Congratulations to Ellen Mullins who was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week! This is her third time winning the award this season.

The election is finally over and updates on my other website have finally slowed back to their non-election year pace. So now I can get back to what’s important — volleyball stats! Thanks for your patience and understanding this season. Longtime readers know I usually post a lot more than I have the past few weeks and I promise that I’ll now be getting back to that schedule! I am WAY behind on posting photos though. Clearing that backlog may have to wait until the season is over. Apologies and thanks again!

The Lady Vols picked up their sixth sweep of their last eight matches with a win over South Carolina today (27-25, 25-16, 25-18). Much more tomorrow!

Tennessee has now won nine of their last ten matches after a sweep of Mississippi in Oxford (25-15, 25-18, 25-19). More soon.

The Lady Vols got a hard fought five-set win over #13 Florida (17-25, 25-21, 27-29, 25-23, 19-17). It was the first conference loss for the previously 13-0 Gators. I’ll have more notes later, but here are a few quick ones:

• Tennessee has played 9 five-set matches this year. Only the 1991 team played more.
• UT has won 7 five-set matches this year, more that any other squad in school history.
• The Lady Vols have played 9 five set matches vs Florida all-time, and have only lost two of them — the last coming in 1987.
• Along with the two wins last year, this is Tennessee’s first 3 match winning streak over the Gators since 1989.
• The Lady Vols are now 3-1 vs ranked opponents this year.

More soon!

Due to the election I’m not going to be able to write a recap tomorrow so I’ll try to get as much into this post as possible. Note that the stats and roster pages have been updated and are current.

Kelsey Robinson led the team with 20 kills, earning a double double with 11 digs, and adding in 4 blocks as well. DeeDee Harrison had 13 kills and 7 blocks. Kayla Jeter put up 12 kills, 8 digs, and 6 blocks. Tiffany Baker had a double double with 10 kills and 11 digs, along with 3 blocks. Olivia Okoro led both teams with 8 blocks. Leslie Cikra added in 5 more. Ellen Mullins had 28 digs — the 18th most in a five-set match in school history. Mary Pollmiller picked up a double double with 39 assists and 14 digs. And Bianca Arellano just missed out her first with 9 assists and 10 digs.

• Florida outdid Tennessee in every non-error statistical category except blocks. The Lady Vols had 19 as a team, their most of the season, the 10th most of the rally scoring era, and the most for a Gator opponent since 2005 (when Tennessee put down 21 against them).
• At 2 hours 37 minutes, the match was one of the longest UT has played since 2001.
• Since 2009, Tennessee has played 20 televised matches and won 15 of them.
• Ellen Mullins reached the 1,000 digs milestone – the 13th Lady Vol to do so.
• Since Mary Wise took over the helm of Florida volleyball in 1991, only six teams have been able to win three matches in a row over the Gators. Tennessee is the first team to do it in the last nine years. Between them those six teams have eleven national championships, seven of them earned since 1991.

UT STORY | BOX SCORE | UF STORY

Tennessee earned a sweep over Mississippi State tonight (25-18, 25-21, 25-17). Ellen Mullins had 14 digs, saving the next one, her 1,000th, for a televised match vs #13 Florida. You can check out the full story here and the box score here.

Once again guys, so sorry for the lack of updates. As I’ve previously mentioned, one of my other sites is a presidential election website. So every four years it gets very busy and sucks up all my available computer time. Luckily it will all be over in just a few days and I can get back to focusing on volleyball. (Please, please let it all be over in a few days and not drag on any further!)

Here are a few quick notes from the past week and about the upcoming games.

