Tennessee defeated Xavier 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-20). Farren Powe had a huge match with 9 blocks (her second best effort at UT ) and 10 kills. With 16.5 points she just missed her career high by half a point. Nikki Fowler had 8 kills, 7 digs, 3 aces, and 3 blocks. Kylie Marshall had 5 kills, 3 aces, 6 digs, and was one short of her career high with 5 blocks. Leslie Cikra had 6 kills and 4 blocks, while Kayla Jeter had 7 kills. Emily Steinbeck had 20 assists and Kelsey Mahoney had 17. Chloe Goldman gets closer to the all time digs record with 20 more today.
UPDATES: Farren Powe and Nikki Fowler were named to the All-Tournament team. Box score is up. And here’s the story from UT and XU. Tourney champ was Michigan, followed in second place by the Lady Vols.
Just a reminder that you can watch the Lady Vols match vs Xavier today at 3pm with a free live video feed available here. You may need to click the “Live Events” tab to see the link for the match.
Tennessee swept Notre Dame at the Xavier Invitational today (25-22, 25-16, 25-22). Details will be on the way soon.
UPDATE: The box score and story from Tennessee and Notre Dame now online. Nikki Fowler led the offense with 14 kills, 2 aces and 3 blocks. Farren Powe had 5 kills on 9 attacks and 3 blocks. Leah Hinkey had 4 blocks. Emily Steinbeck had 16 assists and 8 digs, while Kelsey Mahoney had 13 assists, 7 digs, and 2 aces. Chloe Goldman had 12 digs and Kylie Marshall had 8.
The Lady Vols fell to #7 Michigan this afternoon 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 25-14). Much more, including some photos, when I get back to Knoxville.
UPDATE: My kids’ babysitter (grandma!) is sick so I couldn’t stay for the whole tournament. It’s now 11pm and I am back in Knoxville. So I’ll post those pics tomorrow. Here’s the box and the story from Tennessee and Michigan. Two quick notes. First, Michigan’s Lexi Zimmerman registered a triple-double in the match. Second, Michigan defeated the #3 team in the country last weekend in a 3-0 sweep. We were able to at least take a set in our match!
UPDATE: Photos are now online.
The Lady Vols travel to Cincinnati this weekend to take part in the Xavier Invitational. Joining them are Michigan, Notre Dame, and hosts Xavier.
• Two of Tennessee’s opponents this weekend upset a top five team in sweeps last weekend. Michigan knocked off #3 Nebraska, while Notre Dame took down #5 Stanford.
• Michigan is the #7 team in the country this week according to the AVCA poll — the highest ranking in school history.
• In its two wins so far this season Michigan has used the same starting lineup without sending in a substitution during either match.
• Two assistant coaches at the tournament will be facing the teams they were working with just two seasons ago. Gregg Whitis left Michigan after the 2007 season to join Tennessee. And Amanda Ault left Xavier after the 2007 season to join Michigan.
• Like Tennessee, this past April Notre Dame had a successful visit to Siesta Key in Florida. Lady Vols Kylie Marshall and Nikki Fowler won the Gold Division title of the SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships. Held in tandem with that event was the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge where Notre Dame won the Team Cup.
• The 2004 Lady Vols went 32-3 (a school best record), losing only to #7 Ohio State, #8 Florida, and unranked Michigan. The 2005 Lady Vols defeated Xavier and #7 Notre Dame on their way to the Final Four (the schools highest appearance in the NCAA Tournament).
• Three Lady Vols will be heading back to their home state of Ohio this weekend: Leslie Cikra of Chagrin Falls, Kayla Jeter from Solon, and head coach Rob Patrick who’s originally from Cleveland and went to college at Miami University.
#7 Michigan (2-0)
Michigan leads the all time series 1-2
Tennessee lost the last meeting in 2004 3-1 (30-27, 19-30, 30-23, 30-20).
Game time is Friday, September 4th at 4:00pm ET
Follow the match with Gametracker
Michigan match notes (PDF)Notre Dame (2-1)
The all time series is tied 1-1
Tennessee lost the last meeting in 2007 3-1 (30-21, 30-20, 23-30, 30-19).
