Hey guys! I mentioned earlier in the season that I’d revamped the backside of the site to make updating stats a lot easier for me. I also mentioned that it also meant that hopefully I could add some new features to the site. Now that we’re officially at the half way point in the regular season (wow — that went by fast!) I thought it was time to get going on some of those or they wouldn’t be out in time to be useful! So, with apologies, I’m going to skip the weekend recap today and get something else done that hopefully you’ll think is worth the while. In next week’s recap I’ll catch up on the missed individual stats from this week. And if all goes well later today I’ll have something to show you…

Tennessee is up to #22 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll after defeating Kentucky and Mississippi this past weekend.

Congratulations to Kayla Jeter on being named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week! This is the second time she’s won the award in her career.

“Jeter was the driving force offensively for the Lady Vols as they picked up a pair of SEC sweeps last week, downing Kentucky and Ole Miss. The Solon, Ohio, native topped the Tennessee squad with a total of 29 kills on the week, good for a staggering 4.83 per set, while hitting a .328 clip with just seven errors in the two contests combined. Jeter was solid in her newfound defensive role as well, collecting 22 digs and four blocks and handling 31 of the 32 serves that came her way. Against Kentucky, Jeter registered the first double-double of her career with a team-high 13 kills and a career-best 13 digs. She also had a .303 attack average and a pair of blocks in UT’s first sweep over the Wildcats since Nov. 6, 2005. Just two days later versus Ole Miss, Jeter missed out on her second consecutive double-double by the slimmest of margins, tallying 16 kills on .353 hitting with nine digs. With her performances this weekend, Jeter vaulted into the ninth spot on the SEC kills chart with an average of 3.13 per set.”

UPDATE: Jeter was also named the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week.

Tennessee gets their second SEC win of the week tonight, defeating Mississippi in three (25-22, 25-16, 25-22). More later.

UPDATE: Kayla Jeter continued her impressive performances this season, this time with 16 kills, 9 digs, and 2 blocks. Nikki Fowler’s match winning kill gave her yet another double double: 10 kills and 12 digs. She also had 2 aces. Leah Hinkey’s 5 kills on 10 attempts with no errors was good for .500. She also led the team with 4 blocks. Leslie Cikra just about matched her with 4 kills on 10 attempts with no errors and 3 blocks. Carly Sahagian and DeeDee Harrison put down 5 kills each. Emily Steinbeck had 20 assists. Kylann Scheidt had 17 assists and 2 aces. UT hit .343 as a team while holding the Rebels to .180.

Several Lady Vols are featured in recent interviews online:

• Kayla Jeter, DeeDee Harrison, and Jasmine Brown are featured in (and on the cover of) COBRA Magazine.

• Nikki Fowler recently answered a few questions over at SECSports.com

• Kylann Scheidt talks with the GoVolsXtra about her recent injury and recovery.

• And finally, Rob Patrick and Kayla Jeter comment on the already infamous orange pants in a story about the UK match!

In a nationally televised game Tennessee gets the first sweep in the last 9 matches of the series vs Kentucky tonight (25-22, 25-15, 25-22). More later…

UPDATE: The good news: Tennessee takes sole possession of second place in the SEC East. The bad news: Coach Patrick’s orange pants are now 1-0! Tonight’s crowd was the 8th largest home crowd in UT history. With 13 kills and her first double digit digs count (13 also), Kayla Jeter notched her first career double double. Nikki Fowler doubled up as well with 10 kills and 15 digs. DeeDee Harrison had 10 kills, hit .444, and had 4 blocks. Leah Hinkey hit .333. Amanda Friday had 10 digs in the libero jersey. And Emily Steinbeck led in assists with 22, with Kylann Scheidt coming in at 16.