• Congratulations to DeeDee Harrison on being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week!
• Tennessee dropped to an unofficial #30 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, but is in great position at #19 in the RPI.
• Kayla Jeter was featured in two articles this week, one from Volleyball Magazine and another from local NBC affiliate WBIR.
• The latest episode of This Week in Tennessee Volleyball along with notes for tomorrow’s match vs Mississippi State are online at the official site.
• Assuming they don’t meet in the postseason, this will be the first time since 1993 that UT and Florida only meet one time during the year.
• The last time Tennessee had a two match winning streak vs the Gators was after beating them twice in 2004. If the Lady Vols win this weekend it would be their first three match streak since 1989.
• Sunday’s match vs #13 Florida will be televised on cable channel CSS/CST and online for ESPN3 subscribers.
• DeeDee Harrison recently became the 17th Tennessee player to record at least 300 career blocks.
• Ellen Mullins is 15 digs away from becoming the 13th Lady Vol to reach 1,000 career digs.
• Kelsey Robinson is 25 digs away from entering UT’s career top ten list. She’s also 144 attack attempts away from becoming the 13th Lady Vol to reach 3,000.

The Lady Vols get a sweep of Alabama this afternoon (25-18, 25-16, 25-19). More tonight.

Four out of the five players with double digit attack attempts hit .350 or better. Kelsey Robison picked up her 15th double double of the year with 13 kills and 12 digs. She hit .444 and had 3 blocks. DeeDee Harrison had 9 kills and 5 blocks while hitting a season high .615. Tiffany Baker had 8 kills, hit .350, and added in 3 blocks. For the third time this year and the seventh time in her career Leslie Cikra had no errors in a match with 10 or more attacks, this time hitting .400. Mary Pollmiller and Ellen Mullins led the match with 33 assists and 13 digs respectively. As a team the Lady Vols hit .380. There were only two lead changes the entire match and UT had a 76% or better sideout percentage in every set.

UT STORY & VIDEOS | BOX SCORE | UA STORY

For the second time this year the Lady Vols take a 2-0 lead only to lose in five (21-25, 27-29, 25-14, 25-22, 15-5), this time to Kentucky. More soon.

Tiffany Baker tied for the match lead with 18 kills. She hit .361 and also had 3 blocks. Kelsey Robinson was just behind with 17 kills. She also had 3 blocks, 3 aces, and earned another double double with 11 digs. DeeDee Harrison had 8 kills and 8 digs. Olivia Okoro and Kayla Jeter had 4 blocks each. Mary Pollmiller had 41 assists, a double double with 10 digs, and had 3 blocks. Ellen Mullins led the match with 29 digs.

In case I don’t have time to do a recap on Monday here are a few quick facts about the match.

Mullins is 28 digs away from becoming the 13th Lady Vol to reach 1,000 career digs.

This was the 20th time Tennessee lost a match after winning the first two sets. It was the sixth time they’ve lost two such matches in the same season. It was Kentucky’s first time coming back from two down vs UT.

Kentucky held the Lady Vols to 5 points in the fifth set, matching a rally scoring era low.

UK outkilled UT by 20 kills, the largest margin by an opponent in three years.

The Lady Vols have played at least eight five-set matches in the same season just six times.

Tennessee hadn’t lost two matches to the Wildcats in the same season since 2007. Kentucky had not won in Knoxville since 2008.

UT STORY | BOX SCORE | UK STORY

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. I have been extremely busy with some family matters and my other website and have not had any spare time to update this site. Unfortunately there will probably be another week of this schedule for me but I’m going to try to at least post some smaller updates during that time that won’t require a huge amount of time to do. Please bear with me during this and I should be back up and running full time here soon.

Tennessee is now at the half-way point in their 20-match SEC schedule. Besides UT and Georgia, everyone else in the conference has already played their eleventh match. While mathematically the race for the conference championship is still up for grabs, in reality it is down to just a few teams — and probably in reality just one. (All stats below are SEC rankings for conference matches only.)