Game time is Saturday, September 5th at 2:30pm ET
Follow the match with Gametracker
Notre Dame match notes (PDF)Xavier (1-2)
Tennessee leads the all time series 1-0
Tennessee won the last meeting in 2005 3-1 (30-26, 30-12, 22-30, 30-22).
Game time is Saturday, September 6th at 3:00pm ET
Follow the match with Gametracker or free live videoUPDATE: Tennessee match notes here.
Tennessee won all three matches at the Lady Vol Classic this weekend. Nikki Fowler got a double-double vs Western Kentucky. Five players on the Lady Vols roster matched or exceeded career highs.
• Tennessee is 28-4-1 all time vs Tennessee Tech
• Tennessee is 3-0 all time vs Western Kentucky
• Tennessee is 3-0 all time vs Lipscomb• Tennessee continues their early season dominance. The Lady Vols are 23-4 in August and 27-5 in home opening matches. Under Coach Rob Patrick the team is 10-3 in in season openers, 12-1 in home opening matches, and 29-6 in the Lady Vol Classic.
• The Lady Vols start the season 3-0 for just the 12th time in program history. Under Coach Patrick the team has accomplished the feat 7 times.
• Coach Patrick and his teams are 19-1 against in-state rivals. The last time the Lady Vols lost to another school from their home state was August 30, 1997, when Tennessee Tech handed the first year head coach his first defeat. Since that day just over 12 years ago, the Lady Vols have played Tennessee-based teams 17 times without a loss.
Career highs matched or exceeded:
• Nikki Fowler – digs
• Amanda Friday – aces, digs, and points
• Kayla Jeter – kills and points
• Kelsey Mahoney – aces and points
• Farren Powe – hitting percentage, aces, and solo blocks
Congratulations to Nikki Fowler on being named the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week! Fowler “finished among the top three of all tournament performers in kills, digs, aces and blocks. She paced the Big Orange in kills in all three matches, finishing with 41 for the weekend…”
Alabama and Kentucky are teasing the news that Fox Sports South and Comcast/Charter Sports South have announced more televised matches of SEC volleyball! No details yet but hopefully someone will let the cat out of bag soon!
UPDATE: Here are the 16 SEC matches to be televised this season (including those previously announced for ESPNU).
Fox Sports SouthSunday, 9/27 – Mississippi State at South Carolina
Friday, 10/2 – LSU at Alabama
Friday 10/30 – Tennessee at Mississippi
Sunday, 11/1 – Kentucky at Mississippi
Sunday, 11/15 – Arkansas at Alabama
Sunday, 11/22 – Florida at KentuckyCSSSunday, 9/20 – Auburn at Alabama
Sunday, 11/1 – Florida at Mississippi State
Sunday, 11/8 – LSU at Arkansas
Sunday, 11/15 – Tennessee at Georgia
Sunday, 11/22 – Auburn at MississippiESPNUSunday, 9/20 – Kentucky at LSU
Sunday, 9/27 – Mississippi at Tennessee
Wednesday, 10/7 – Florida at South Carolina
Sunday, 10/11 – Florida at LSU
Wednesday, 10/21 – Tennessee at Kentucky
Lipscomb put up a good fight, but the Lady Vols were able to pull off a 3-0 win (26-24, 25-22, 25-23). The victory also gave them the tournament championship. Farren Powe and Leslie Cikra were named to the All-Tournament team with Nikki Fowler getting MVP honors. More soon…
UPDATE: The box score is online. Farren Powe and Nikki Fowler break their previous three-set match highs for blocks with 10 and 6 respectively. Fowler and Emily Steinbeck just miss out on double-doubles — Fowler had with 15 kills and 9 digs, while Steinbeck had 11 assists and 9 digs. Leslie Cikra had 8 kills. Kylie Marshall and Kelsey Mahoney each knocked down 3 aces. Mahoney also had 16 assists. Chloe Goldman led the defense with 12 digs.
UPDATE 2: The story from the Lady Vols and the Lady Bisons.
Also, a few photos of the tournament champs!
