By Stephen Mason
Record-breaking crowd of 9,226 filled the lower bowl of Food City Center, and through the first two sets, it looked like it would power Tennessee volleyball to a win.
The No. 13 Lady Volunteers were just one set away from opening SEC play with a sweep of the No. 7 Texas Longhorns. However, Tennessee ended up losing the match in heartbreaking fashion: a reverse sweep.
A win would have provided a statement victory and marked their second top-10 win in a row — an impressive feat given that their last top-10 victory before Sunday’s win over Penn State was in 2021.
Now, after a crushing defeat, where does the program stand as it embarks on a difficult SEC slate, and where do the Lady Vols need to improve most?
“Our first and second contact have been so good all year, and they weren’t tonight. I felt like Texas just out-ball-controlled us,” head coach Eve Rackham Watt said. “And that was uncharacteristic of us, and frustrating to watch as the match went on.”
Without the ability to set up clean offensive plays, the Lady Vols put themselves in a difficult position as Texas capitalized on free balls sent across the net.
Even though Texas senior outside hitter Torrey Stafford got off to a slow start and committed 12 attacking errors, she proved unstoppable in the final three sets, finishing with 28 kills.
“Well, one, she’s a great player, a super veteran player. I thought that she played as well as I’ve seen her play many times,” Rackham Watt said. “I thought she was doing a nice job in all kinds of situations, and she was really difficult to defend because she wasn’t just doing one thing.”
Tennessee will run into many elite players like Stafford throughout SEC play, so it will be vital to make the most of offensive opportunities by feeding pin hitters like Kennedi Rogers, who had a team-high 16 kills Friday night.
While the team features one of the nation’s premier setters in Caroline Kerr, any sustained offensive production starts with a strong first pass.
On the bright side for Tennessee, middle blocker Chelsea Sutton put together her best performance of the season. The junior recorded 12 kills and a team-high nine blocks.
“She’s obviously a veteran out there. I thought she had a great night and led us defensively for sure, but also offensively,” Rackham Watt said. “She was more of a go-to tonight than she’s been as she’s kind of gotten healthy.”
Another positive takeaway for Rackham Watt and her staff was the team’s net defense. The Lady Volunteers recorded 11 team blocks compared to the Longhorns’ nine.
“We’ve been on our team quite a bit about the block defense. I actually think we did a pretty decent job in terms of that when we served the ball tough enough,” Rackham Watt said. “So, when we could get them off the net, we could get them in some tougher situations; I thought our block handled it well.”
Net defense should remain a key area of growth this season, as Rackham Watt relies on three freshmen alongside Sutton at middle blocker.
While Tennessee can take solace in pushing an elite program to five sets, expectations were raised when the team beat a top-10 opponent on the road for the first time since 2011. Fortunately for the Lady Vols, another opportunity arrives quickly.
For the third straight match, Tennessee will face a top-10 opponent when it travels to face the No. 8 Florida Gators in Gainesville.
“We’ve had three matches in a row against top 10 teams, and two of them on the road,” Rackham Watt said. “We kind of knew all this was coming, and the message tonight was the same as it always is. Win or lose, we’ve got till midnight, then we’ve got to get over it and move on.”
While Tennessee will want to wash away the sting of this defeat, Friday night’s match highlighted exactly where the team must grow to reach its SEC and NCAA tournament aspirations.