Tennessee’s high school recruits are doing very well in their post season tournaments. I’ll do a more complete writeup in December on their awards and championships. But until then here’s how they are doing so far.
• Alston Kearns and Apex High School won the North Carolina 4-A State Championship.
• Kalyn Helton and Red Bank High School were the Tennessee AA State Champion Runners-up.
• Shealyn Kolosky and Wheaton Warrenville South High School lost in the Illinois 4A regional quarterfinals.
• Tiffany Baker and Hebron High School will play in the Texas 5A regional quarterfinals this week (against current Lady Vol Kelsey Mahoney’s alma mater).
• Nikki Brice and Troy High School are undefeated in league play and will start the California playoffs soon.
• Junior Bianca Arrellano and Xavier College Preparatory play in the Arizona 5A-I State Championship match this week.
The Lady Vols get their 20th win of the year with a three set win at Alabama tonight (25-17, 25-22, 25-22). More later.
Nikki Fowler led both teams with 12 kills. Kelsey Robinson, Leslie Cikra, and Kaya Jeter each had 9. Hinkey led the match with 5 blocks while Robinson led the match with 17 digs. She, along with DeeDee Harrison, added 3 blocks. Emily Steinbeck had 19 assists and Kylann Scheidt had 18.
I’ve been crazy busy the past two days and it continues today. So please forgive these very abbreviated notes. Be sure to check out the official notes from the amazing media department at Tennessee. And here are my previous notes from earlier this season for these games.
• Tennessee is 28-12 all-time vs Alabama. They are tied with 5 wins each in their last 10 matches, though Tennessee comes in with a 5 match winning streak.
• Tennessee is 38-7 all-time vs Mississippi State. They are 9-1 in the last 10 matches and are on a 5 match winning streak.
Alabama (9-14, 1-6)
Game time is Friday, November 5th at 8:00pm EDT in Tuscaloosa AL
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UA match notes (PDF)Mississippi State (11-13, 3-10)
Game time is Sunday, November 7th at 2:30pm EST in Starkville MS
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MSU match notes (PDF)
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES TEAMS ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS KILLS HIT% OPP HIT% UT 10th 2nd 5th 4th 2nd 2nd 3rd UA 11th 5th 10th 3rd 5th 8th 8th MSU 6th 11th 6th 7th 11th 11th 9th
Congratulations to Nikki Fowler who was named to the 2010 College Sports Information Directors of America/ESPN Academic All-District IV first team! Fowler has been named to the All-District first team in all three years she was eligible (honorees must be at least sophomores). She is now eligible for consideration for Academic All-America status. Fowler is a marketing major with a 3.80 GPA. CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program recognizes the “nation’s premier college scholar-athletes for their ability to achieve excellence on the playing field and in the classroom”. More info: full list (PDF)
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 22nd (nc) 3rd (nc) Volleyball Magazine Poll NR NR Pablo Rankings 23rd (+6) 3rd (nc) RichKern.com Poll 20th (+2) 3rd (nc) RPI 13th (+2) 2nd (+1)
NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS KILLS HIT% 288th (-28) 12th (+5) 48th (-7) 156th (+11) 6th (+6) 6th (+3)
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS KILLS HIT% OPP HIT% 11th (-1) 1st (nc) 4th (nc) 5th (+1) 1st (+1) 1st (nc) 3rd (+1)
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS KILLS HIT% 10th (-3) 2nd (nc) 5th (-1) 4th (nc) 2nd (nc) 2nd (nc) OPP ACES OPP ASSISTS OPP BLOCKS OPP DIGS OPP KILLS OPP HIT% 1st (nc) 3rd (+3) 3rd (+2) 4th (+1) 3rd (+2) 3rd (+2)
NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS BLOCKS Leah Hinkey 96th (-22) DIGS Kelsey Robinson 248th (-3) KILLS Nikki Fowler 76th (-5) KILLS Kayla Jeter 241st (-14) HITTING PERCENTAGE Leah Hinkey 36th (+8) HITTING PERCENTAGE Nikki Fowler 118th (+14) HITTING PERCENTAGE Kayla Jeter 182nd (-7) HITTING PERCENTAGE Leslie Cikra 224th (nr) HITTING PERCENTAGE DeeDee Harrison 225th (+14) POINTS Nikki Fowler 90th (-9)
SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES ASSISTS Kelsey Mahoney 8th (nc) BLOCKS Leah Hinkey 5th (-1) DIGS Kelsey Robinson 9th (nc) KILLS Nikki Fowler 3rd (nc) KILLS Kayla Jeter 11th (+1) HITTING PERCENTAGE Leah Hinkey 5th (+1) HITTING PERCENTAGE Nikki Fowler 10th (+1) HITTING PERCENTAGE Kayla Jeter 15th (-3) HITTING PERCENTAGE Leslie Cikra 17th (nr) HITTING PERCENTAGE DeeDee Harrison 18th (nc) POINTS Nikki Fowler 3rd (nc)
SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES ACES Kelsey Robinson 7th (-4) ASSISTS Emily Steinbeck 7th (+2) BLOCKS Leah Hinkey 6th (nr) DIGS Kelsey Robinson 7th (nc) KILLS Nikki Fowler 4th (-1) KILLS Kayla Jeter 6th (nc) HITTING PERCENTAGE Leah Hinkey 4th (+2) HITTING PERCENTAGE Nikki Fowler 10th (nr) (nc) = no change (nr) = not ranked (+/-) = change from last week
• Tennessee is now 13-7 vs Louisville all-time, 26-13-1 vs Auburn, and 39-24 vs Georgia.
• There were several Highs and Lows this week:
– held to season lows for blocking, vs Louisville and Auburn
– held Auburn to (at least a tie of) a school history low zero blocks
– first time since November 2008 team did not get a single ace, vs Auburn
– highest team hitting percentage since 2005, vs Auburn
– lowest attack error total of season, vs Auburn
– tied for the most service errors of the year, vs Louisville
– season high in digs, vs Louisville
– second most kills and assists of year, vs Louisville
– season low home attendance, vs Louisville
– most players with double doubles (3) in one match this season, vs Louisville• The 922 fans at the Georgia match pushed Tennessee over it’s previous total home attendance record. The new tally stands at 11,613 with two home games still to go.
Record updates:
• Nikki Fowler moved up to #4 on the UT career kills list. She also moved into the SEC top ten for career attacks at #10. Not strictly a record, but she also reached the 50 double double milestone vs Louisville.Double doubles:
• Nikki Fowler vs Louisville (kills and digs)• Kelsey Robinson vs Louisville (kills and digs)
• Kylann Scheidt vs Louisville (assists and digs)
Career highs matched or exceeded (excluding freshmen):
• Leslie Cikra: kills (in a three set match), digs (in a four set match), block solos, block assists, and points (in a three set match)• Nikki Fowler: hitting percentage (10-19 attempts)
• DeeDee Harrison: hitting percentage (10-19 attempts), digs (in a four set match), and block assists (in a three set match)
• Leah Hinkey: assists (in a three set match)
• Kayla Jeter: digs (in a four set match) and block solos
• Emily Steinbeck: assists (in a three set match), assists (in a four set match), aces (in a four set match), and points (in a four set match)
After a 3-11 conference start, and a sweep by Tennessee yesterday, Georgia has announced that four-year head coach Joel McCartney “has been relieved of his coaching duties effectively immediately”. With the previously announced retirement of Alabama’s Judy Green there will be two new coaches in the SEC when the 2011 season begins.
Congratulations to Nikki Fowler on being named the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week!
The Lady Vols stayed put in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll at #22. Tennessee’s 11 weeks in the poll so far this year ranks as the third most in school history.
WEEKS RANKED – SINGLE SEASON 1983 14 2004 14 2010 11 2006 8 2005 7 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS RANKED – SINGLE SEASON 1983 14 2004 14 2010 11 2006 8 1982, 1985, 2005, 2005 3 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS RANKED – TOTAL 1982 – 1984 19 2004 – 2005 17 2009 – 2010 13 2005 – 2006 11 1985 3
The Lady Vols get the win vs Georgia tonight in 3 (25-20, 25-19, 25-13). I’m on Halloween duty with the kids tonight so there may not be another update here until tomorrow.
