Tennessee takes down Mississippi in Oxford 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21). Kayla Jeter had 17 kills. Nikki Fowler kept her double-doule streak going with 12 kills and 11 digs. Farren Powe hit .400 with 8 kills. Leah Hinkey had 6 kills and 4 blocks. Chloe Goldman had 15 kills while Kylie Marshall had 13. Natalie Guerra had a career high 25 assists and Kelsey Mahoney had 22.

• The Lady Vols hit the road for the 8th week this season. The team is 8-5 on the road and 7-1 at home.

• Tennessee is 11-14 all-time vs Arkansas. In their last 10 meetings the Lady Vols are 8-2. Tennessee won the last meeting earlier this year 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 26-24).

• Tennessee is 34-6 all-time vs Mississippi. In their last 10 meetings the Lady Vols are 8-2. Tennessee won the last meeting earlier this year 3-0 (25-12, 27-25, 25-20).

• In the entire 40 match series between the two schools dating back to 1975, Tennessee has only lost one meeting on the road vs the Rebels.

• Tennessee and Mississippi both have new assistant coaches this season, and both are 2007 graduates of the University of Nebraska. Tennessee’s Dani Busboom was a setter/libero for the Huskers while the Rebels’ Bill Egbert was a student manager for the team.

• With their last win vs Arkansas the team gave Coach Patrick his 250th career victory..

• For the third week in a row Tennessee faces a head coach with a Kentucky connection. Last week, of course, was Wildcat head coach Craig Skinner. This past week was former Kentucky head coach and current LSU head coach Fran Flory. On Sunday, the Lady Vols face off against former associate head coach for Kentucky and now first year head coach for Arkansas Robert Pulliza.

• Three players at the Arkansas match have fathers who played professional sports. Lady Vols DeeDee Harrison and Kayla Jeter’s fathers are former players in the NFL, while Arkansas’ Kelli Stipanovic’s father played in the NBA.

Mississippi (8-14, 2-10)
Game time is Friday, October 30th at 8pm EDT in Oxford MS
Follow the match with live stats or on SportSouth and Fox Sports Net

Arkansas (11-12, 5-7)
Game time is Sunday, November 1st at 2:30pm EST
Follow the match with live stats

The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2009 season. The national stats rank 329 teams and the top 250 players in each category. All stats (except hitting percentage) are “per set”, not totals. Tennessee’s ranks in the polls are also listed. Numbers in parentheses are the changes from last week.

(The NCAA stats don’t include data from the LSU match, while the SEC stats do.)

AVCA: 32nd nationally (+5); 4th SEC (UNCH)
NCAA RPI: 16th nationally (+7); 3rd SEC (+1)
Pablo Rankings: 27th nationally (+3); 4th SEC (UNCH)
RickKern.com Poll: 33rd nationally (NR); 4th SEC (NR)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS – TENNESSEE

Aces: 177th (+2)
Assists: 118th (+7)
Blocks: 23rd (-3)
Digs: 38th (+3)
Hitting Percentage: 112th (-5)
Kills: 114th (-1)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS – TENNESSEE – ALL MATCHES

Aces: 7th (-2)
Assists: 7th (UNCH)
Blocks: 2nd (-1)
Digs: 2nd (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: 9th (-1)
Kills: 7th (+1)
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1st (UNCH)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS – TENNESSEE – SEC MATCHES

Aces: 10th (-1)
Assists: 6th (+2)
Blocks: 3rd (-2)
Digs: 1st (+3)
Hitting Percentage: 4th (UNCH)
Kills: 5th (+3)
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 3rd (-2)

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Blocks: Farren Powe – 36th (UNCH)
Blocks: Leah Hinkey – 76th (+39)
Blocks: Nikki Fowler – 240th (+4)
Digs: Chloe Goldman – 34th (+4)
Hitting Percentage: Farren Powe – 70th (-28)
Hitting Percentage: Leah Hinkey – 206th (-97)
Kills: Nikki Fowler – 141st (+28)
Points: Nikki Fowler – 104th (+17)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES

Assists: Kelsey Mahoney – 10th (UNCH)
Blocks: Farren Powe – 3rd (-2)
Blocks: Leah Hinkey – 6th (UNCH)
Blocks: Nikki Fowler – 12th (+3)
Digs: Chloe Goldman – 1st (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: Farren Powe – 5th (+2 )
Kills: Nikki Fowler – 5th (+3)
Points: Nikki Fowler – 6th (UNCH)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – SEC MATCHES

Blocks: Farren Powe – 3rd (-2)
Blocks: Leah Hinkey – 6th (UNCH)
Digs: Chloe Goldman – 1st (UNCH)
Digs: Nikki Fowler – 10th (NR)
Hitting Percentage: Farren Powe – 3rd (+4)
Hitting Percentage: Kayla Jeter – 6th (+4)
Kills: Nikki Fowler – 5th (NR)

Congratulations to Nikki Fowler on being named the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week after the team’s big win over Kentucky and close loss vs LSU.

