For the fourth year in a row, Tennessee volleyball is hosting a “Dig for the Cure” event to raise money for and awareness of the fight against breast cancer. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to show their support — those doing so will gain free admission to the match as well. There will be a Victory March, free shirts to the first 250 fans, and a silent auction. Check the official website for details.
Let’s bring some statistics into this — it’s what I do!
DIG FOR THE CURE MATCHES 2008 3-0 win vs Auburn raised over $1000 2009 3-0 win vs Auburn raised over $1000 2010 3-0 win vs Auburn raised over $1300 2011 vs Alabama ??? Fans who show their UT vs. Georgia football ticket will get into either volleyball game for free.
Kids who wear their school or club volleyball jersey on Sunday will receive free admission to the match. (Though technically I think kids are free on all Sunday matches! So bring the non-volleyball playing siblings too!) After the match the team will host a free clinic for kids eighth grade and under. Check the official website for how to pre-register.
Also on Sunday kids 12 and under will receive a free hot dog and small drink.
Coach Patrick will host a pre-match “Chalk Talk” 45 minutes before both matches this weekend. They take place in the Ray Mears Room at TBA — ask an usher for directions.
Vballworld is running a series of articles where they rank the freshman around the country by position. This week Shealyn Kolosky was listed at #5 on the freshman middle blockers list. As of last week she had 83 kills, 1.60 kills per set, a .335 hitting percentage, and 0.35 blocks per set.
The Lady Vols are 29-12 all time vs Alabama and 6-4 in their last 10 meetings. Tennessee has an 8-2 lead in their last 10 meetings here in Knoxville.
Tennessee has a 37-6 advantage all time vs Mississippi and is 8-2 in their last 10 meetings. At home, the Lady Vols lead 9-1 in their last 10.
Tennessee has a 6 match winning streak going against both Alabama and Mississippi.
There have been only 5 five set matches in the entire series with Alabama. While the Lady Vols are 3-2 in those matches, the last time time they won one of them was 20 years ago.
There have been only 7 five set matches in the entire series with Mississippi. While the Lady Vols are 4-3 in those matches, they’ve only won one of them in the last 20 years.
In 2010, Mississippi was one of only two teams to hold Tennessee to under a .200 hitting percentage during a match. #3 Florida was the other.
Mississippi Head Coach Joe Getzin was the volleyball coach of Kelsey Robinson’s high school, St. Francis in Wheaton IL, in the mid 1980’s.
One of Mississippi’s graduate assistants is former Lady Vol Chloe Goldman. Arguably the best defensive player in UT history, Goldman holds nearly every single digs record on the books. She was named the SEC Libero of the Year and an All-Ameraican in 2009.
The Lady Vols have won 6 SEC matches in a row this year. And it’s 9 in a row dating back to last season. In regular season conference play that’s the second best on record in school history (the team had 11 in a row from 2003-2004). Counting SEC Tournament matches it’s also the second best streak (UT had 10 in a row from 1984-1985).
Random note of the week: Tennessee had only 2 home matches in the entire month of September. Luckily that doesn’t happen too often. Not counting the short volleyball months of August and December, we’ve only had 4 previous months since 2001 with as few home matches. In November 2004, September 2009, and November 2010 the schedule worked out that way, and in 2001 the terrorist attacks cancelled the Lady Vol Classic giving us only 2 September home games.
Alabama (9-8, 2-4)
UT leads all time series 29-12.
UT won the last meeting 3-0.
Game time is Friday, October 7th at 7:00pm ET
Follow the match: Gametracker | free live videoMississippi (5-9, 1-5)
UT leads all time series 37-6.
UT won the last meeting 3-0.
