Tennessee earned a hard-fought victory over the 9th ranked Baylor Bears this evening (17-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13). Much more tonight!

UPDATE: Breana Runnels led UT in kills with 20. Lily Felts had 17 and Morgahn Fingall 16. Natalie Hayward, Danielle Mahaffey, and Nicole Shanahan put down 3 blocks each. Hayward assisted on 57 kills. Fingall demolished her previous career best for digs with 23 tonight. Felts and Runnels had 15 each, Hayward had 12, and Madison Bryant added 10 more. Fingall completed her all-around performance with 3 aces.

Tennessee won despite being outhit by Baylor (.276 to .180).

UT gave the Bears four free points off service errors in the fifth set and still was able to come away with the win in the race to fifteen.

Four Lady Vols in the match earned double-doubles (Runnels, Hayward, Felts, and Fingall), a feat that the team had only accomplished twice previously in the rally-scoring era (2001, 2012). This was the first time they’ve done it vs a ranked opponent.

The win was Tennessee’s first over a top ten opponent since they defeated #10 Iowa State in 2012. It was the first time an unranked UT squad defeated a top ten team since they beat #6 Florida in 2011.

Tennessee starts the season 4-0 for the 14th time in program history.

The Lady Vols have a tough weekend ahead, as they face two top ten teams in #9 Baylor and #7 Pittsburgh.

UT is 1-1 all-time vs Baylor. The first meeting came in 2005, the last in 2019.

UT is 9-8 all-time vs Pitt. The first meetings were in 1980. All but three of the seventeen matches were played in the side-out scoring era.

Tennessee is 10-38 since 2001 in matches vs the top ten.

In the rally-scoring era, the Lady Vols are 6-5 vs the Big 12 Conference and 17-7 vs the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Both opposing squads have players who have seen Tennessee in action up close. Pitt’s Leketor Member-Meneh played five matches vs Tennessee while at Missouri from 2017 to 2019. Avery Skinner played five matches vs Tennessee while at Kentucky from 2017 to 2020. Both were All-SEC during their time in the conference. Baylor’s AJ Koele played at Mississippi State her freshman year.

The Bears have one player who is intimately familiar with Rocky Top, having played here for two seasons. Redshirt senior Callie Williams now sets back in her hometown of Waco. Williams played in 58 matches wearing the orange and white between 2017 and 2018.

While not being called a tournament, Baylor and Pitt will complete the round-robin and also face off against each other, in a matchup of nationally ranked top ten teams played here in Knoxville on Saturday.

The Lady Vols are getting their first experience of the season against ranked opponents. But Both Baylor and Pitt have already faced top 25 teams. The Bears are 1-1 overall in 2021 after defeating #7 Minnesota and losing to Wisconsin. The Panthers are 3-0 after wins over #23 Rice, #18 Washington State, and South Carolina.

Tickets are available online for $5.

Be sure to look over Thompson Boling Arena’s clear bag policy.

Parking and other gameday information can be found online as well.

Knoxville TN
#9 BAYLOR
Friday, September 3rd, 6:30pm ET	Stats | Video

Knoxville TN
#9 BAYLOR vs #7 PITT
Saturday, September 4th, 4:00pm ET	Stats

Knoxville TN
#7 PITT
Sunday, September 5th, 1:00pm ET	Stats | Video

Congratulations to Natalie Hayward on being named the SEC Setter of the Week.

“Tennessee’s Natalie Hayward, a senior from Bothell, Wash., totaled 108 assists over nine sets, averaging 12.00 assists per set. Hayward led the UT offense to post a .366 hitting percentage over its three three-set victories in the Tennessee Classic. She also recorded 10 kills and four blocks in the season-opening weekend.”

This is her third conference weekly honor, having previously been named SEC Player and Setter of the week this past February.

In other news, Tennessee is continuing to receive votes in the latest Coaches Poll, moving up five spots from last week to an unofficial #30.

In the Pablo Rankings, the Lady Vols currently stand at #18.