The Lady Vols took out Auburn this evening 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-16). More tonight.
UPDATE: Leslie Cikra led in kills for Tennessee tonight with 10 while hitting .474. Leah Hinkey and DeeDee Harrison were just behind with 9 — both also hit .571 for the match. Hinkey had 3 blocks as well. Kelsey Robinson had 8 kills and digs and hit .389. Kayla Jeter had 6 kills and digs as well as 3 blocks. Nikki Fowler had 5 kills and led the match in digs with 13. Kylann Scheidt led in assists with 22. Emily Steinbeck had 15. Libero Ellen Mullins had 7 digs. The team reached a season high, hitting an incredible .423, with just 7 errors on almost 100 swings. Tennessee did not allow Auburn a single block — if I’m not mistaken, that has not been done by UT since at least 2002 (as far back as I have data). The only negative to the dominating win is that this marked the first time since November 2008 that the team did not serve up a single ace.
Coach Rob Patrick was a guest on the Doc, Jeff, & Heather in the Morning show on local radio station WNML this morning. Among the topics discussed: the underclassmen in the line-up and their growing experience, Nikki Fowler’s place in Tennessee history, Kayla Jeter’s impact, SEC scheduling, and the weekend match-ups and promotions. Archives of the show should be on the radio station’s website sometime today in the 9:00am to 9:30am segments. (Be sure to listen soon — recordings may be deleted to make way for Monday’s show.)
There is a lot going on this weekend in addition to the volleyball matches — a “Victory Walk”, a silent auction, trick-or-treat, and much more. Rather than try to get it all in here, just check out the official UT gameday information page. There are several ways to get in free or at a reduced cost this weekend, and other cool promotions and events as well so be sure to check them all out.
• The Lady Vols are 25-13-1 all time vs Auburn and 8-2 in their last 10 meetings. Tennessee is looking to extend their last win into a 2 match winning streak.
• Auburn has only won once in Knoxville since 1997.
• Half the matches played between Auburn and Tennessee since 1994 have been sweeps by one team or the other.
• Last time vs Auburn: Tennessee won the previous match this season 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 25-19). Nikki Fowler had 18 kills and set the school record for career attacks. DeeDee Harrison had 12 kills and 3 blocks. Leah Hinkey had 3 blocks and hit .471. Kayla Jeter had 15 kills while hitting .519. She also played significant time in the back row for the first time to replace an injured Kelsey Robinson. The Lady Vols hit .421 as a team, still good for their highest hitting percentage of the year.
• AU players to watch: Sophomore Sarah Bullock leads the Tigers with 2.92 kills per set while freshman Camila Jersonsky is 3rd in the SEC with a .391 hitting percentage. Senior Lauren Mellor has .86 blocks per set. Senior Liz Crouch ranks 7th in the conference with 3.90 digs per set and is the school career leader in the category. Junior Christina Solverson is 10th in assists.
• The Lady Vols are 38-24 all time vs Georgia and 8-2 in their last 10 meetings. Georgia is hoping to turn their last upset victory into a 2 match streak.
• In the last 20 matches between Tennessee and Georgia stretching back to 2001, no match has been decided in four sets. The Lady Vols are 12-1 in the sweeps and 3-4 in the five set matches.
• The Bulldogs have not won in Knoxville since 2001.
• Georgia’s win over Tennessee earlier this year was just their second over a ranked opponent in the past 15 seasons.
• Tennessee is 13-8-2 on Halloween (including an exhibition loss to Japanese University in 1984). Georgia is the most frequent Halloween opponent. This week will be the 4th time the teams have faced each other on October 31st and UT is 2-1 in those matches.
• Last time vs Georgia: Tennessee fought back from a two set deficit, and led in the fifth 7-4. But Georgia went on to outscore UT 11-3 to finish the match (25-17, 25-23, 19-25, 25-27, 15-10). Fowler had 20 kills, hit .417, had 2 aces, and 5 blocks. Kayla Jeter had 19 kills. Leah Hinkey notched 9 kills and 3 blocks. DeeDee Harrison had 5 blocks, while Kelsey Robinson had 3 blocks.