Since this is a shorter week due to the Monday match and because I’m very busy preparing another website’s launch coming up next Monday, I’m going to clip my normal update schedule a bit. By postponing my updating of the player stats until after this coming weekend’s matches, I should be able to get back on my regular schedule tomorrow.

Tennessee gave another top 25 team all they could handle but this time came up a little short, falling to LSU 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 27-25, 27-25). More coming soon.

UPDATE: A close match that could have gone either way, but this time went the wrong way for the Lady Vols. A big part of that was the LSU block. Nikki Fowler once again gets the double-double with 19 kills and 22 digs (the second most scoops of her career). Emily Steinbeck also picked up a double-double with 22 assists and 10 digs. Kayla Jeter had 16 kills, hit .394, and had 3 blocks. Leah Hinkey had 9 kills and 2 blocks, Farren Powe had 8 kills and 4 blocks, and Leslie Cikra had 7 kills and 2 blocks. Chloe Goldman had 16 digs. Kylie Marshall had 15 digs and 7 kills. And Kelsey Mahoney had 33 assists and 7 digs.

I had planned to write up a few notes for the LSU match this evening. But my daughter had the last matches of her league’s championship tournament tonight and it went a lot longer than planned! So instead here our the links to the notes from the official Tennessee site (PDF) and the LSU website (no notes online yet).

This is a big match that is probably a must-win for Tennessee if they want to get the SEC championship. It’s here in Knoxville Monday night at 7pm so try to get out and help support the team if you can!

(BTW — my daughter’s team won the championship!)

UT head coach Rob Patrick was again a guest on the Doc, Jeff, & Heather in the Morning show on local radio station WNML today. He talked about the big win this week, the SEC race, the travel schedule, and building up athletes to be successful later in life either as coaches themselves or whatever else they might choose to do. He also talked about the football team and their new coaching staff. Audio of the interview should be online here soon. Patrick’s appearance should start in the 8:30 segment.

UPDATE: Audio is now up at the above link and is right at the start of the 8:30 segment. Check it out while you can as the files may be replaced by tomorrow’s show.

• The Lady Vols are now 25-39 vs Kentucky.

• Tennessee has defeated 9 top ten teams in program history:
#7 Arizona (1982), #9 Arizona State (1983), #7 Florida (2004), #10 Florida (2004), #4 Florida (2005), #7 Notre Dame (2005), #2 Penn State (2005), #8 Missouri (2005), and #7 Kentucky (2009). All but two of the wins (#9 Arizona State and #4 Florida) came on the road.

• The SEC race tightens up with this win. Kentucky and LSU lead at 9-1 with Tennessee and Florida at 8-2. The good news for Tennessee going into the second half of SEC play? The Wildcats, Tigers, and Gators all have to come to Knoxville.

• In the battle of hitting percentage stats, Kentucky (the SEC team with the best hitting percentage) versus Tennessee (the league best at holding their opponent’s hitting percentage down) the winner was the Lady Vols. Tennessee held UK to their lowest hitting percentage of the year. The Wildcats averaged .292 going into the match, but were kept to .184.

• Kentucky has only lost 11 matches at home since UK head coach Craig Skinner took over in 2005. Three of those loses have come against the Lady Vols. No other team (including perennial powerhouse Florida) has won as many in Lexington during that time. Tennessee is 6-3 at Memorial Coliseum since 2001.

• Nikki Fowler has had 20+ kills just 11 times in her career, and 15+ digs just 13 times. This was only the second time she has had both in the same match.

• The Lady Vols are 3-0 vs the state of Kentucky this year with wins over UK, Louisville, and Western Kentucky.

• 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 this year against Mississippi and #7 Kentucky.

• Tennessee is now 1-5 in four-set matches vs Kentucky since 2003.

• Nikki Fowler had her fourth double-double in a row, breaking her best streak of three in a row from November 2007.

• Career bests matched or exceeded:
– Leslie Cikra: block solos
– Kayla Jeter: aces
– Kelsey Mahoney: kills

Time to catch up on posting some photos and links that I’ve got behind on in the past week!

First up are the photos from last Friday’s Alabama match and yesterday’s Kentucky match.

Next up are some stories from the past four matches. These aren’t just rehashes of the press releases and most have new quotes from the players and coaches.