Game time is Sunday, October 9th at 1:30pm ET
Follow the match: Gametracker | free live videoOfficial match notes: Alabama | Mississippi | Tennessee
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES TEAMS ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS HIT% KILLS OPP HIT% 3rd 1st 5th 4th 3rd 1st 1st 4th 8th 10th 8th 8th 7th 9th 11th 11th 2nd 11th 9th 10th 2nd
highest ranked team middle ranked team lowest ranked team UPDATED
The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2011 season. The national stats rank 322 teams and the top 250 players in each category. All stats (except hitting percentage) are “per set”, not totals. I’ve also listed Tennessee’s rank in the polls. Click the underlined links to see the full season’s national rankings charted week-to-week.
moved UP from last week stayed EVEN with last week moved DOWN from last week
POLLS NATIONAL SEC AVCA Poll 19th ↑4 2nd –0 RichKern.com Poll 18th –0 2nd –0 Pablo Rankings 9th ↑5 2nd –0 Volleyball Magazine Poll 20th –0 2nd –0 RKPI 6th ↑3 1st –0
NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS HIT% KILLS 112th
↑1920th
↑15116th
↑18117th
↑516th
↑310th
↑13
NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS ACES Kelsey Robinson 16th ↑8 ASSISTS Mary Pollmiller 8th ↑2 BLOCKS DeeDee Harrison 147th ↑NR DIGS Ellen Mullins 227th ↑10 HITTING PERCENTAGE Carly Sahagian 110th ↓23 HITTING PERCENTAGE Shealyn Kolosky 129th ↓26 KILLS Kelsey Robinson 7th ↓1 POINTS Kelsey Robinson 4th –0
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS HIT% KILLS OPP HIT% 4th
–02nd
↑18th
–05th
–02nd
–01st
↑14th
–0
SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES ACES Kelsey Robinson 1st ↑2 ASSISTS Mary Pollmiller 1st ↑1 BLOCKS DeeDee Harrison 7th ↑NR DIGS Ellen Mullins 6th ↑3 HITTING PERCENTAGE Carly Sahagian 7th –0 HITTING PERCENTAGE Shealyn Kolosky 8th ↑1 HITTING PERCENTAGE Leslie Cikra 9th ↑NR KILLS Kelsey Robinson 1st –0 POINTS Kelsey Robinson 1st –0
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS HIT% KILLS OPP HIT% 3rd
↓21st
–05th
↓13rd
↓23rd
–01st
↑11st
↑2
SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES ACES Kelsey Robinson 1st –0 ASSISTS Mary Pollmiller 1st ↑1 BLOCKS DeeDee Harrison 1st ↑2 BLOCKS Leslie Cikra 6th ↑NR DIGS Ellen Mullins 3rd ↑2 HITTING PERCENTAGE DeeDee Harrison 6th ↑NR KILLS Kelsey Robinson 1st ↑1 POINTS Kelsey Robinson 1st –0 POINTS Leslie Cikra 7th ↑NR
UT has a nice feature piece about the two contrasting sides of Kelsey Robinson’s personality — the fierce competitor on the court vs the class clown off the court.
Congratulations (again!) to Mary Pollmiller who was named a National Top Performer by CVU.com
It really does not feel like we’re half way through the regular season, but here we are. And that means it’s time to put undue pressure on people by looking ahead to who could get into the record books! Remember this is all speculation based on how the players have done so far and extrapolating that out to the rest of the year. In other words — don’t take it too seriously!
(I’ll be looking at overall school records here, not the records broke up by side-out scoring era, 30 point rally scoring era, and 25 point rally scoring era.)
Kelsey Robinson is on pace to demolish the season attacks per set mark set in 1988. Dianne Shoemaker’s 1,303 attempts over 109 sets gave her an 11.95 attacks per set average. Robinson currently has 730 swings during 59 sets for an average of 12.37. Robinson’s attack numbers could also land her near the top of the season total list. She’s 457 away from reaching the top ten. Doubling her current total would land her at #2.
With 279 kills, Robinson is 199 away from the season total kills top ten. And her 4.73 kills per set so far is on track for the 5th best average on school history.
It’s been a long time since someone made a showing on the service ace record lists. But Robinson could be the first in 10 years. She already has 29 aces this year; 36 more would get on onto the top ten list. And her .49 aces per set number would be good enough for #9 on that chart.