• UGA players to watch: Despite their record, Georgia is well represented in the top ranks of the SEC statistically. Three players have over 200 kills: Senior Valentina Gonzalez, Freshman Brittany Northcutt, and Junior Ann Dylla. The trio do more than just hit: Gonzalez is 2nd in the conference in hitting percentage and 9th in aces; Dylla ranks 9th in hitting percentage and 5th in the SEC with 1.14 blocks per set; and Northcutt is 4th in aces. Junior Kathleen Gates is 2nd in assists with 10.42 per set. Five players have over 100 digs, led by junior Carla Tietz who rates 10th in the conference. Tietz is looking to break into the Georgia top ten career digs leaders this weekend, while Dylla will look to do the same in the blocks category.
• Random note of the week: Nikki Fowler got her 50th double double this past week. In those 50 matches Tennessee had a 33-17 record. 31 of the matches were played in front of the home crowd. 16 were three set matches, 17 were four set matches, and 17 were five set matches. 37 were SEC contests. She notched 12 in her freshman year, 7 her sophomore year, 19 her junior year, and 12 so far this year. 48 of the double doubles were earned with kills and digs, 1 was with kills and assists, and 1 was a triple double with kills, digs, and assists. The triple double was the first in Tennessee history and was achieved in her freshman year. She had 831 kills and 675 digs over the 50 matches — good for 4.13 kills per set and 3.36 digs per set. This past decade only Julie Knytych has more double doubles with 61.
Auburn (16-8, 7-5)
Game time is Friday, October 29th at 7:00pm ET in Knoxville
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UA match notes (PDF)Georgia (11-12, 3-9)
Game time is Sunday, October 31st at 2:00pm ET in Knoxville
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UGA match notes (PDF)
SEC TEAM RANKINGS – CONFERENCE MATCHES TEAMS ACES ASSISTS BLOCKS DIGS KILLS HIT% OPP HIT% UT 7th 2nd 4th 4th 2nd 2nd 5th AU 6th 8th 7th 8th 8th 7th 2nd UGA 2nd 5th 8th 11th 6th 4th 10th
The Lady Vols fought off a tough Louisville squad in four tonight (17-25, 25-23, 25-22. 28-26). More soon…
UPDATES: After their previous match where they held a blocking clinic, today the Lady Vols had a tougher time of it. Sunday they got the most blocks of the season and did it in just three sets. Today they got a season low 5 total team blocks in four sets. They had no blocks at all until the third set! It came down to who could out hit whom. Tennessee won that battle with 13 more kills than Louisville. Tennessee just passed the Cards in hitting percentage: .276 to .239. That’s UT’s 4th lowest average and the 2nd most they’ve given up in a win this season. The team also tied for the most service errors of the year and the least service aces of the year. On the bright side, they got a season high in digs and the second most assists of the year. And, most importantly, they got the win in the end and snapped Louisville’s 8 match winning streak.
Three players earned double doubles in the match: Nikki Fowler got the 50th of her career with 20 kills and 15 digs; Kelsey Robinson got her third of the year with 11 kills and 17 digs; while Kylann Scheidt notched her first collegiate double double with 29 assists and 16 digs. Kayla Jeter just missed out on one as well with 8 kills and 10 digs. Leah Hinkey had 12 kills, Leslie Cikra had 11, and DeeDee Harrison had 6. (BTW – I can’t remember for sure if this was her first time serving for UT, but I’d bet it was her first time serving for match point — and Harrison almost aced it!) Emily Steinbeck had 32 assists. Ellen Mullins had 9 digs.
• Official match notes from Tennessee and Louisville (PDF) are now online. The UT link also includes a preview video with Coach Patrick.
• KnoxNews.com talks with Kelsey Robinson about her recent move to libero and then back to hitter, and the lessons she learned playing in the lead defensive role.
• Tennessee has announced their graduation success rates from 2000-2001 to 2003-2004. Five of the school’s sixteen sports teams reported a 100% GSR — including the Lady Vols volleyball team!
UPDATED