The Lady Vols took home the Tennessee Classic title with a 3-0 win over North Carolina State (25-12, 25-23, 25-16). Morgahn Fingall led the team in kills with 16. Lily Felts added 12 and Breana Runnels 7. Nicole Shanahan and Natalie Hayward had 3 blocks each. Hayward put up 36 assists as well. Runnels and Felts tied for the most digs with 9 apiece. Fingall also laid down a career-high 4 aces — 3 of them served up in during a four-point run! Her total is the 9th most aces in a three-set match at UT during the rally-scoring era.

Over the course of the weekend, Tennessee hit .350 or better in all three matches.

Hayward was named Tournament MVP, while Fingall and Felts were named to the All-Tournament Team.

UT has not lost a single match during a home tournament since 2014.

This is the 17th time since 1980 that Tennessee has started the year 3-0. It’s just the 4th time the team has gone 9-0 in sets to start the season — the last time was 11 years ago.

UT swept the second match of the Tennessee Classic, defeating ETSU 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-14). Lily Felts led the team in kills with 11, with Breana Runnels right behind with 10. Morgahn Fingall added 8 more. Ava Bell tied her career high for blocks with 9. Fingall tied hers as well with 6. Natalie Hayward had 29 assists. Runnels picked up her second double-double in as many days with 10 digs. Madison Bryant had 9. And Fingall, Hayward, and Felts dug up 8 apiece.

After having their best hitting percentage since 2019 last night, the team beat that average today with a .390.

The Lady Vols held ETSU to just .011, the lowest opponent hitting percentage since 2018.

Tennessee outhit ETSU by the 5th widest margin in the rally-scoring era.

The Bucs’ 23 kills were the 15th fewest by a UT opponent since 2001.

The Lady Vols earned a season opening win tonight with a 3-0 victory over Texas Tech (25-15, 25-17, 25-18). Breana Runnels and Morgahn Fingall led the team in kills with 17 each. Lily Felts had 11. Natalie Hayward put up 43 assists. Danielle Mahaffey had 5 blocks, 2 of which were solo. Ava Bell had 3. Madison Bryant dug up 18 balls. With 14 digs and 12 digs respectively, Lily Felts and Breana Runnels picked up double-doubles.

The team hit .350, their best percentage since 2019.

Tennessee had no service aces in a match for just the second time in the past four seasons.

UT is now 34-10 since 1978 in season opening matches, and 35-9 in home openers.

It’s the first day of the 2021 season for the Lady Vols! Here are a few stories of interest from around the web.

• Five players to watch in 2021 – Knoxville News Sentinel
• Tennessee volleyball excited, ambitious as season-opener nears – UT Daily Beacon
• Five storylines ahead of the opening weekend of NCAA women’s volleyball – ESPN
• The top 7 storylines for the 2021 NCAA women’s volleyball season – NCAA

Eve Rackham Watt stepped on to the court for the first time ever as a head coach at Thompson Boling Arena in 2018 for the Tennessee Classic. Her UT squad would win all three matches that weekend. But that wasn’t her first experience with a Rocky Top tournament. Almost two decades before that first one, she actually stepped on to another court here in Knoxville for what was then called the Lady Vol Classic… as a player.

Rackham was a freshman setter at North Carolina in 1999. That season, she had played in every match, was named the ACC Rookie of the Week four times, and led the team in aces and assists. The Tar Heels, predicated to finish fifth in the conference, had won the ACC Tournament, gone 28-6 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

So expectations were high for the sophomore and her team in 2000. UNC won their first four matches, only dropping a single set. Up next was the Lady Vol Classic.

Tennessee, too, had some high expectations. After only two winning seasons in nine years, UT had had back to back 19-win seasons coming into 2000. And they were also undefeated after their first matches of the year.

[ click to continue article… ]

The 2021 season officially kicks off this week! For the Lady Vols, that means a start at home in the Tennessee Classic where they’ll host Texas Tech, ETSU, and North Carolina State.