While her digs totals are down from last year now that she’s not playing libero, Robinson is still doing very well in that category with 187 digs and 3.17 digs per set — both numbers that could lead to the top 15 in school history.
UT doesn’t keep point records, but using the data I have since 2001 Robinson’s numbers would crush those of any player over the past decade. She currently has 328 points this year. Just 214 more is enough for the top spot. And her 5.56 points per set easily bests the next player’s 4.97.
As a sophomore it is definitely too early to lock in any career records. But as a preview of what could be to come, Robinson’s per set averages in attacks, aces, and digs are already top ten worthy.
Redshirt junior DeeDee Harrison has been in the UT program longer than any current starter. And she’s on track to reach two career records. In her time at Tennessee she is averaging a .300 hitting percentage, the 8th best of all time right now. And with .92 blocks per set she’s just in the top ten in that category so far.
Ellen Mullins could dig her way into two top ten lists. With 216 scoops and 3.66 digs per set this season she’s on pace for #9 finishes in both categories. She could also land in the top ten career lists at the rate she’s going.
As incredible as it sounds, freshman Mary Pollmiller is actually on track to hit the top ten list for career assists this year! If she were to double her current tally of 694, she’d have 1,388 — 26 more than the current #10 career assists leader. Even if she doesn’t get there this season, she’ll easily be there soon. Her 11.76 assists per set so far is in the top 15 yearly totals.
Carly Sahagian (.325), Shealyn Kolosky (.320), and Leslie Cikra (.315) are all vying for spots in the top 20 single season hitting percentage chart. Sahagian’s career mark of .287 is just inside the career top ten list.
While she hasn’t seen a lot of playing time this year, Kelsey Mahoney has already cemented her spot in the record books. She’s currently #7 is career assists and #9 in career assists per set.
Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone.
Congratulations to Mary Pollmiller who picked up her second SEC Freshman of the Week award today! DeeDee Harrison and Carly Sahagian got mentions as “Other Top Performers”. The UT website has more. From the official release:
SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Mary Pollmiller
Posted a double-double of 50 assists and 13 digs in a win over LSU. Reached 50 assists for the ninth time this season
Contributed 37 assists, eight digs and three kills in a win over Arkansas, finished the week with 87 assists and 21 digs
Averaged 12.43 assists per set, pushing her to first in the SEC in that category
Tennessee moved up 4 spots in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll to #19. In other systems: They held stady at #18 in the RichKern.com Poll. The Pablo Rankings have them up 5 spots to #9. And in the RKPI (which attempts to emulate the NCAA RPI) the Lady Vols are all the way up to #6.
The Lady Vols are now 18-33 all time vs LSU and 15-14 vs Arkansas.
Tennessee has never beaten Florida in Gainesville and LSU in Baton Rouge in the same season until this year.
The team is currently on a 9 match winning streak. That ties for the 2nd longest streak during Coach Rob Patrick’s tenure. It’s the 6th longest single season win streak in program history.
SINGLE SEASON WIN STREAKS 1980 22 Bob Bertucci 1973 20 Kaye Hart 2004 14 Rob Patrick 1986 11 Bob Bertucci 1982 11 Bob Bertucci 2011 9 Rob Patrick 2008 9 Rob Patrick 2005 9 Rob Patrick 2004 9 Rob Patrick 2004 9 Rob Patrick 1983 9 Bob Bertucci 1973 9 Kaye Hart At 13-2, the Lady Vols are off to the third best start in school history. (15-0 start in 1973 and 14-1 in 2004.)
UT earned their first victory at LSU since 2000.
The Lady Vols held Arkansas to just 21 kills and 26 points, the 6th and 5th lowest totals of the last decade. They also didn’t allow the Razorbacks a single ace. That’s the 3rd time they’ve done that this year and just the 18th time since 2001.
Tennessee has won 4 consecutive SEC matches on their opponent’s courts for just the second time in school history. Counting matches at neutral locations like the SEC Tournament, UT has won at least 4 consecutive conference matches just 6 times.
