of their pre-confernece schedule. Now they will begin SEC play. But first here’s a recap of the last two weeks.

NOTES

• The Lady Vols are now an impressive 29-7 since 1978 in home opening matches. Under Coach Rob Patrick they are 14-3.
• The team went 2-5 over the course of their two home tournaments. The Lady Vols are now 8-6 for the season. Last year the team was a similar 9-5 after their first 14 matches. They went on to win 13 of their last 15 regular season matches.
• With a 1-3 record, Tennessee had a losing record in the Lady Vol Classic for the first time in school history. It was also the first time they lost more than a single match during the tournament.
• Whitney Heeres was named to the Lady Vol Classic All-Tournament Team, while Ellen Mullins was named to the Tennessee Invitational Team.
• Between winning the first game the first home tourney and the last game of the last home tourney, the Lady Vols had a 5 match losing streak, their first since October 2007. It was the 2nd longest losing streak of Coach Rob Patrick’s tenure — they lost 8 in a row during his first season in 1997.
• All 5 matches in the losing streak occurred at home. That may be a first in program history. (In 1974, UT played in a tournament coincidentally also called the Tennessee Invitational. While they did lose 5 matches: (a) the format featured a split squad of two UT teams, (b) not all of the UT match results for that tournament are available; and (c) it isn’t clear if the tournament was actually held in Knoxville.)
• The Lady Vols’ loss to ETSU was their first defeat by another state school since 1997. The last time UT lost to the Bucs was in 1978.
• Tennessee’s loss to ETSU was their first to an Atlantic Sun Conference team in the rally scoring era. They had won the other 7 matches against A-Sun teams in that time.
• Tennessee’s loss to VCU was their first to an Atlantic 10 Conference team in the rally scoring era. They had won the other 7 matches against A-10 teams in that time.
• Tennessee’s loss to Jacksonville State was their first to an Ohio Valley Conference team in the rally scoring era. They had won the other 7 matches against OVC teams in that time.
• Coach Patrick reached career victory #350. After Mary Wise of Florida, he’s just the 2nd coach in SEC history to win that many total matches (at one SEC school while a member of the conference — Fran Flory of LSU did it if you add her record as head coach of Kentucky, and Laurie Corbelli of Texas A&M did it if you count records while the school was in other conferences).

DIGS

• The Lady Vols and Jacksonville State put on a defensive clinic. Tennessee demolished their previous rally scoring era record of 106 by digging up 130 balls — just 4 shy of the school record. The Gamecocks had 118 digs, a UT opponent rally scoring record.
• Ellen Mullins moved into 2nd place on the school all-time career digs chart. She just passed Kristy Dobson, whose total of 1,474 stood for 18 years before Chloe Goldman broke it in 2009. In the first 14 matches of 2013, she picked up 327 digs. She is only 267 digs behind Goldman with 18 regular season matches remaining.
• Mullins stands at #22 on the season digs list — at her current pace she could reach the 301 digs she needs to catch Goldman.
• On September 21st, Mullins almost set two school records in two different matches. In the morning she had 37 digs vs Jacksonville State — the 3rd most in school history and just 5 shy of the record. That night she picked up 31 digs, the 3rd most in a four set match in school history and just 4 short of the record.
• Over the past 14 matches UT has recorded 1,019 team digs. Since 2001, only the 2007 squad ever had over 1,000 digs in a 14 match stretch (and matches that year went to 30 points).

DELAYS

• The Jacksonville State match Saturday morning was delayed for about 10 minutes due to a leak in the roof at Thompson Boling Arena. Luckily it was fixed up fairly quickly and the game was able to commence. But several times over the years, delays have taken much longer to take care of.
• This one was before my time back in Knoxville but someone shared the story with me during the JSU delay. In the final match of the Lady Vol Classic in 2003, Tennessee was taking on Michigan. With the second set tied 1-1, a section of the floor near the net caved in. After a delay of 44 minutes as the court was moved to the other side of Stokely Athletic Center, the game resumed and the Wolverines went on to win a tight five-set match.
• On senior night in 2007, the roof at Stokely developed a leak right above the playing surface in the fourth set of a match with Kentucky. Play was halted for a little more than an hour while the net was moved to a dry portion of the floor and tape was laid to create a new volleyball court. The Wildcats went on to win 3-1. Photos of that match are online here.
• On the road in 2008, Auburn was giving UT all they could handle. In the fifth set, the Lady Vols were up 8-6. During a serve that went out, a fire alarm began blaring. The players, coaches, and fans were all required to head outside until fire fighters arrived to search the building. After getting the all clear 32 minutes later, everyone was allowed back in. After a quick discussion about whether the previous point should be replayed (it was not), Tennessee went on to win the set 16-14.
• Here’s one maybe someone else can tell me about! In 2007, a three set match at Alabama lasted two hours and forty-five minutes! Neither team’s recap, nor the notes section on the box score explain why what should have been a short match was at the time in fact the longest UT match of the rally scoring era! A typhoon? A typo?

