Because it takes too long when I have to write it out on paper for someone and because it is too long to use practically with Twitter’s 140 character limit, I’ve added another URL you can use to reach this site: TNVB.net. The TennesseeVolleyball.net address and site name are not changing. The new address is just a convenient pointer to this site.

No more speculation required! Tennessee has announced the schedule for the 2011 season. The dates and teams in the previous post were correct. And Louisville (with new assistant Dani Busboom) is on the schedule in November.

• Tennessee will face 11 different teams that made the 2010 NCAA Tournament — 6 non-conference opponents and 5 SEC teams.

• This is just the second season in Lady Vol volleyball history where the team is not scheduled to play an opponent from the state of Tennessee.

• Four of Tennessee’s non-conference opponents this year will be looking for payback after being defeated by the Lady Vols last year.

• The average 2010 RPI of Tennessee’s non-conference opponents this season is 61.5. Two teams were in the top 15, four teams were in the top 40, and eight teams were in the top 80.

Coach Rob Patrick: “We have two goals when we put our schedule together every season. First, we want to use our non-conference schedule to prepare us for success in our SEC matches. Second, we want a schedule that will help us at the end of the season in terms of our RPI so that we can better position ourselves for the NCAA Tournament. After having a really young team last year with three freshmen and two sophomores on the court quite a bit, we feel like we have a pretty experienced team and that allowed us to put together an even more difficult schedule than usual. We will face at least one, if not two, NCAA Tournament teams in every tournament we play in this season. It is important that we have those consistent challenges early in our schedule so that we can learn never to take a match off. The goal is to prepare us for SEC play when any team can win on any given day. We have to be ready to play every single match and, hopefully, our non-conference schedule will teach us that important lesson.”

While Tennessee has not officially announced their schedule for the upcoming season, other schools have. Here’s what we can scrap together so far about some of the out of conference teams it appears the Lady Vols will face before starting SEC play.

August 26-27: Lady Vol Classic, Knoxville TN
   Ohio, Maryland, Villanova

September 2-3: Illini Classic, Champaign IL
   Houston, Dayton, Illinois

September 9-10: Hokie Invite, Blacksburg VA
   American, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech

Assuming Tennessee continues their annual match with Louisville, the Lady Vols would face at least 11 different teams that made the 2010 NCAA Tournament — 6 non-conference opponents and 5 SEC teams.

(These games and dates have not been confirmed by UT so you might want to hold off on hotel reservations!)

The Tennessee volleyball team took home two awards at the 5th Annual Volscars. Congratulations to Nikki Fowler on being named Miss Tennessee and to assistant coach Gregg Whitis for his Best Supporting Staff Member win.

Congratulations to the Patrick family on the birth of their little 2029 recruit, Kensington Grace! Check out the Lady Vol Twitter account for details and a pic.

Congratulations to Kayla Jeter, Leslie Cikra, and Kelsey Robinson who were named to the 2011 U.S. Women’s National A2 Program roster today! Tennessee (along with Texas and Florida) leads all schools in the nation with three team members. According to USA Volleyball, “the program includes training and competition in the 2011 USA Volleyball Open National Championships in the Open Division from May 28-31. USA Volleyball considers the event as the National Championship for the sport of volleyball in the United States… During the training sessions in Dallas, the coaching staff will divide the 36 players into three teams of 12 players to compete in the USA Volleyball Open National Championships.”

Nikki Fowler, one of the most decorated players in Tennessee history, continues to bring in the awards. This week CVU.com named her an Honorable Mention to their All-American list, the Steller Spiker Team. Congratulations!

Here is part two of our look at how Tennessee’s incoming 2011 recruits finished their final season of high school volleyball. Please note that this list is probably not complete. Some states and media outlets are better than others at reporting high school volleyball information. Also keep in mind that some states have a lot more opportunities for awards than others. (I’m not allowed contact with recruit families, but if any fans out there have information I missed feel free to send it along to the email address on the left.)

Mary Pollmiller helped lead Chatfield Senior High School to an 18-4 record before being knocked out of the Colorado 5A district tourney to the eventual state champion.

