By Lily Helton
The Lady Vols volleyball team is on a hot streak. A burning streak, even. After five straight wins against in-conference opponents, this team looks unstoppable.
Nothing can shake them—not even being down two sets to a historically dominant Kentucky offense.
No. 9 Tennessee earns its biggest win of the Eve Rackham Watt era, a top-five victory, for the first time in over 20 years, 3-2 against Kentucky.
Slow start
Early in this game, Tennessee struggled. Several blocking, digging, and attacking errors made it hard for the Lady Vols to string any points together. The team came out flat, swinging for the fences and failing to keep the ball in play.
“We just made a lot of errors in those first two sets,” said head coach Rackham Watt. “Kentucky is too good for that.”
Just before the third set, the teams flipped sides, and the Lady Vols flipped a switch. One monster kill from Kennedi Rogers early in the set, and Tennessee went on an offensive run. The team started mixing in rollshots, tips, and sneaky dumps from Caroline Kerr. The hitters found holes in Kentucky’s defense and exploited them.
“We knew we had to level up in our mentality and how hard we were going to work,” said Kerr.
Middle Blockers coming up big
The momentum carried the Lady Vols to a set-four win, finishing with 15 kills and two aces. The Lady Vols had climbed through adversity — but was it enough to continue their winning streak?
Well, the middle blockers made sure of that.
Chelsea Sutton led the team with 14 kills and went error-free. Camille Perry also helped set the tone at the net in the fourth set, reaching a career high of six kills and two blocks.
The Lady Vols won the set, beating a top-5 opponent for the first time since 2005. Depth has been one of this team’s greatest strengths, and it showed in the middle of the game tonight.
“This team’s strength is its depth,” said Rackham Watt. “We have really competitive kids with great mentality.”
UP NEXT: The team needs to keep that competitive mindset as it finishes SEC play and heads to the postseason. The Lady Vols return to the court at home on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. ET to face the Vanderbilt Commodores.