STATS | UT STORY & VIDEO | UK STORY

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	23rd (-3)	3rd (nc)
Volleyball Magazine Poll	NR (-)	NR (-)
Pablo Rankings	28th (-11)	3rd (-1)
RichKern.com Poll	24th (-7)	3rd (-1)
RKPI	13th (-7)	3rd (-1)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS
ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	KILLS	HIT%
239th (-20)	25th (+3)	50th (-9)	209th (-57)	20th (-7)	11th (+4)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS
ACES	ASSISTS	BLOCKS	DIGS	KILLS	HIT%	OPP HIT%
10th (-2)	3rd (nc)	5th (nc)	6th (nc)	2nd (-1)	2nd (-1)	4th (+2)

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
BLOCKS	Leah Hinkey	84th (-18)
BLOCKS	DeeDee Harrison	240th (+4)
KILLS	Nikki Fowler	95th (+27)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leah Hinkey	125th (+3)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Kayla Jeter	138th (+74)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Nikki Fowler	151st (+77)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	DeeDee Harrison	186th (-57)
POINTS	Nikki Fowler	90th (+35)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
ASSISTS	Kelsey Mahoney	10th (-3)
BLOCKS	Leah Hinkey	5th (-1)
BLOCKS	DeeDee Harrison	12th (+1)
KILLS	Nikki Fowler	4th (nc)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Leah Hinkey	6th (nc)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Kayla Jeter	8th (+2)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	Nikki Fowler	9th (+3)
HITTING PERCENTAGE	DeeDee Harrison	12th (-5)
POINTS	Nikki Fowler	4th (+2)

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

• Wednesday’s match is officially the 66th meeting between Tennessee and Kentucky. But Kentucky records say it is the 67th meeting. After looking at their data, however, it appears both schools are wrong and this is in fact the 68th meeting between the teams. Kentucky records start in 1977 and therefore don’t include a match Tennessee lists as having been played in 1973. And Tennessee records for the year 1977 are for some reason very incomplete, with dates, scores and many games played missing — including two matches Kentucky records show having been played by the teams that year. Adding together the missing info from each school means that Kentucky actually has a 27-40 all-time series lead over the Lady Vols.

• The Tennessee/Kentucky match-up is the longest running continuously played rivalry in Tennessee’s history — the teams have played each other at least once every year since at least 1978 (and probably actually 1977 using the above info).

• The teams have split the last 10 match-ups with each other. The Lady Vols currently have a three-match winning streak vs the Wildcats. In all three of those matches Kentucky was ranked in the Top 25.

• Neither team in the UT/UK rivalry has swept the other in the last 8 outings. Kentucky hasn’t swept Tennessee since 1995.

• Tennessee is 3-1 all-time when appearing on ESPN. They split matches during their first appearances during the 2005 NCAA tournament, defeating #8 Missouri and falling to #3 Washington, and they won both matches last year against Mississippi and #7 Kentucky. Dating back to 2008, Tennessee is 6-2 in TV appearances.

• The Lady Vols are 35-6 all-time vs Mississippi and 8-2 in their last 10 meetings. Tennessee’s winning percentage over the Rebels is their best vs any other SEC opponent.

• Mississippi ranks in the top 30 in the nation in four statistical categories: assists, blocks, digs, and kills. Among the SEC, only undefeated #16 LSU can match that feat.

• During their match this past Sunday, Mississippi held #3 Florida to their lowest team blocks total of the season.

• Mississippi’s graduate assistant will look very familiar to Tennessee fans, though the colors she wears may look out of place. Former Lady Vol great Chloe Goldman returns to Rocky Top but this time on the Rebel staff. Goldman is arguably the best defensive player in UT history, holding nearly every single digs record on the books. She was named the SEC Libero of the Year and an All-Ameraican last year. (As I’ve already admitted my bias that Chloe is my very favorite player to have worn the orange and white, you should be prepared for me to repeat this info every time we play Mississippi from now on just so I have the chance to talk about her again!)

• Random stat of the week: Several Lady Vols share birthplaces with or were born very near each other. Emily Steinbeck, Kesley Robinson, and Carly Sahagian were all born within miles of each other in the nearby towns of Park Ridge, Elmhurst, and Elk Grove, Illinois. Kayla Jeter was born in Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, which was Leslie Cikra’s birthplace. Kelsey Mahoney and Kylann Scheidt were both born in Lincoln, Nebraska. And DeeDee Harrison and Ellen Mullins were both born in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kentucky (8-6, 2-2)
Game time is Wednesday, September 29th at 8:00pm ET in Knoxville
Follow the match with Gametracker, on ESPNU, or on ESPN3.com
UK match notes (PDF)

Mississippi (9-4, 3-1)
Game time is Friday, October 1st at 7:00pm ET in Knoxville
Follow the match with Gametracker

These Wednesday match weeks are hard on a blogger — especially when he’s already behind in his work! Photos from the South Carolina, Florida, and Auburn matches are now finally online. But those notes for the upcoming games will have to wait until tonight. Luckily the UT staff is on the ball and has the official match notes out already.