DOUBLE DOUBLES

Lexi Dempsey	vs APSU	35 assists, 10 digs	5th career
Lexi Dempsey	vs ETSU	51 assists, 16 digs	6th career
Lexi Dempsey	vs VCU	46 assists, 11 digs	7th career
Lexi Dempsey	vs JSU	29 assists, 14 digs	8th career
Ashley Mariani	vs JSU	12 kills, 17 digs	1st career
Lexi Dempsey	vs CCU	27 assists, 13 digs	9th career
Ashley Mariani	vs CCU	10 kills, 10 digs	2nd career

CAREER RECORDS MATCHED OR EXCEEDED (players with 20+ matches)

Nikki Brice

kills, assists, aces (5 sets), digs (5 sets), points (5 sets)

Megan Hatcher

digs (3 sets, 5 sets)

Shealyn Kolosky

kills (4 sets), solo blocks, points (3 sets)

Ellen Mullins

attacks, digs

SEASON LEADERS

Kills	Jamie Lea
Attacks	Jamie Lea
Hit %	Shealyn Kolosky
Assists	Lexi Dempsey
Aces	Nikki Brice
Digs	Ellen Mullins
Solo Blocks	Whitney Heeres
Block Assists	Raina Hembry
Total Blocks	Raina Hembry
Points	Jamie Lea

Tennessee 2014 recruit Claudia Coco was recently featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces In The Crowd section for her recent breaking of the Georgia high school digs record:

“Claudia, a senior libero at Chattahoochee High, had nine digs in a 2-0 win over McIntosh High to run her career total to 1,931 and break the state record just eight games into the season. Claudia, who is verbally committed to Tennessee, was averaging 14.6 digs at week’s end for the 12-5 Cougars to extend the alltime mark to 2,061.”

Tennessee defeated Coastal Carolina in four tonight (25-15, 25-23, 19-25, 25-16). Rob Patrick got career win #350. And Ellen Mullins moved into second place on the school all-time career digs chart. She’s only chasing Tennessee great Chloe Goldman now. More soon.

UPDATE: Jamie Lea had 20 kills, hitting .378. Whitney Heeres had 13 kills and put back 7 blocks — 3 solo. Raina Hembry had 11 kills and 4 blocks. And Ashley Mariani had 10 kills.

Ellen Mullins had 31 digs, the 3rd most in a four set match in school history. Nikki Brice had 15 digs. Mariani dug up 10 balls for her second double double in a row. Lexi Dempsey had 27 assists and 13 digs for her 9th double double. Abby Brewer had 21 assists.

With a 2-1 record, Coastal Carolina won the Tennessee Invitational.

UT STORY | CCU STORY | BOX SCORE

Despite being down two sets, Jacksonville State completed a come back to win in five (21-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-11). More later.

UPDATE: Raina Hembry led both squads with 21 kills. She hit .321 and had 3 blocks as well. Ashley Mariani had a double double with 12 kills and 17 digs. Jamie Lea and Carly Wishlow had 9 kills each. Lea added in 6 blocks.

Ellen Mullins picked up the 3rd most digs in school history with 37 digs — just 5 shy of the record. Nikki Brice had 21 digs and 3 aces. Lexi Dempsey had 29 assists and 14 digs for another double double. And Abby Brewer had 20 assists.

UT STORY | JSU STORY | BOX SCORE

Georgia Tech handed the Lady Vols a loss in the first match of the Tennessee Invitational (25-18, 25-21, 25-22). More tonight.

UPDATE: Jamie Lea and Raina Hembry had 8 kills each. Whitney Heeres had 5. Hembry was the only Lady Vol with multiple blocks putting back 2.

Lexi Dempsey and Abby Brewer shared the setting duties, getting 14 and 10 assists respectively. Ellen Mullins had 20 digs.

UT’s 4 match losing streak is the longest since 2007. The team had not lost 4 matches in a row that were all played on their home court since 1986.

UT STORY & VIDEO | GT STORY | BOX SCORE

Lots of filler this week since notes are a little lighter than usual due to there not being a lot of history with these teams.