Believe it or not we’re exactly halfway through the regular season. And 15 matches into the year the team has only been home for 5 games. That’s nothing new though. In over half of Coach Patrick’s 15 years at Tennessee the team has had 5 or fewer home matches at this point in the season.
The Lady Vols are hitting .272 as a team so far this year. If they keep that pace up they’d have the 3rd best total in school history, behind their .291 last year and a .286 in the first year on record, 1980.
DOUBLE DOUBLES
vs LSU: Kelsey Robinson (kills and digs) and Mary Pollmiller (assists and digs)
CAREER HIGHS MATCHED OR EXCEEDED
Nikki Brice: assists
Jasmine Brown: aces, points
Leslie Cikra: kills (in a 4 set match), assists (in a 4 set match), block assists, total blocks, points (in a 4 set match)
DeeDee Harrison: kills (in a 3 set match), attacks, block assists, total blocks (in a 3 set match), points
Shealyn Kolosky: kills (in a 4 set match), hitting percentage (with 20+ attacks), aces, block assists (in a 4 set match)
Ellen Mullins: assists (in a 4 set match), aces, digs (in a 3 set match), points
Mary Pollmiller: hitting percentage, digs
Kelsey Robinson: aces (in a 3 set match), block assists (in a 3 set match), total blocks (in a 3 set match)
Carly Sahagian: assists (in a 4 set match), digs
The Lady Vols have won 6 in a row in the SEC and their 9th overall match in a row vs Arkansas in a sweep (25-19, 25-16, 25-19). Tennessee has won 4 consecutive regular season SEC matches in their opponent’s gyms for just the second time in school history. More later!
UPDATE: DeeDee Harrison led both sides of the court with 15 kills, 7 blocks, and the highest hitting percentage of those with 10+ attacks, .462. Leslie Cikra and Kelsey Robinson each had 11 kills and 4 blocks. Robinson added 3 aces to her stats while Cikra hit .455. Carly Sahagian had 8 kills. Ellen Mullins was the only player in the match to record double digit digs with 14. Mary Pollmiller put up 37 assists and 8 digs. Shealyn Kolosky served up a career high 2 aces.
Tennessee took care of business again tonight, defeating LSU in Baton Rouge for the first time since 2000 (25-17, 23-25, 25-21, 25-14). The Lady Vols move to 5-0 in conference matches for just the second time in 25 years.
Kelsey Robinson got her 9th 20+ kill match and her 10th double double of the season, with 20 kills and 10 digs. Leslie Cikra had 16 kills while DeeDee Harrison had 10. Both led the team in blocks with 6 each. Shealyn Kolosky and Harrison both hit .350. Mary Pollmiller had 50 assists (the 8th time this year she’s reached that total). Carly Sahagian had a career high night in digs with 23, while Ellen Mullins added 15 more.
UT STORY AND STATS | LSU STORY
UPDATED
The Lady Vols are 17-33 all time vs LSU and 2-8 in their last 10 meetings. LSU has a 4 match winning streak going vs UT. In Baton Rouge, LSU also has an 8-2 series lead in their last 10 meetings.
Tennessee and Arkansas are knotted up at 14 wins a piece in the series, but the Lady Vols are 8-2 in their last 10 meetings. Tennessee currently has a 7 match winning streak over the Razorbacks. In Fayetteville, Tennessee is 6-4 in their last 10 meetings.
It could be a defensive slugfest this weekend as LSU, Arkansas, and Tennessee are 1, 2, and 3 in the SEC in opponent hitting percentage. These three teams are the only ones in the conference holding their fellow SEC foes to under .200.
Tennessee and LSU are the last two teams still undefeated this year in SEC play.
While Florida deservedly gets much of the attention as the tough team to beat in the SEC (especially at their home), LSU has actually given the Lady Vols just as much trouble in recent years. Prior to this season, Tennessee has defeated Florida only 4 times in the last decade. They have also defeated LSU only 4 times in the last decade. But unlike Florida, none of UT’s wins vs the Tigers in that time have come on their court.
