For the next few days we’ll look back at the careers of the seniors leaving Rocky Top this year. First up is Emily Steinbeck, a transfer who gave Tennessee something that had been missing for awhile — upperclassman leadership at setter. For a few years after the school career assists leader and All-American Julie Knytych graduated in 2005, the Lady Vols had some issues at the position, losing five setters for various reasons. Emily Steinbeck is the first senior setter at UT since Knytych. And the results on the court seem to show how important an experienced setter can be.

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Tennessee stayed put in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll at #21. The Lady Vols are on the verge of matching their longest single season streak of weeks in the poll.

WEEKS RANKED SINGLE SEASON		CONSECUTIVE WEEKS RANKED SINGLE SEASON		CONSECUTIVE WEEKS RANKED TOTAL
1983	14	1983	14	1982 – 1984	19
2004	14	2004	14	2004 – 2005	17
2010	13	2010	13	2009 – 2010	15
2006	8	2006	8	2005 – 2006	11
2005	7	1982, 1985, 2005, 2005	3	1985	3

• With LSU’s loss to Kentucky yesterday, Florida has won at least a share of the SEC Championship. The Gators have now won the SEC 19 out of the past 20 years.

• The Knoxville News Sentinel has articles featuring Nikki Fowler and Leah Hinkey and Emily Steinbeck.

• The early signing period is almost over and UT has announced three of their commitments. The article features a video from Coach Rob Patrick discussing Tiffany Baker, Shealyn Kolosky, and Nikki Brice.

• Updating last week’s piece about UT recruits in state playoffs: Junior Bianca Arrellano and Xavier College Preparatory won their state championship, while Nikki Brice and Troy High School have won their first two matches in the tournament.

• AVCA Director Kathy DeBoer blogged about her recent visit to a Lady Vols match where she observed what goes into producing a volleyball game for TV. She also spoke with Lady Vol AD Joan Cronan about sports broadcasters.

• Several new filtering options have been added to the player match books in the past few weeks. I’ve also added a team view so you can see and sort the stats from all the players’ performances in 2010.

The Lady Vols made quick work of the Razorbacks in three (25-17, 25-15, 25-15) on a day the team saluted the seniors. Tennessee held Arkansas to a .000 hitting percentage — their best effort in that category on the season. Nikki Fowler led both teams with 12 kills. She also had 7 digs and had 3 blocks. Leslie Cikra had the second most kills among both teams with 8. She hit a .467 and added in 3 blocks. Kelsey Robinson had 6 kills. With no errors on the afternoon and 5 kills on 8 swings, Kayla Jeter hit .625. Leah Hinkey had 5 kills and 4 blocks. DeeDee Harrison also had 5 kills but with 3 blocks. Kylann Scheidt had 20 assists while Emily Steinbeck was right behind with 16.

STATS | UT STORY & VIDEO | UARK STORY

Today is Senior Day at Thompson Boling Arena, and three Lady Vol Seniors will be making their final swings, passes, sets, blocks, and serves in front of the home crowd. The match will be televised on CSS. More game info, including a video from the seniors, is online at the official site. The match begins at 2:00pm. Several promotions and events are going on today:

• The first 400 fans will receive Lady Vol trading cards.
• Kids 12 and under will receive a voucher for a free hot dog and drink
• Show your ticket from yesterday’s homecoming football victory over Mississippi and get in free.
• Head Coach Rob Patrick will give a “Chalk Talk” to fans 45 minutes before the match in the Ray Mears Room at TBA (ask an usher).

LEAH HINKEY

Today’s match will be the 58th time Hinkey has played at home. The team is 41-16 at home when she is on the court. She has 204 kills on 1,028 attacks for a .304 hitting percentage in those matches. Hinkey has put up 15 assists, served up 24 aces, dug up 77 balls, and knocked down 258 blocks in Knoxville games.

NIKKI FOWLER

Fowler will be playing in her 57th match at home today. The team is 42-14 in those matches so far. She has 761 kills on 1,971 attacks for a .258 hitting percentage in Knoxville. Fowler’s put up 68 assists, served up 32 aces, dug up 622 balls, and knocked down 141 blocks in front of the home crowd. 31 of her 50 double doubles have been at home.

EMILY STEINBECK

Steinbeck, who transferred to the Knoxville campus from Martin for her junior year, will be in front of the home crowd for the 23rd time today. The team is 18-4 with her doing setting duties at home. She has assisted a kill 409 times, served an ace 14 times, and dug up a ball 116 times here in Knoxville.

In another tight match with LSU, the Lady Vols can’t put the pieces in place to get the win, falling in four (18-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-21). More soon.