Tennessee is 33-10 since 1978 in season opening matches, and 34-9 in home openers.

This is my 15th season covering UT volleyball. (And in case you haven’t visited the site since last season, my last.) The Lady Vols are 10-4 in season openers during that time.

This is the first season since head coach Eve Rackham Watt took the reins that UT is not starting the season vs a ranked opponent. In 2018, Tennessee defeated #22 Michigan State 3-1 (making Rackham Watt the first coach in any sport in school history to defeat a ranked opponent in their very first outing). In 2019, the Lady Vols were three points away from sweeping #6 Illinois, then had several match points in the fifth set before ultimately falling 2-3. In 2020, UT lost to #3 (and eventual national champion) Kentucky 0-3.

The Lady Vols are 2-3 all time vs Texas Tech. The very first meeting between the teams was a UT win at the Tennessee Classic in Knoxville in 1983. The last match between the two teams was a 1-3 loss 30 years ago in 1991.

Tennessee is 29-7 in recorded school history vs ETSU, starting in 1973 when they played each other five times. Since 2001, the record between the schools is 4-2. Looking back before recorded school history, the first Tennessee volleyball matches ever played were at a tournament at ETSU in 1958.

UT is 7-5 all time vs North Carolina State. The teams met for the first time in 1979, with a 0-2 Tennessee loss during the regular season then a 1-2 loss during the AIAW Regional Championships. The teams have only played once in the rally-scoring era, a 0-3 Tennessee loss in 2015.

In the rally-scoring era, Tennessee is 5-5 vs the Big 12 Conference, 17-2 vs the Southern Conference, and 16-7 vs the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Coach Rackham Watt spoke to local radio station WNML about the tournament earlier today. You can listen to the conversation here.

All three teams visiting Knoxville this weekend have appeared in a Tennessee tournament previously:

• Tech went 1-3 at the 1983 Tennessee Classic,
  defeating Duke, and losing to UT, LSU, and Temple.

• NCSU went 0-3 at the 1984 Lady Vol Classic,
  losing to UT, Cincinnati, and George Washington.

• ETSU went 0-3 at the 1986 Volunteer State Invitational,
  losing to UT, MTSU, and Tennessee Tech.

• Tech went 1-2 at the 1987 Lady Vol Invitational,
  defeating UT, and losing to Florida and Pittsburgh.

• ETSU went 0-3 at the 2003 Lady Vol Classic,
  losing to UT, Michigan, and Cal State Fullerton.

• ETSU went 2-2 at the 2013 Lady Vol Classic,
  defeating UT and Austin Peay, and losing to Wichita State and VCU

• ETSU went 2-1 at the 2019 Tennessee Classic,
  losing to UT, and defeating Georgia Southern and North Dakota State.

By the way, what’s will all the tournament names?! No matter what the name, Tennessee is 114-2-46 all-time in home tournaments. Since 2001, the team is 55-11. And since 2015, the Lady Vols have an unblemished 22-0 record.

It’s no surprise that three Bucs from nearby ETSU will have something of a homecoming this week — Sydney Cherney played at Farragut High School, Jenna Forster at William Blount, and Olivia Cunningham at Catholic. However, a Red Raider’s homecoming will be a bit more of a commute. In her senior year, Hardin Valley Academy’s Alex Kirby will get a chance to play in front of her hometown crowd one more time.

UT’s Emily Merrick and ETSU’s Caroline Dykes won the 2018 Texas 6A Championship when they were teammates at Flower Mound High School.

2020 STATISTICS

	win-loss record	aces per set	assists per set	blocks per set	digs per set	kills per set	hitting percent	opp hit percent
	12-8	0.85	11.68	2.41	14.84	13.21	.236	.203
	7-13	1.17	11.62	1.91	14.53	12.58	.220	.249
	7-9	1.47	11.47	1.88	15.07	12.05	.186	.230
	8-9	1.30	11.56	1.69	14.48	12.54	.199	.212

Tickets are available online for $5.