Awards: All-Conference Team, State All-Star Team, All-State Honorable Mention

Nikki Brice and Troy High School went undefeated in league play and won the Southern California Division II Championship despite playing every match leading to it in their opponents gym. They took an early lead in their first appearance in the State Championship match, but fell short in the end. With 38 digs Brice broke an 18 year old CIF championship match record.

Awards: All-County Third Team, State All-Tournament Team, All-State First Team,

Shealyn Kolosky had a strong senior year personally but as a team Wheaton Warrenville South High School had a disappointing season. They lost in the Illinois 4A regional semifinals.

Awards: All-Area Team, State All-Star Team

Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Whitis was interviewed by The Net Live podcast. Whitis talks about his career, Dani Busboom, the state of UT and SEC volleyball, and recruiting challenges and philosophies. You can catch the show on their website or through iTunes. Whitis’ segment begins around the 40 minute mark.

Congratulations to Rob Patrick who is being inducted into the Miami University Cradle of Coaches Association this weekend. The honor was formally created in 1971 to “acknowledge the role Miamians have played in establishing Miami University as the Cradle of Coaches. While all Miami Alumni who go on to coach or those who have coached at Miami are considered part of the Cradle of Coaches, the Cradle of Coaches Association began inducting individuals into the Association in 1992 to further recognize their accomplishments”. Patrick graduated from the university in 1983 with a degree in business. He played for the school’s club volleyball team and the Redhawks football team. The UT site has quotes, a video, and more.

DeeDee Harrison, Kayla Jeter, Kelsey Robinson, Leslie Cikra, and Kylann Scheidt will be taking part in USA Volleyball’s National Team open tryout later this week at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. A total of 208 athletes are competing for spots on several available teams. More info about the programs from USA Volleyball can be found here. Good luck!

Good luck to Dani Busboom, who has taken a job at Louisville (one of my favorite teams) as their new assistant coach. Busboom joins new head coach Anne Kordes, who replaced the long time former coach Leonid Yelin.

Much later than promised, here is part one of a look at how Tennessee’s incoming 2011 recruits finished their final season of high school volleyball. Please note that this list is probably not complete. Some states and media outlets are better than others at reporting high school volleyball information. Also keep in mind that some states have a lot more opportunities for awards than others. (I’m not allowed contact with recruit families, but if any fans out there have information I missed feel free to send it along to the email address on the left.)

Tiffany Baker helped lead Hebron High School through the Texas 5A playoffs without losing a set. In the state championship match they took the first two sets before falling into a 24-17 hole in the third. Her team then went on a stunning 10-1 run to clinch the title in a sweep.

Awards: All-District MVP, All-Area Player of the Year, State Championship MVP, All-State, Academic All-State, State All-Star Team, State Athlete of the Year, Under Armour All-America First Team, Gatorade Texas Volleyball Player of the Year, ESPN Rise All-America First Team

Alston Kearns and Apex High School capped the school’s first perfect season with their first North Carolina 4-A state championship, beating the two-time defending champion in the semifinals and sweeping a team that won three championships in the past decade in the finale.

Awards: All-Conference First Team, Under Armour Honorable Mention All-America

Kalyn Helton made it back to the Tennessee Class AA state championship after winning it all with Red Bank High School last year. But this time the team they beat in the 2009 finals was able to avenge that loss.

Awards: Region Tournament MVP, Chattanooga Area Player of the Year, All-State

Next week I’ll try to catch up with information on Nikki Brice, Shealyn Kolosky, and Mary Pollmiller.

Congratulations to the nine Lady Vols who were named to the 2010 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll! Of the eleven SEC volleyball schools, only one other team had more players make the list than UT. And Tennessee is the only team in the conference to have at least 5 players on the list every year since 1996. This year’s honorees are: Jasmine Brown, Leslie Cikra, Nikki Fowler, Amanda Friday, DeeDee Harrison, Leah Hinkey, Kayla Jeter, Kelsey Mahoney, and Emily Steinbeck.

Congratulations to Lady Vol recruit Tiffany Baker who was named to the ESPN Rise High School All-America First Team. And congratulations to senior Lady Vol Nikki Fowler as well who earned Volleyball Magazine All-America Third Team honors.