By Mya Mimbs
After a successful month of athletics in August and September, the Volunteers seem to be losing their footing. With the Lady Vols soccer team facing its first and second losses of the season and the volleyball team losing three straight sets to the Florida Gators, the orange-clad teams can’t seem to catch a break.
However, the Lady Vols softball team may have a beacon of hope, but is it too early to tell?
Volleyball: Chomped in three sets
The No. 11 Tennessee team took a road trip to the swamp on Friday to face the No. 7 Florida Gators in a top-25 matchup.
Early in the first set, the Tennessee Orange struggled to find their balance. Though Tennessee scored the first two points, the Gators quickly swamped them. After mistake after mistake, the Lady Vols fell 22-25.
The second set started with intense play from both teams, going point for point until the eight-point mark. Once both teams reached eight points, Florida ran away with the set. Tennessee faced its second-largest set loss of the season: 18-25.
The Lady Vols tried to extend the match in the third set, though to no avail. The third set saw the closest score of the match, with Tennessee never trailing more than three points. Though the team had its moments of success, they ultimately fell 23-25.
Ultimately, the Lady Vols were swept in three sets against the Florida Gators, though the statistics were even more gruesome. Tennessee was plagued with 19 attack errors and eight service errors.
The Volleyball team will travel to Auburn, Alabama on Oct. 4 to face off against Auburn University.
Soccer: One loss bleeds into another
The No.3 Vanderbilt team traveled to Regal Soccer Stadium on Sunday to face off in an in-state rivalry match against the No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers. After a nine-match unbeaten streak, one of the largest in program history, the Lady Vols fell to the Commodores 3-1.
At the start of the match, both teams were undefeated, with Vanderbilt at 9-0-1 and Tennessee at 6-0-3, so neither team would back down.
The first half passed by scoreless, with Tennessee not taking a single shot against the Commodores. This marked just the fourth time since 2001 that the Volunteers did not shoot a single shot in a half. Vanderbilt had a similar issue with the team in gold, taking only two shots, both of which were saved.
The second half is when it all went truly downhill for Tennessee. In the 46th minuteVanderbilt scored its first goal of the night. That wouldn’t be their only goal; just 15 minutes later, the Commodores struck again.
Tennessee responded with a goal in the 73rd minute, but they couldn’t fully make a comeback. Vanderbilt scored their third, and final goal, in the 77th minute against Tennessee.
The Lady Vols fought their hardest but ultimately lost 3-1 against Tennessee, making this their first loss of the season.
Homarking would not be their only loss this week. Just four days later, the Volunteers would lose again, 0-1, this time to unranked Auburn.
After all of these losses, the team has an 8-day break until Oct. 9 when they face No. 11 South Carolina on the road.
Softball: Starting strong
The Tennessee softball team played two fall-ball games this week, facing Lipscomb on Sunday and Carson-Newman on Friday.
The Lady Vols won both games at home, 10-2 against Lipscomb and 19-1 against Carson-Newman.
The Tennessee team has nine returning starters. Among them are All-American pitcher Sage Mardjetko and fellow ace Erin Nuwer.
The team will play five more fall-ball games throughout October before starting its official season on March 12 against Texas A&M.
UP NEXT: While Tennessee athletics may be hitting a dark spot in the fall season, there is still plenty of the season left.
Volleyball takes on Auburn on the road down on The Plains in another SEC matchup on Oct. 4; the Lady Vols soccer team will also be on the road when they face off against South Carolina on Oct. 9, and the softball team will continue its fall-ball season against Northeast Alabama in Knoxville on Oct. 9.
Just because it may be grey and dreary on Rocky Top today, that doesn’t mean there isn’t sunshine on the horizon. The football team made a comeback, so why can’t the other sports?