Leah Hinkey discusses her injury and recovery with the Knoxville News Sentinel. And now with the player that replaced her out for the season with an injury, Hinkey wants to be there to help: “I would never want this to happen to anybody, but I just went through it and I want to be there every step of the way and help (Alyssa Hilby) go through it better, like make it a better experience than I had”.
UPDATE: Forgot to post this one. Chloe Goldman: “My goal when I came here was to break every record I could”.
Led by Nikki Fowler — whose double-double included a career high 25 digs — Tennessee defeated a scrappy Western Kentucky 3-2 (18-25, 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12). Farren Powe, Leslie Cikra, and Leah Hinkey also had big nights. More info soon.
UPDATE: Box here. Fowler had 15 kills, Cikra had 14, Powe had 11, and Hinkey had 8. Hinkey led the blockers with 4, followed by Powe and Marshall with 3 each. Fowler had 3 aces; Powe had a career high-tying 2. Chloe Goldman had 13 digs. Kelsey Mahoney had 31 assists, while Emily Steinbeck added 22 more.
The Lady Vols get off to a good start with a 3-0 win this afternoon against Tennessee Tech (25-22, 25-9, 25-14). The team will play again today at 7pm versus Western Kentucky.
UPDATE: Here is the box score. Fourteen of fifteen Lady Vols (not counting the injured Alyssa Hilby) saw playing time. Leah Hinkey, in her first appearance since an injury early last season, hit .636 (7-0-11) — a personal best when taking more than 10 swings. Farren Powe matched her all time personal best with .692 (10-1-13). Nikki Fowler also had had double digit kills with 11. Hinkey, Powe, and Fowler all added in 3 blocks a piece. Kayla Jeter had a career high 8 kills. Kylie Marshall and Chloe Goldman both had 12 digs each. Kelsey Mahoney matched her three-set match high for assists with 28. The newcomers made an impact in their first appearance. Leslie Cikra had 4 kills and 2 blocks. Emily Steinbeck had 10 assists, 6 digs, and 2 aces. And DeeDee Harrison put the match away with her first kill.
Finally! After almost nine months of volleyball withdrawal, the Lady Vols are about to take the court again! But before things get underway, here are some last minute items of interest:
• Tennessee has some notes for the upcoming matches.
• Coach Rob Patrick was a guest on the Doc, Jeff, & Heather in the Morning show — co-hosted by former Lady Vol Heather Harrington (2002-2005) — on local radio station WNML yesterday. Audio of the interview is now online. You can skip to Patrick’s appearance starting 10 minutes into the 9:00am segment. (These audio files may be replaced when Monday’s show airs so listen while you can.)
• If you’re a Twitter fan then here’s some cool news. UTVolleyball and RobPatrickUT are now online and tweeting!
• Nikki Fowler discusses volleyball and more in this Q&A on the official site.
• Don’t forget that Tennessee isn’t the only team playing this weekend. Besides the Lady Vol matches the visiting teams are also playing each other. Today you can also catch Western Kentucky vs Lipscomb at 10am, and Lipscomb vs Tennessee Tech at 5pm. Tomorrow you can see Tennessee Tech vs Western Kentucky at 11am.
• SECSports.com will be relaunching this Monday — possibly as the SEC Digital Network? (more info on that here)
One day left until it’s volleyball time in Tennessee! OK, that doesn’t have the same ring to it as it does over at Neyland! The official site sets the mood much better with an in depth look at the upcoming season. It includes discussion on every position and player, talk about the schedule, and lots of quotes from the coach — everything you need to get fired up for Saturday’s first matches!
The Lady Vols’ first match of the season will be against defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Tennessee Tech, a team whose head coach knows his way around Knoxville. 2008 OVC Coach of the Year John Blair, now in his 7th season at TTU, graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1976. He played under Vols coach Bud Fields. And in the early 1980’s he was an assistant coach for the Lady Vols, during which time the team won the SEC championship twice. He later went on to become head coach for SEC rival Mississippi.
TTU assistant coach Jessica Lane has also called Knoxville home. She attended Karns High School where she was a three sport athlete (softball, basketball, and volleyball). In 2000, she was named the volleyball district MVP.