• Volleyball remains perfect at home, The Daily Beacon

• Volleyball ‘Digs for the Cure,’ sweeps Auburn, Tennessee Journalist

• Lady Vols volleyball comfortable at home, Knoxville News-Sentinel

• Volleyball snags two SEC wins, The Daily Beacon

• Wildcats reach new heights in volleyball, Lexington Herald-Leader

• Vols stun #7 UK – Kentucky Kernal

The Lady Vols knocked off the seventh ranked team in the country tonight, keeping themselves in contention for the SEC champioship through the first half of conference play. Tennessee won 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22). Much more coming soon.

UPDATE: My nerves are frazzled, but what a great match! Despite the closeness of the score it was UK who had to play catch up almost the entire time — including the set they won! Check out the full stories from Tennessee and Kentucky. Nikki Fowler gets her fourth double-double in a row with 20 kills and 17 digs, and also had 4 blocks. Kayla Jeter had 14 kills, 2 aces, and 3 blocks — and just 1 error on 40 attacks! Chloe Goldman had 23 digs. Kylie Marshall had 7 kills and 9 digs. Leah Hinkey had 5 kills and 6 blocks while Leslie Cikra had 6 kills and 2 blocks. Farren Powe added in 4 more blocks. Emily Steinbeck had 22 assists. And Kelsey Mahoney had 2 aces, 27 assists, and 2 really nice kills of her own!

This win tightens up an already tight SEC race. Kentucky and LSU lead at 9-1 with Tennessee and Florida right on their heels at 8-2. An LSU win vs UK Saturday and a loss on Monday in Knoxville and we’d have a four way tie for first in the SEC!

The NCAA and SEC have updated their weekly statistical rankings of players and teams for the 2009 season. The national stats rank 329 teams and the top 250 players in each category. All stats (except hitting percentage) are “per set”, not totals. Tennessee’s ranks in the polls are also listed. Numbers in parentheses are the changes from last week.

AVCA: 37th nationally (+2); 4th SEC (UNCH)
NCAA RPI: 23rd nationally (-3); 4th SEC (UNCH)
Pablo Rankings: 30th nationally (+1); 4th SEC (UNCH)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS – TENNESSEE

Aces: 179th (+3)
Assists: 125th (+25)
Blocks: 20th (-2)
Digs: 41st (+20)
Hitting Percentage: 107th (+16)
Kills: 113th (+28)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS – TENNESSEE – ALL MATCHES

Aces: 5th (UNCH)
Assists: 7th (UNCH)
Blocks: 1st (UNCH)
Digs: 2nd (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: 8th (UNCH)
Kills: 8th (UNCH)
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1st (UNCH)

SEC TEAM RANKINGS – TENNESSEE – SEC MATCHES

Aces: 9th (UNCH)
Assists: 8th (UNCH)
Blocks: 1st (UNCH)
Digs: 2nd (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: 4th (UNCH)
Kills: 8th (UNCH)
Opponent Hitting Percentage: 1st (UNCH)

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Blocks: Farren Powe – 36th (-9)
Blocks: Leah Hinkey – 115th (+27)
Blocks: Nikki Fowler – 244th (NR)
Digs: Chloe Goldman – 38th (+10)
Hitting Percentage: Farren Powe – 42nd (+55)
Hitting Percentage: Leah Hinkey – 109th (-16)
Kills: Nikki Fowler – 169th (+41)
Points: Nikki Fowler – 121st (+26)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – ALL MATCHES

Assists: Kelsey Mahoney – 10th (UNCH)
Blocks: Farren Powe – 1st (UNCH)
Blocks: Leah Hinkey – 6th (UNCH)
Blocks: Nikki Fowler – 15th (NR)
Digs: Chloe Goldman – 1st (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: Farren Powe – 7th (-1 )
Hitting Percentage: Leah Hinkey – 8th (UNCH)
Kills: Nikki Fowler – 8th (UNCH)
Points: Nikki Fowler – 6th (+2)

SEC INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS – SEC MATCHES

Aces: Emily Steinbeck – 7th (UNCH)
Blocks: Farren Powe – 1st (UNCH)
Blocks: Leah Hinkey – 6th (-1)
Digs: Chloe Goldman – 1st (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: Farren Powe – 7th (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: Leah Hinkey – 8th (UNCH)
Hitting Percentage: Kayla Jeter – 10th (NR)

Tennessee will make the 2½ hour drive up I-75 tomorrow to face the #7 Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington.

• The Lady Vols are 24-39 vs Kentucky. In their last 10 meetings the teams are tied 5-5. Tennessee won the last match 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21, 16-14).

