Photo Credit: Emma Corona/ Tennessee Athletics
By Gabriel Daniel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn – No. 15 Tennessee dominated Chicago State Thursday night and Evansville Friday night at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, sweeping both teams in the process.
The Lady Vols (9-1) offense dominated both matchups, leading the opposing teams by double-digit kills and finishing with 15 service aces between the two games. One area that coach Eve Rackham Watt thought the team could improve in is blocks.
“ We need to make a jump as blockers. I think that will help our floor defense … I think blocking is where we have the biggest room for growth, but we are working on it and the hope is we get a little better at it each week,” said Watt.
Against Chicago State (7-3) the Lady Vols finished the game with six blocks and improved that number to ten against Evansville.
Junior Erykah Lovett had a big night against Chicago State finishing with 12 kills and three
assists. Lovett has been a key part of the Lady Vols offense all season with a total of 71 kills on the year, which is third on the team.
The closest either of the two games got for the Lady Vols happened in the third set against
Evansville (5-5). After Evansville scored seven out of the previous eight points to take a 21-18
lead, Tennessee took a timeout. The Lady Vols came out of the timeout and scored seven of the next nine points to secure the sweep.
“ A couple of people stepped up in those last couple of plays, but nothing crazy in the timeout just what we needed to do,” said Watt.
The two wins give the Lady Vols a 9-1 record to close out non-conference play with their one loss coming against No. 1 Wisconsin. The Lady Vols kickoff conference play with a matchup against Missouri at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center Wednesday at 7 pm EST.