Be sure to look over Thompson Boling Arena’s clear bag policy.

Parking and other gameday information can be found online as well.

Knoxville TN
TENNESSEE CLASSIC
TEXAS TECH Friday, August 27th, 7:00pm ET	Stats | Video
ETSU Saturday, August 28th, 12:30pm ET	Stats | Video
NORTH CAROLINA STATE Saturday, August 28th, 6:30pm ET	Stats | Video

The official beginning of the 2021 season begins a week from today, but there are a couple of ways you can get a head start.

Brian Rice interviewed head coach Eve Rackham Watt on 99.1 WNML here in Knoxville yesterday, where they discussed the crazy last season, the shortened offseason, the newcomers, the returners, and expectations for 2021.

The Lady Vols have two exhibition matches open to the public this weekend. The first is tonight at 6pm vs Appalachian State. The next is an Orange vs White scrimmage Saturday afternoon at 12:30pm.

The coaches of the SEC have picked Tennessee 4th in the league in their annual preseason poll. That’s UT’s second highest placing since 2014 when the SEC removed divisions from the standings. Defending national champion Kentucky earned the top spot. Florida, the only other team to receive first place votes, is second but just by a single point. And LSU, and finishing eighth in the league last season, jumps all the way up to third.

1. Kentucky (7) – 139
2. Florida (6) – 138
3. LSU – 118
4. Tennessee – 100
5. Arkansas – 98
6. South Carolina – 93
7. Texas A&M – 77
8. Georgia – 67
8. Missouri – 67
10. Alabama – 43
11. Mississippi – 32
12. Mississippi State – 30
13. Auburn – 12

The first poll of the season has been released, and Tennessee makes an appearance. The Lady Vols are receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Counting out the rankings past 25, Tennessee is an unofficial #35.

UT has a tough schedule ahead. They face five of the top ten teams in the country (#3 Kentucky, #6 Florida, #8 Purdue, #9 Pittsburgh, and #10 Baylor).

Other SEC teams receiving votes: Missouri, LSU, and Arkansas. Future SEC member Texas is #1.

With just 15 days until first serve, here is a roundup of news, both recent and some from the summer I haven’t posted yet.

• Season tickets are available online now for just $30 for 15 home matches.

• The Lady Vols will appear on television at least seven times this season, three times on ESPNU and four times on the SEC Network.

TENNESSEE ON TV IN 2021
	Arkansas	Sunday September 26th 12pm
	Auburn	Wednesday September 29th 8pm
	at Texas A&M	Sunday October 3rd 1pm
	at LSU	Sunday October 24th 3pm
	Kentucky	Wednesday October 27th 6pm
	Mississippi	Sunday November 7th 2pm
	at Missouri	Wednesday November 24th 8pm

• An NCAA article ranks the top ten preseason volleyball teams heading into the new season. Hopefully UT is prepared — the team will be facing five of the top ten this season! (#4 Florida, #6 Kentucky, #7 Pittsburgh, #8 Purdue, and #10 Baylor)

• Tennessee was one of seven fellow SEC schools to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2020-21 season. The award “honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.30”.

• Congrats to Ava Bell on being named to the 2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-District III Women’s Volleyball First Team!

• Congrats to JaKya Moore on being named to the 2020-21 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll!

• In addition to the previously announced newcomers to Rocky Top, several more were announced during the offseason. (I’m hoping to have more before the season starts!)

Huge congratulations to former Lady Vol Kelsey Robinson and the rest of USA Volleyball on bringing home the Gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics! This is Robinson’s second Olympic medal. She earned a Bronze at the 2016 games. A soon-to-be-updated history of Lady Vols at the Olympics is online here at TennesseeVolleyball.net.

It’s August, which means volleyball season is about to get under way! The team will gather for official practices within the next week, and the season itself will begin in 25 days. Season tickets are on sale now for $30.

I’m in the process of updating things around here for 2021, so start checking back often!