• Tennessee is 2-0 all-time vs Georgia Tech. The last meetings were in 1991 and 1993.
• Tennessee is 2-0 vs Jacksonville State. The last meetings were in 2000 and 2005.
• Tennessee is meeting Coastal Carolina for the first time.
• The Lady Vols are trying to win Coach Rob Patrick’s 350th career match and avoid losing 4 matches in a row for the first time since November 2007.
• The last time Tennessee had two home tournaments was 1987. They went 3-0 in the first and 0-3 in the second.
• As mentioned in this 2010 article, there is a long history of home tournaments and especially home tournament names at Tennessee. Other than the Lady Vol Classic over maybe the past decade or two (depending on how you count), tournament names don’t seem to be very permanent. This week brings what UT is calling the Tennessee Invitational (though funnily enough, on the schedule for all three of our opponents it appears by three different names). The name “Tennessee Invitational” has a short history in the school record books: the team played a tournament by that name in 1990. They also played in a “Tennessee Invitational” in 1974, but it is unclear whether that was actually hosted by UT or not.
• Both previous meetings with Georgia Tech went to five sets. This is the first meeting in Knoxville.
• Georgia Tech head coach Tonya Johnson played at LSU in the late 1980’s, helping lead the Tigers to two conference championships and the SEC’s first Final Four berth. She later was an assistant coach at her alma mater and at Kentucky.
• Jacksonville State head coach Joseph Goodson was the volunteer assistant coach at Tech in 2006.
• Before going on to play #17 Minnesota, #2 Penn State, #8 Missouri, and #3 Washington, Tennessee’s first opponent on route to the program’s first Final Four appearance at the 2005 NCAA Tournament was Jacksonville State.
• Whitney Heeres, Jacksonville State’s Nicole Merget, and Georgia Tech’s Rebecca Martin were all members of Michigan Elite Volleyball. Shealyn Kolosky and Coastal Carolina’s Sam Skryd both played for Sports Performance.
• Georgia Tech’s two mascots have a history with Tennessee:
• After losing to them in football in 1963, UT students broke into Neyland Stadium where Tech’s famous Ramblin’ Wreck — a gold 1930 Ford Model A Sport coupe — was being stored after the game. The pranksters painted the car orange and wrote the words “Go Vols” on it. Check out this clipping from the student newspaper at the time for more details.
• While Georgia Tech teams have been called Yellowjackets for over 100 years, they didn’t actually have a costumed mascot until recently. In 1972, a student made an outfit with a sweater, leotards, a ski mask, plastic knitting needles for antennas, and yellow vinyl hot pants with a stuffed vinyl stinger, and was allowed on the field during a few home games. The next year another student wore the suit. That was it for the mascot until 1979, when another student without official approval and with a $1,400 costume he had had created by a theme park designer made his first public appearance by running on to the field at a pep rally before the Tennessee football game. A few weeks later he snuck on to the field during an actual game where fans assumed he was part of the cheerleading squad. He was made the official Yellowjacket mascot the next year.

LINKS:

• The Weekly Spike: Episode 4

PROMOTIONS:

• GEORGIA TECH: Knox County School Weekend – Free admission with donation of two school supply items; Fan Site Friday – Watch for special offer on Twitter/Facebook.; Free drawstring backpack to first 200 kids 12 and under.; Chalk Talk with Coach Patrick – 45 minutes prior to match in the Ray Mears Room; Battle of the Badges – Police vs Fire volleyball match at match break – police, fire and ambulance vehicles will be on display at top of parking lot G5/30.
• JACKSONVILLE STATE, COASTAL CAROLINA: Knox County School Weekend – Free admission with donation of two school supply items; Kids Day – Free admission for all kids 12 and under. Be sure to visit Kids Korner; Free drawstring backpack to first 200 kids 12 and under attending Coastal Carolina match; Chalk Talk with Coach Patrick – 45 minutes prior to Coastal Carolina match in the Ray Mears Room.

MORE INFORMATION:

• Georgia Tech (4-5): Friday 9/20 at 7:00pm ET | website | notes from GT | live stats | live video
• Jacksonville State (6-6): Saturday 9/21 at 10:00am ET | website | notes from JSU | live stats | live video
• Coastal Carolina (5-5): Saturday 9/21 at 7:00pm ET | website | notes from CCU | live stats | live video
• Tennessee (7-4): 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	109 ↓50	11 ↓2
RKPI	114	11

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills
267 ↓46	167 ↓35	125 ↓31	1 ↔	222 ↑5	164 ↓13

SEC TEAM RANKINGS (All Matches)

Aces	Assists	Blocks	Digs	Hit %	Kills	Opp Hit %
12 ↓3	12 ↔	9 ↑4	1 ↔	13 ↓1	12 ↔	4 ↓2

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Assists	Lexi Dempsey	68 ↑9
Digs	Ellen Mullins	4 ↓3
Kills	Jamie Lea	124 ↓41
Points	Jamie Lea	135 ↓66

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (All Matches)

Aces	Nikki Brice	21 ↓7
Assists	Lexi Dempsey	6 ↑1
Blocks	Raina Hembry	9 ↔
Digs	Ellen Mullins	2 ↓1
Digs	Nikki Brice	19 ↓5
Digs	Lexi Dempsey	20 ↑NR
Kills	Jamie Lea	13 ↓3
Kills	Ashley Mariani	15 ↔
Points	Jamie Lea	12 ↓4
Points	Ashley Mariani	18 ↓3