UPDATE: Tennessee out-hit, out-blocked, and scored the same number of total points as LSU but it wasn’t quite enough. Just a four point swing would have given UT the match. In fact, just a 14 point swing over the entire season and Tennessee is 26-1!

Kelsey Robinson earned a double double with 16 kills and 14 digs. Leah Hinkey had 7 blocks. Kayla Jeter had 13 kills, 9 digs, and 4 blocks. Nikki Fowler had 9 kills. DeeDee Harrison had 8 kills and 5 blocks. Leslie Cikra put down 4 blocks. Emily Steinbeck led the team with 24 assists while Kylann Scheidt had 21.

STATS | UT STORY & VIDEO | LSU STORY

Be sure to check out the official UT notes, my post about these matches from earlier this year, and the recaps for much more information.

• The Lady Vols are 17-32 vs LSU all time and 3-7 in the last 10 meetings. LSU is looking to continue their 3 match winning streak this weekend.

• Last time this season vs LSU: Tennessee lost in a tight four set match (25-23, 30-28, 23-25, 25-20). Nikki Fowler reached the 4,000 attack mark with 18 kills on 60 swings. Kayla Jeter had 13 kills and Leah Hinkey had 12. Kelsey Robinson had 25 digs. Hinkey had 4 blocks, while DeeDee Harrison, Leslie Cikra, and Carly Sahagian had 3 each. Kelsey Mahoney had 31 assists and Emily Steinbeck had 21.

• The Lady Vols are 13-14 vs Arkansas all time and 8-2 in the last 10 meetings. Tennessee is on a 6 match winning streak in the series.

• Last time this season vs Arkansas: The Lady Vols fell into a 0-2 deficit to Arkansas before storming back to win the next 3. Nikki Fowler tied for the third most kills of her career with 24 and hit .440. Kelsey Robinson dug up 27 balls — tying for the second most by a freshman in UT history. Kayla Jeter had 18 kills. Leah Hinkey had 11 kills, and 4 blocks. DeeDee Harrison had 9 kills and 5 blocks. Leslie Cikra had 9 kills as well, while hitting .421. All three setters reached double digit assists.

• UT is 1-4 this season vs ranked teams.

• Tennessee is 11-2 under Coach Rob Patrick in regular season home finales.

#15 LSU (22-2, 13-2)
Game time is Friday, November 12th at 3:30pm ET in Knoxville
Follow the match with GameTracker or free video
LSU match notes (PDF)

Arkansas (13-13, 7-8)
Game time is Sunday, November 14th at 2:00pm ET in Knoxville
Follow the match with GameTracker or on TV channel CSS
UARK match notes (PDF)

UPDATED

The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2010 season. The national stats rank 328 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.

POLLS	NATIONAL	SEC
AVCA Poll	21st (+1)	3rd (nc)
Volleyball Magazine Poll	20th (nr)	3rd (nr)
Pablo Rankings	22nd (+1)	2nd (+1)
RichKern.com Poll	20th (nc)	3rd (nc)
RPI	15th (-2)	3rd (-1)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS
ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	KILLS	HIT%
287th (+1)	9th (+3)	47th (+1)	152th (+4)	6th (nc)	7th (-1)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES
ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	KILLS	HIT%	OPP HIT%
10th (+1)	1st (nc)	4th (nc)	4th (+1)	1st (nc)	1st (nc)	3rd (nc)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES
ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	KILLS	HIT%
9th (+1)	2nd (nc)	2nd (+3)	4th (nc)	2nd (nc)	2nd (nc)
OPP ACES	OPP ASSISTS	OPP BLOCKS	OPP DIGS	OPP KILLS	OPP HIT%
1st (nc)	3rd (nc)	1st (+2)	3rd (+1)	3rd (nc)	3rd (nc)

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
BLOCKS	Leah Hinkey	71st (+25)
DIGS	Kelsey Robinson	233rd (+15)
KILLS	Nikki Fowler	85th (-9)
KILLS	Kayla Jeter	236th (+5)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leah Hinkey	30th (+6)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Nikki Fowler	135th (-17)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	DeeDee Harrison	167th (+58)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Kayla Jeter	176th (+6)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leslie Cikra	224th (nc)
POINTS	Nikki Fowler	99th (-9)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES
ASSISTS	Kelsey Mahoney	9th (nc)
BLOCKS	Leah Hinkey	4th (+1)
DIGS	Kelsey Robinson	8th (+1)
KILLS	Nikki Fowler	4th (-1)
KILLS	Kayla Jeter	12th (-1)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leah Hinkey	3rd (+2)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Nikki Fowler	10th (nc)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	DeeDee Harrison	11th (+7)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Kayla Jeter	12th (+3)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leslie Cikra	16th (+1)
POINTS	Nikki Fowler	4th (-1)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES
ACES	Kelsey Robinson	9th (-2)
ASSISTS	Emily Steinbeck	7th (nc)
BLOCKS	Leah Hinkey	5th (+1)
DIGS	Kelsey Robinson	6th (+1)
KILLS	Nikki Fowler	5th (-1)
KILLS	Kayla Jeter	7th (-1)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leah Hinkey	3rd (+1)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Nikki Fowler	10th (nc)