Florida (11-0)

From 1991 to 2010, the Gators won 19 SEC Championships. In that time, the three seasons they lost or shared the title they came back the following year to win it outright — going 14-0, 15-1, and 20-0. After losing the title last season, Florida is currently 11-0. Obviously Mary Wise and her crew do not like losing or sharing the championship! With their main challengers already having three or four losses, the race is literally Florida’s to lose. Assuming Tennessee, the team in second place, wins out the Gators would have to lose four out of their last nine matches to lose any share of the title. Five of those nine matches will be at home. And due to scheduling vagaries due to the increased SEC roster of teams, Florida only has to face defending conference champion UT once this year. And while they might lose that one, I don’t see anyone else on their SEC slate beating them this season.

	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	2nd	5th	2nd	10th	1st	3rd	3rd
	Remaining: MSU, UGA, UT, at MU, at UM, LSU, SC, at AU, at UGA

Tennessee (7-3)

After losing three of their first five SEC matches, the Lady Vols have got back on track and won all of their last five. But with Florida not slipping up at all, the damage has been done. UT could win out now, have the second best conference record in school history, and still be two games behind the Gators. That doesn’t mean they should lay down. The NCAA Tournament is still out there and the Lady Vols are still easily in the running for a seed. And of course, Florida could slip up. Besides winning out, UT would need the Gators to lose two other matches in order to win a share of the title. Six of Tennessee’s last ten conference matches are at home, including all of the last four.

	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	9th	3rd	4th	2nd	7th	5th	5th
	Remaining: UK, UA, at MSU, at UF, at UM, at USC, AU, LSU, TAMU, MSU

Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas A&M (7-4), Georgia (6-4)

These five teams may be mathematically in the hunt, but legitimately probably don’t have a chance as they would have to win out, not have Tennessee win out, and have Florida lose four of their last nine matches.

	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	7th	4th	8th	11th	5th	4th	7th
	Remaining: UA, MU, at AU, at TAMU, UK, UGA, UM, at LSU, at SC
	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	1st	9th	5th	7th	2nd	6th	2nd
	Remaining: at UT, at UGA, UM, SC, at UA, at UARK, UGA, at MU, at AU
	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	5th	8th	1st	6th	4th	10th	6th
	Remaining: at UGA, at UARK, SC, UF, LSU, at TAMU, at MSU, UK, UA
	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	6th	1st	6th	5th	3rd	1st	1st
	Remaining: at LSU, at SC, UA, UARK, at AU, at UGA, MU, at UT, at UM
	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	8th	7th	7th	9th	8th	7th	8th
	Remaining: MU, UK, at UF, at AU, LSU, TAMU, at UARK, at UK, MSU, UF

After five wins in a row, Tennessee is on the cusp of rejoining the ranks of the… ranked. In the latest AVCA Coaches Poll the Lady Vols are the team receiving the most votes outside of the top 25 for an unofficial ranking of #26. More soon.

In their first conference match against SEC newcomer Texas A&M the Lady Vols get the sweep (25-21, 25-19,25-21). After three five set matches in a row Tennessee has now recorded back to back sweeps. And with nine digs Kelsey Robinson became just the fifth Lady Vol to reach both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. More tonight.

Tiffany Baker led both sides with 15 kills and had a career high .636 hitting percentage. Kelsey Robinson was just behind with 14 kills. Kayla Jeter had 9 kills, Olivia Okoro had 7 (and hit .462), and DeeDee Harrison 6. Mary Pollmiller had 46 assists. Since 2005 no Lady Vol has had more assists in a sweep except Pollmiller herself vs Maryland earlier this year. With 10 digs she also picked up the double double. Ellen Mullins led the match with 18 digs. It’s the third time this month she’s averaged at least 6 digs per set. As a team the Lady Vols only had 2 blocks — matching their lowest total of the rally scoring era. Their team .381 hitting percentage matched the second highest total of the season.

UT STORY & VIDEO | BOX SCORE | TAMU STORY

Texas A&M officials have evacuated the campus after a bomb threat was received. Coach Rob Patrick tweeted that the team was “asked to leave Texas A&M Reed arena” and that they are “safe & traveling back to hotel”. A local TV station has posted a live video stream and the school has an emergency website being updated as info becomes available (keep in mind times on that page are CDT.)