• Photos from the past weekend should be posted later today tomorrow. (Sorry!)
• 2014 commitment Claudia Coco was named to the AVCA Under Armour High School All-America Watch List (PDF). The program “annually selects an All-America team comprised of 100 female high school senior student-athletes” while the watch List “identifies elite high school senior volleyball players who possess the potential to be considered” for selection.
• The state has approved plans to demolish Tennessee volleyball’s previous home, the historic Stokely Athletics Center. In its place (and with the additional removal of adjacent Gibbs Hall) UT plans to build a parking garage, a residence hall, a dining facility, and an extension of Haslam Field. Besides being the long time home of Tennessee men’s and women’s basketball, the arena also hosted concerts by artists including Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley.
• Just a reminder (since when I slipped in this addition several weeks ago I mentioned it wouldn’t be active until after the season started) that you can now view some all-time UT single season numbers on the stats page. The top half lists the records coming into this season. The bottom half lists the current players’ stats and a projection of where they might end up at years end at their current pace.

For just the 10th time since 2001, the Lady Vols lost a match after leading 2-0 (18-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-17, 15-12). This is the first time since September 2008 that the team has lost 3 matches in a row. More soon.

UPDATE: Whitney Heeres had 13 kills and hit .480. Her 3 solo blocks ties for the third most in the rally scoring era and the most in a five set match. Ashley Mariani had 10 kills and 3 blocks. Shealyn Kolosky also had 10 kills with 2 blocks. Jamie Lea had 9 kills. Carly Wishlow added 6 more and had 3 blocks.

Lexi Dempsey became just the second Lady Vol since 2001 to be responsible for the entire team’s total of assists. She had 46 and earned another double double with 11 digs. Ellen Mullins led the team with 24 digs. Nikki Brice had 11 digs and was a single ace shy of her service ace personal best with 3.

Whitney Heeres was named to the All-Tournament Team.

UT STORY | VCU STORY | BOX SCORE

The Bucs ended UT’s 19 match winning streak with a 3-1 win (31-29, 25-21, 21-25, 27-25). More later.

UPDATE: Jamie Lea had a season high 24 kills along with 2 blocks. Ashley Mariani had 10 kills and 3 blocks. Shealyn Kolosky had 9 kills. Carly Wishlow had 8 kills, hit a .467, and put back a team leading 5 blocks. Whitney Heeres had 7 kills and 2 blocks. And Nikki Brice got just the second kill of her career.

Lexi Dempsey picked up her 6th double double of her UT career with season highs of 51 assists and 16 digs. Ellen Mullins dug up 18 balls.

The last time UT lost to ETSU was 1978. Tennessee had not lost two matches in a row in a single season since September 2010. Tonight they play VCU and attempt not to lose three in a row for the first time since September 2008.

UT STORY | ETSU STORY | BOX SCORE

The Shockers took out the home team in three sets this evening on the second day of the Lady Vols Classic (25-16, 25-12, 25-13). Tennessee’s actual point total of 41 is the lowest amount they’ve ever scored in the rally scoring era. Their set scores of 12 and 13 are the 4th and 8th lowest in that time.

Carly Wishlow, Ashley Mariani, and Whitney Heeres had 7 kills each. Heeres hit .300, and Mariani and Wishlow had 3 blocks a piece. WSU held the Lady Vols ace-less. Lexi Dempsey had 23 assists and a team leading 8 digs. Ellen Mullins had 7 digs — the first time she’s been held to single digits in over 30 matches. Nikki Brice added 6 more.

UT STORY & VIDEO | WSU STORY | BOX SCORE

Tennessee swept the first match of the Lady Vol Classic over Austin Peay (25-14, 25-22, 25-18). More soon.

UPDATES: Ashley Mariani had 13 kills and hit .346. Shealyn Kolosky had 9 kills and hit an outstanding .500. Jamie Lea also had 9 kills.

With 20 digs tonight, Ellen Mullins has had 19 or more in every match this season — and she passed Amy Morris to take over the 4th spot on the UT career digs list. Nikki Brice dug up 11 balls. Lexi Dempsey earned another double double with 35 assists and 10 digs.

Carly Wishlow led the match with 5 blocks. Mariani put back 3 blocks and Jamie Lea 2. Kolosky’s 3 solo blocks ties for the second most in a match since 2001. Wishlow had Tennessee’s only ace of the night. And once again Brice went on a serving run, this time 10 straight points.

The Lady Vols held the Govs to a .000 hitting percentage, the 9th lowest opponent average for the team since 2001.

UT STORY & VIDEO | APSU STORY | BOX SCORE