By Stephen Mason
There are major wins, and then there is what No. 9 Tennessee volleyball pulled off against No. 4 Kentucky inside the Food City Center. Not only did the Lady Vols win their first game against a top-five opponent in over 20 years, but this win has the potential to redefine the trajectory of their season.
Completing the reverse sweep against a tough opponent, Tennessee’s route to victory is almost as impressive as the win itself. For the first two sets, the Wildcats looked like they were going to run their hosts out of the building and into the Tennessee River.
“Not clicking would be an understatement in the first two sets. I mean, we just were really out of sorts,” head coach Eve Rackham Watt said. ”I thought Kentucky’s service pressure had a lot to do with that, but we were just uncharacteristically frantic.”
The Lady Vols entered the game on a five-game win streak in SEC play; however, everything went wrong for them in the first two sets. Kentucky took those sets 25-17 and 25-18, and looked like it was going to walk away with the win.
Everything changed when the teams switched sides after the second set.
Completing the Reverse Sweep
“I think when you’re down the first two sets, your back’s kind of against the wall and that kind of just like lights the fire underneath you and that definitely translated,” Chelsea Sutton said.
The junior middle blocker played a massive role in the Lady Vols comeback with a team-high 14 kills and two blocks. Most impressively, she was efficient, hitting .538 and making the most of what setter Caroline Kerr sent her way.
The Lady Vols took sets three and four 25-19 and 25-21, forcing a winner-take-all fifth set. With all the momentum on their side and the fans behind them, the team won set five 15-10, clinching the marquee victory.
It was not just the offense that caught fire late, but the block and the dig also came into play for Tennessee, and they finished the night with five blocks and 61 digs.
“I think that once they made a decision, they were going to start playing better; their competitiveness kicked in, and everybody picked up their game and started making some plays on defense that we weren’t making in the first set,” Rackham Watt said.
This win is one for the history books for the program as it is only the second time Tennessee has defeated a top-five opponent. The only other time was on Oct. 29, 2005, against Florida, before many of the players who were on the court were born.
It looks like this team, led by fifth-year setter Caroline Kerr, is breaking many trends as they also scored the team’s first top-10 win on the road since 2011 earlier this year against Penn State.
“I believe in this team as much as I can; there’s not one day that I would rather be with a different group of girls. I think the way we approach every day and want to compete,” Kerr said. “To see it pay off in the outcomes of wins is really cool. I’m just trying to take it in every day because I love this group and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
Shifting the Postseason Trajectory
This win has the potential to change the outlook for the rest of the season for the Lady Vols. Although the team is ranked No. 9 in the AVCA poll, it was left out of the selection committee’s first Top-16.
Heading into this game, the Lady Vols had the 18th-best RPI in the country, a metric that the selection committee heavily relies on. The difference in the two polls can be chalked up to Tennessee’s record when facing ranked opponents.
“It’s a big-time win for us. In terms of this season, I think it’s about the belief of this group and where we want to be, but I think keeping in perspective to just know where we are at this point,” Rackham Watt said.
The team was 2-3 against ranked opponents with wins against No. 18 Indiana and No. 16 Penn State, and losses to No. 2 Pitt, No. 5 Florida, and No. 14 Texas; however, this win will put them at .500 against ranked opponents with more opportunities quickly approaching.
With two more ranked opponents on the slate for Tennessee, starting with a top-25 showdown with in-state rival Vanderbilt on Sunday, the Lady Vols have a chance to cement themselves in the selection committee’s top-16. If they finish there, Knoxville will be treated to some postseason volleyball.
Up Next: The Lady Vols return to the court on Sunday to take on the No. 22 Vanderbilt Commodores at 1 p.m. inside the Food City Center, with the broadcast on SEC Network.