The last time Tennessee defeated LSU in Baton Rouge was a 3-1 win in 2000.
Today is the first meeting between the teams since 2004 where Tennessee is ranked while LSU is not. UT swept that match.
Since 1989, LSU and Tennessee are the only two SEC teams besides 19-time champion Florida to have won the conference.
LSU has topped the SEC West 6 years in a row.
Arkansas didn’t start their volleyball program until 1994. But in those 17 years they have been on top of the SEC West 11 times.
The Lady Vols have a 4 match winning streak vs Arkansas in Fayetteville. But the last two of those wins were 5 set matches.
Tennessee has won 11 of their last 13 televised matches. Sunday’s game will be the third televised match between UT and Arkansas in the past two years. The Lady Vols won both those previous games.
Both coaches UT faces this weekend are former coaches at Kentucky. LSU’s Fran Flory was the Wildcats head coach for 5 years in the 1990s. Arkansas’ Robert Pulliza was an associate head coach in Lexington for 3 years in the 2000s.
Random note of the week: Tennessee has forfeited one match in school history, a game vs LSU on October 17, 1982. I’ve done some minor digging but haven’t been able to find out why. Anyone around back then know what happened?
LSU (10-3, 3-0)
LSU leads all time series 33-17.
LSU won the last meeting 3-0.
Game time is Friday, September 30th at 8:00pm ET
Follow the match: live stats | live video (fee required)Arkansas (10-4, 2-1)
All time series tied at 14-14.
UT won the last meeting 3-0.
Game time is Sunday, October 2nd at 2:00pm ET
Follow the match: live stats | TV: SportSouth
A live video stream is available on ESPN3, but may be blacked out based on your location. A live radio stream may be available. Check at game time.Official match notes: LSU | Arkansas | Tennessee
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES TEAMS ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS HIT% KILLS OPP HIT% 1st 1st 4th 5th 3rd 2nd 3rd 5th 2nd 8th 1st 6th 1st 1st 6th 4th 7th 3rd 4th 5th 2nd
highest ranked team middle ranked team lowest ranked team
After several ups and downs, Texas A&M was officially welcomed into the SEC this week. They will begin play beginning in July 2012. While there is still a lot of stuff to work out (scheduling, divisional alignment, a 14th team eventually) here’s a quick look at our new conference rival.
Texas A&M has been playing volleyball since 1975. In the past 36 years they’ve compiled a 877-492-2 record. Playing in the tough Big 12, the Aggies have had ten 20+ win seasons in the fifteen year history of the conference. But the team has never won a conference championship. Their best finish in the polls was at #9 in 1999.
They’ve made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances (1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2009) and have a 22-18 tourney record. Their best performances were in 1999 and 2001 when they made it to the Regional Finals (the Elite Eight).
The Aggies are coached by Laurie Corbelli, who has a 388-189 record in her 19 years at College Station. Corbelli was an accomplished player herself. She was a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympics, an MVP of (the now defunct) Major League Volleyball, and a recipient of USA Volleyball’s All-Time Great Player Award. She’s just as highly regarded as a coach. Corbelli has won 5 conference Coach of the Year awards, is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of USA Volleyball’s Leader in Volleyball Award. Her husband John is the team’s associate head coach.
The Lady Vols have faced Texas A&M 7 times over the years and are 5-2. The most recent match came in Knoxville as part of the NCAA Tournament in 2004. Tennessee won 3-1 (30-21, 24-30, 30-23, 32-30) and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time (since the tournament moved to 64 teams). The other six meetings all occurred in the 1980’s and early 90’s.
The Aggies have had good success vs SEC opponents. Other than Florida and Tennessee, they have winning records against the other 7 teams in the conference they’ve played.
TEXAS A&M vs the SEC 2-0 2-0 0-6 7-3 5-2 22-13 5-0 2-0 2-5 Be sure to check out the official SEC website for more including a landing page with lots of info and a piece with Phil Bush discussing volleyball related topics.