(nc) = no change   (nr) = not ranked   (+/-) = change from last week

All three seniors started at Tennessee in different years. So we’ll need to jump around the Tennessee archives a bit to do it, but today we’re going to look at the seniors as they were before ever donning the orange and white — in words and pictures! We’ll check out some of their pre-UT accomplishments, see what Coach Patrick had to say about them before they hit the court, and hear some of their thoughts back then.

LEAH HINKEY

Hinkey came to Tennessee in 2006 from Glenwood Springs CO. Her high school team made the state tournament three times and she was an All-State player. Her club team qualified for the Junior Olympic National Championships. PrepVolleyball.com listed her 74th in the country on their Senior Aces list. Her recruiting class was named the 8th best in the country.

Coach Patrick: “Leah attacks the ball off of one foot as well as anyone I’ve seen coming out of high school. Her quickness in attacking the ball will cause opposing defenses some problems. She is also a highly skilled blocker. She is someone who has the potential to be the same type of player that Kristen Andre was.”

Coach Patrick: “The graduation of All-American Kristen Andre left a huge hole in our middle hitter position, but Leah has the athletic ability and skill to fill those shoes. She is very fast off one foot running the slides and has a great arm swing as well as a great feel for the game when she is hitting. She comes to our program with a lot of quality training from her club, which will allow her to challenge for playing time very early in her career.”

Hinkey’s quotes: What she did over the summer: “I went to nationals with my club volleyball team in June and came to Knoxville two days later to start working out with the team.” What surprised her about Knoxville: “Everything is orange. Even the McDonald’s is orange!” What class she is most excited about: “I just finished a psychology class this summer that I really liked and am looking forward to my sociology class this fall.”

NIKKI FOWLER

Fowler started her Lady Vol career in 2007. At Plano West High School in Texas her team made the Regional Finals and Semi-Finals during her time there and she was named All-State twice. Her club teams finished 3rd and 17th at the Junior Olympics. She was ranked #14 in the country on the PrepVolleyball.com Senior Aces List.

Coach Patrick: “Nikki is one of the best volleyball athletes that we have been able to recruit to Tennessee. She has a tremendous amount of physical ability as well as volleyball skill. She has also received some great coaching with her club team and we feel that she will play a significant role early in her career, either at the right side or on the outside for us. She has the potential to be a six-rotation player for us. Once Nikki gets into our weightlifting program, she will make a huge impact on our team both offensively and defensively.”

Coach Patrick: “I’m very excited about Nikki joining our program, as she brings a very high level of club experience into her play as a freshman. That will help her adapt to the college game quickly. She is in a position to challenge for a starting position this year. She can play all six rotations and be effective in the back row, not only passing and defending, but as an offensive option. She comes into our program as a middle hitter, but she has the ability to be effective on the outside as well. Just like any freshman, some of her biggest gains will be when she gets stronger through our weight program. That’s when she will really blossom.”

EMILY STEINBECK

Steinbeck joined the team in 2009 as a transfer from UT Martin. She split setting duties there as a freshman before becoming the primary setter her sophomore year. She had 1,291 total assists with the Skyhawks. During her final year there she led the team with 8.45 assists per set, was 2nd in total aces, and was 3rd in digs. Before that she had a successful high school and club career, with several deep runs in the state tournament at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights IL, three All-Area awards, and a 10th place club finish at Nationals.

Coach Patrick: “Emily is an athletic, physical setter, who has been very productive at UT-Martin over the last two seasons. She will come in and immediately provide us with a physical presence at the setter position. She is quick, accustomed to hard work and is somebody that has the personality and work ethic of the type of player that we like to have setting for us.”

Steinbeck’s quotes: “My transition to the University of Tennessee has been seamless and I’ve felt right at home from the second I got on campus. I came to Knoxville in early July to attend the second session of summer school and the girls on the team welcomed me and made it an easy move. During the summer school session I did all my studying at the Thornton Center, which is a very beautiful building. The tutors at Thornton are outstanding and I really appreciate how friendly and accommodating they have been. I am also very impressed with the coaching staff and the strength and conditioning team. They do a very good of pushing you to your maximum without exceeding your limits. Coach Patrick’s record speaks for itself and when you are part of his practices you realize how much he knows about the game of volleyball. He will make you into the best volleyball player you can be.”