UPDATE: According to the above emergency website “events planned for campus this evening have not been cancelled. Facilities being searched to insure safety for those events”. It adds “at this time [3:35pm ET], after hours events and activities have not been officially cancelled”, but goes on to say to continue monitoring the site for more information. A media briefing has been scheduled for 4pm ET.

UPDATE: Texas A&M has reopened the campus and reports that venues like Reed Arena have been cleared for events.

• Tennessee is 5-2 all time vs Texas A&M. This is the first match in College Station since 1994, where the teams are 1-1. Including neutral locations (both times at LSU) Tennessee is 3-1 in road matches vs the Aggies.
• The Lady Vols have good memories of their last meetings with SEC newcomers Texas A&M and Missouri before they joined the conference. In 2004, UT defeated A&M in the match that sent them to their first ever Sweet Sixteen. The following season Tennessee beat Missouri sending them to their first ever Final Four.
• The Aggies are one of only ten schools to ever blank the Lady Vols in a set. In their last win in the series, Texas A&M won the 1994 match 0-15, 4-15, 10-15.
• A&M is playing their inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference after having competed previously in the Big 12 where they went 192-124 over 16 years in the league against some tough volleyball competition.
• Tennessee is facing new SEC competitors for the first time since 1993 and 1994. In their first conference match against newcomer South Carolina in 1993, UT won 3-1. In the first league game vs Arkansas a year later Tennessee won 3-1. In their first SEC match vs Missouri earlier this season UT lost 3-2.
• Only two players on A&M’s 18-woman roster are from outside the state of Texas.
• Texas A&M has won 14 out of their last 16 matches and is in sole possession of first place in the SEC Western Division and second place overall in the conference. Their only losses this season have been to USC and Kentucky twice.
• Just like with UT’s previous opponent last week, Tennessee and Texas A&M both received an identical number of points in the AVCA poll making them tied for an unofficial #30. In the RPI UT leads #18 to #28.
• Among TAMU coach Laurie Corbelli’s many accomplishments, she was twice a member of the US Olympic volleyball team: at the boycotted 1980 games and on the silver-medal winning 1984 team.
• After this match Corbelli will have coached the Aggies against Tennessee three times in three different decades: a win in her second year as head coach at College Station in 1994, the loss at the NCAA Tournament in 2004, and now in 2012.
• Aggie associate head coach John Corbelli was an assistant coach at Nebraska in Tennessee’s first ever meeting with the Cornhuskers in 1981.

MATCH INFO

• Texas A&M: Friday 10/19 at 7pm ET in College Station
  record: 15-3, 7-2 | last week: beat Arkansas, lost to Kentucky
  website | match info from TAMU | live stats | watch ($9.99 day pass) | Twitter
• Tennessee:
  record: 13-5, 6-3 | last week: beat LSU and Arkansas
  website | match info from UT

higher ranked team

lower ranked team

SEC TEAM RANKINGS COMPARISON
TEAMS	ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	HIT%	KILLS	OPP HIT%
	11th	2nd	5th	5th	6th	4th	8th
	3rd	1st	10th	2nd	5th	1st	1st

TOP PERFORMERS – SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
ACES	Kelsey Robinson 10th (0.28)	Megan Pendergast 7th (0.30)
ASSISTS	Mary Pollmiller 5th (10.48)	Allie Sawatzky 9th (10.00)
BLOCKS	Leslie Cikra 13th (0.88)	Lindsey Miller 3rd (1.15)
DIGS	Ellen Mullins 7th (4.03)	Megan Pendergast 9th (3.92)
HITTING %	Leslie Cikra 14th (.298)	Stephanie Minnerly 9th (.339)
KILLS	Kelsey Robinson 1st (4.57)	Alisia Kastmo 7th (3.57)
POINTS	Kelsey Robinson 1st (5.22)	Alisia Kastmo 9th (4.02)