• Almost half way through the conference schedule Tennessee still controls their destiny in the tight SEC race between Florida, Kentucky, and LSU. Right now that means win out and they’re the champions.

• The Lady Vols are 3-7 in their last 10 matches vs ranked opponents. The last ranked team Tennessee defeated was #17 Kentucky in the final regular season match of 2008.

• 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 1978. It’s also the most played rivalry for Tennessee with the teams facing each other 63 times over the years.

• Neither team in the rivalry has swept the other in the last 6 outings. Kentucky hasn’t swept Tennessee since 1995.

• Tennessee is currently 14-5. That ties their 8th best opening 19 match run. The 2004 team started 18-1. The 1986 team started 16-3. The 1982, 1983, 2000, 2003, and 2006 teams started their first 19 matches 15-4. The 1979 and 1998 squads stated out 14-5.

• Kentucky is currently 19-1. That ties their best ever opening 20 match run. The longest into the season they’ve gone with just one loss was in 1987, when they went 30-1 before losing their final match of the year in the tournament. In 1993, they went 21-1 before getting a second loss.

• Kentucky’s only loss of the season was a 16-14 fifth set loss to Louisville — a team Tennessee defeated 17-15 in the fifth set earlier this year.

• Defense may be on display in a big way. Four weeks ago Kentucky libero BriAnne Sauer was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week. Three weeks ago Tennessee libero Chloe Goldman won the award. Last week Kentucky middle blocker Gretchen Giesler got the nod. This week Goldman won the award again and Kentucky’s defensive specialist Stephanie Klefot was named SEC Freshman of the Week.

• Kentucky’s #7 ranking is one of the highest in their history. In 1983, they went as high as #5. In 1988, they peaked at #7. And in 1993, they reached #5.

#7 Kentucky (19-1, 9-0)
Game time is Wednesday, October 21st at 7pm ET in Lexington KY
Follow the match with live stats, online video, a live blog, or on ESPNU.

UPDATE: Match notes now online for Tennessee and Kentucky (both links are PDF’s).

Congratulations to Chloe Goldman on being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the 6th time in her career!

• Tennessee is now 26-12 vs Alabama and 36-7 vs Mississippi State.

• Chloe Goldman set the school record for most career digs on Friday night.

• Goldman now holds almost every school digs record: #1 career digs, #1 career digs per set, #1 single season digs, #1 single season digs per set, #2 single match digs, #1 single match digs – three sets, #1 single match digs – four sets, #2 single match digs – five sets.

• Goldman’s 30 digs vs Alabama ranks as the 13th most digs in a single match in school history and the 3rd most in a four-set match. This is the 7th time she has reached 30 digs in a match, which is as many as every other person on the list combined! Amy Morris dug up 30 digs or more 3 times in her career and Kristy Dobson did it twice. Stephanie Ehlers and Kim Obiala both did it once.

• 97% of Goldman’s record breaking digs total has come in just the past 2½ seasons: 2006 – 48; 2007 – 628; 2008 – 511; 2009 – 333.

• Junior Nikki Fowler became just the 17th Lady Vol to reach 1,000 career kills this weekend.

• Farren Powe has hit .400 or better in more than half the matches this season. She’s hit .500 or better 7 times!

• Tennessee had one of their best weekends of the season in the kills department. The 56 vs Alabama was the 3rd best total of the year, and the 52 vs MSU the 5th best so far. It’s even more impressive since the 1st, 2nd, and 4th best performances were all 5 set matches. The 17.33 kills per set vs the Bulldogs is the top match for the stat this season.

• The Lady Vols were impressive in several other categories as well this weekend: the best team assists percentage and team assists per set average of the season vs MSU; only one reception error vs MSU which ranks as the third lowest total of the season; the second most team digs, and the best team digs per set numbers of the year vs Alabama.

• Tennessee’s 38 errors vs Alabama was the second most this season in a win. The Lady Vols had 42 vs Western Kentucky in a match that went one set longer.

• The Lady Vols trailed by at least 4 points in every set they eventually won vs Alabama. In the one set they lost they trailed by 7 points before taking the lead near the end and then losing it by just 3.

• Tennessee has swept 10 of their first 19 opponents. That is the 4th fastest a UT team has reached 10 sweeps since 1983 (when all sets were played best 3 out of 5). The 2004 team reached 10 sweeps after their 15th match. The 1983 team did it after their 16th match. And the 1986 team did it after their 18th match.

• So far this year Tennessee has won 7 matches at home, 7 matches on the road, 7 matches in the SEC, and 7 matches out of conference.

• Nikki Fowler had double-doubles in both matches this weekend.

• Career highs set or matched this weekend:
– Leslie Cikra: block solos
– Kayla Jeter: assists and block solos