It’s hard to believe but this weekend will be the last time the Lady Vol seniors play in front of the home crowd. This season has seemed to fly by faster than most. I started this website 4 years ago, so this is the first class I’ve been writing about since the beginning. (Though in reality only Nikki Fowler actually started that year. Leah Hinkey came to Tennessee a year earlier and redshirted a season, while Emily Steinbeck was a transfer student who joined the squad last year.) This Sunday is Senior Day. Each of the three seniors has contributed a lot to the team’s success the past few years and I hope a big crowd comes out to show them how much we appreciate them. Over the next week and a half we’ll be looking back over their time on Rocky Top.

It may be a little early but the Lady Vols are already racking up some major team statistical milestones. We’ll focus on a few of those in today’s recap.

• Tennessee is now 29-12 all-time vs Alabama and 39-7 all-time vs Mississippi State.

• Tennessee got their 20th win this weekend. It is the 19th time they’ve reached that milestone in program history and the 8th time under Coach Rob Patrick.

• The Lady Vols got their 20th win in their 25th match of the season. That is the 4th fastest the team has ever reached win #20.

FASTEST TO 20 WINS
1973	20th win in match #20
2004	20th win in match #22
1982	20th win in match #24
1979, 1983, 2000, 2010	20th win in match #25

• With 2 more wins the team will break into the top ten on the school season wins list.

• With only 5 losses on the year and with only 4 matches remaining (and a probable tournament bid), Tennessee will not have more that 10 losses at season’s end. The Lady Vols have now had 10 or fewer losses 12 times in program history and 8 times under Coach Patrick. This is the 3rd season in a row they’ve achieved that feat.

• The season is not over but the team has already recorded 15 sweeps of their opponents so far this year. They’ve only managed better than that twice in the past 25 years: 2004 and 2005, the two seasons they made their deepest move in the NCAA Tournament.

• If the Lady Vols win the last 4 regular season matches they will:
  – tie the school SEC regular season wins total with 16.
  – tie for 3rd most home wins in school history with 13.
  – tie for the 2nd fewest home losses in a season with 1.

Career highs matched or exceeded (excluding freshmen):

• Leslie Cikra: assists and block solos

• Nikki Fowler: assists (in a 3 set match)

• DeeDee Harrison: hitting percentage (5-9 attempts), assists

• Leah Hinkey: assists

• Kayla Jeter: aces (in a 3 set match)

Tennessee took a step up in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll to #21.

WEEKS RANKED SINGLE SEASON		CONSECUTIVE WEEKS RANKED SINGLE SEASON		CONSECUTIVE WEEKS RANKED TOTAL
1983	14	1983	14	1982 – 1984	19
2004	14	2004	14	2004 – 2005	17
2010	12	2010	12	2009 – 2010	14
2006	8	2006	8	2005 – 2006	11
2005	7	1982, 1985, 2005, 2005	3	1985	3

Congratulations to DeeDee Harrison who was named the UT Lady Vol Athlete of the Week!

“Harrison’s award marks the first time in her young career that she has been honored for her play on the court. The 6-3 middle blocker performed her role to a “T” this weekend, putting the volleyball away at an astounding rate, recording kills on 68.2 percent of her swings with 15 putaways on just 22 attempts. Even more impressive was the fact that she had just two hitting errors and finished with a remarkable .591 attack average for the weekend. Harrison added six blocks in the two matches as well.”

Congratulations to Kelsey Robinson who was named the SEC Freshman of the Week! This is her second time being honored.

“Robinson helped the Lady Vols sweep a pair of road matches at Alabama and Mississippi State. The 6-2 outside hitter scooped up 32 attacks for an average of 5.33 digs per set in the two victories. She also added weekend totals of 13 kills, three blocks, one assist and an ace, and flawlessly handled all 20 serves that came her way. Against Alabama on Friday, Robinson missed a double-double by the narrowest of margins, recording nine kills with a solid .318 hitting percentage in addition to a match-high 17 digs and three blocks. Her block total tied her career high, while the kill and dig totals both marked her best effort in a three-set match to date. Just two days later, she topped the UT squad in digs for the 15th time this year and 10th time in the last 11 contests with 15 scoops to go along with four kills, a service ace and an assist.”

The Lady Vols get their 6th straight victory and their 15th sweep of the season with a victory over Mississippi State (25-17, 25-18, 25-15). I’ll have more, but probably not until much later tonight.