Tennessee is down to #23 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll after losing at Georgia and defeating Auburn this past weekend.

Just a quick recap today since the Wednesday match this week shortens the window for getting everything else done. Plus I am behind on getting photos up. Look for pics from South Carolina, Florida, and Auburn matches here hopefully later tonight, and a preview of the Kentucky match online tomorrow morning. (UPDATE: Not happening tonight! Let’s try to get it all updated tomorrow!)

• The Lady Vols are now 38-24 all time vs Georgia and 25-13-1 all time vs Auburn.

• Of the 5 losses to Georgia since 2000, all but 1 have been decided in five sets.

• Georgia’s win over #20 Tennessee was just their second over a ranked opponent in the past 15 seasons.

• Auburn was looking for their second win over a ranked opponent in program history after getting the very first two days earlier vs #24 Kentucky.

• Tennessee had a .421 team hitting percentage vs Auburn — their first time over .400 in a match since mid-2008.

• The Lady Vols reached their 10th win of the year in their 13th match of the season. That is the 9th fastest to 10 wins in school history.

FASTEST UT SQUADS TO 10 WINS
RANK	YEAR	10TH WIN CAME IN THEIR:
1	1973	10th match
	1986
3	1983	11th match
	2004
5	1979	12th match
	2000
	2003
	2006
9	1982	13th match
	1998
	2010

• Not really an official stat (thank goodness!), but worthy of being noted just because I never noticed it before today: Not counting the instance I just fixed which brought the issue to my attention, I have misspelled Nikki Fowler’s last name nine times in the past three years! Sorry!

Record updates:

• This weekend Nikki Fowler became the all-time attacks leader at Tennessee. With 3,887 career attack attempts, she passes Ariana Wilson’s 3,881 record set from 1998-2001. Fowler also moved up to #7 on the career kills chart.

• Leah Hinkey moved to #7 on the SEC career (rally-scoring) blocks list. And in a stat I’ve forgotten to track until now, she’s one shy of #7 on the SEC career block assists list.

Career highs matched or exceeded (excluding freshmen):

• Leslie Cikra: hitting percentage (with 5-9 attempts) and assists (in a five set match)

• Nikki Fowler: solo blocks (in a four set match)

• DeeDee Harrison: kills (in a four set match), attacks, digs (in a four set match), points (in a four set match)

• Leah Hinkey: solo blocks (in a four set match)

• Kayla Jeter: digs and solo blocks

• Emily Steinbeck: attacks (in a four set match)

Tennessee gets the win vs Auburn 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 25-19). I’ll have more info (and hopefully some photos) later tonight.

UPDATES: Back in Knoxville! I didn’t want to post this before getting a chance to check the box score, but now can confirm that Nikki Fowler did become Tennessee’s all-time leading attacker this afternoon! With 36 in each match this weekend she now has 3,887 career attack attempts, passing Ariana Wilson’s 3,881 record set from 1998-2001.

I’ll get more photos and the weekend recap up on Monday.

While we wait for the second match of the weekend for the Lady Vols, be sure to head over to the AVCA website and vote for Tennessee in the Play of the Week. Kylann Scheidt’s kick save is nominated along with four others from teams around the country.

Tennessee fought back from a two set deficit, but falls to Georgia in five (25-17, 25-23, 19-25, 25-27, 15-10). More later.

UPDATES: What a tough game! Tennessee led in the 5th set 7-4, but Georgia went on to outscore them 11-3 to finish the match.

Nikki Fowler had 20 kills, hit .417, had 2 aces, 8 digs, and 5 blocks. Kayla Jeter had 19 kills, hit .317, and had 2 blocks. Leah Hinkey notched 9 kills and 3 blocks. DeeDee Harrison had 5 blocks. Ellen Mullins led in digs with 12. Kelsey Robinson was just behind her with 11 — she also had 3 blocks. Kylann Scheidt was the assists leader with 30, while Emily Steinbeck had 25.

At 1-2, Tennessee is off to their worst SEC start since 2002.

STATS | UT STORY | UGA STORY

Sorry for missing this earlier, but audio of the Georgia match is online here.