LADY VOLS RIDE PERFORMANCES OF SENIORS ON THEIR DAY

Sunday, November 13

Knoxville, TN

University of Tennessee

Auburn

November 13, 2005 | Volleyball

Nov. 13, 2005

Box Score | Photo Gallery

Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Led by outstanding performances by a quintet of amazing seniors, the University of Tennessee volleyball team (19-7, 13-3 Southeastern Conference) wrapped up SEC play with a dominating 30-19, 30-14, 30-17 win over Auburn (8-16, 2-14 SEC) on Sunday. UT's five seniors were honored prior to the contest.

"This is a senior class that I will never forget because they came into the University of Tennessee when we did not have a winning tradition, we were not a ranked team yet, and they took on the challenge of building this program into one of the elite programs in the country," Head Coach Rob Patrick said. "And they did it through perseverance and hard work.

"As a coach, the one thing that you can hope for is that players you coach reach their potential and this senior class as individuals and as a group has done a better job of reaching their potential than any other group I've been associated with. I am really going to miss these five young ladies and I am very proud of their accomplishments on and off the court. They have represented the University of Tennessee and our volleyball program very well.

As a group, the Lady Vol senior class has compiled a 93-30 mark and .756 winning percentage and have clinched the best winning percentage recorded by a four-year class in Lady Vol history. Last year's senior class had a winning percentage of .726 (90-34).

On the stat sheet in their final regularly-scheduled match at Stokely Athletics Center this season (UT has put in a bid to be one of the host sites for NCAA First and Second Round action), middle blocker Heather Harrington (Pasadena, Texas), playing her first match since UT's 3-1 win at Auburn at Oct. 14, led the Lady Vols in hitting percentage with an outstanding .733 percentage (11-0-15). She was hitting .900 (9-0-10) when UT held a 18-10 lead in the third game, before settling down in her last five attacks with two kills and no attack errors.

Harrington spoke about the reasons for her performance which saw the Pasadena, Texas, native record career highs in kills (11) and hitting performance.

"I think it's because I am so much stronger and faster than I was and the better shape that you are in, the better the opportunity to reach your potentials, so I attribute it to (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Heather Mason mostly," Harrington said. "I was just glad I was given the opportunity. I said a prayer before we went out there and it just clicked.

Middle blocker Kristen Andre (Kelseyville, Calif.) hit .444 (11-3-18), while setter Julie Knytych (LaGrange Park, Ill.) inched closer to fourth place on the all-time SEC career assists chart with 43 today. She now has 5,477 in her illustrious career, 28 shy of current fourth-place holder Jenny Hazelwood of Mississippi State, who tallied 5,505 from 1996-99. Knytych already holds the school record.

Outside hitter Amy Morris (Michigan City, Ind.) had seven kills in the contest to go with five digs. She also came within one of her career high in service aces with three today (Morris had four in a 3-1 win against the Tigers on Oct. 15, 2004). Defensive specialist Jasmine Fullove (Fort Wayne, Ind.) recorded a couple of digs in her three games played.

Overall, the Lady Vols' .448 hitting percentage (54-11-96) was the third-highest recorded this season and came just two days after UT hit a season-high .467 (56-7-105) in a 3-0 sweep over Alabama.

Junior outside hitter Kelsey Fautsch (Chisago Lakes, Minn.) had a very impressive match as well, hitting .560 (16-2-25) with a match-high total in kills with 16. She also had 11 digs and earned the second double-double of her career (Fautsch compiled 12 kills and 11 digs in a 3-0 sweep over College of Charleston on Sept. 10). Knytych also posted a double-digit total in digs with 10.

Freshman outside hitter Mindy Flynn (Louisville, Ky.) set the match pace in blocks with four.

"I am a little surprised at the high level of consistently that we played, especially in our passing game," Patrick said. "It was very organized passing. Even offensively, we are hitting at a very high percentage and making very few errors. I was prepared for our team to make a few more errors, especially with Kelsey (Fautsch) hitting in a new position and Amy (Morris), who has not hit in two months, hitting in the outside hitter position (prior to this week).

Auburn took an early 1-0 lead in the first game, but Tennessee stormed back with four straight points and did not look back, gradually extending the lead throughout the game to a game high of 11 on three occasions (18-17, 29-18 and the final score of 30-19).

In the second game, Auburn once again took a 1-0 lead and Tennessee again ensured that that would be the final one the Tigers would have with four straight points. The advantage increased at a greater pace than in the first game as UT took a 10-point lead at 18-8 and the advantage reached as high as 16 at 27-11, 28-12, 29-13 and the final result of 30-14.

Tennessee scored the first two points in the third game and never relinquished the lead. The highest advantage came when a Fautsch kill ended the game, 30-17.

Today was the first time that the Big Orange had held an opponent below 20 points in every game of a match since a 30-13, 30-19, 30-18 win over Kentucky on Oct. 3, 2004. It was just the third occurrence by a Lady Vol squad since rally scoring came into effect in 2001 and the second in SEC play.

The Lady Vols now look forward to the SEC Tournament, to be hosted by the University of Alabama. Tennessee has earned the second seed and will take on seventh-seeded Mississippi State in a quarterfinal match-up on Friday. Semifinal contests take place on Saturday and the final will begin at 2 p.m. CDT on Sunday. That match will be broadcast live by SEC-TV (FSN South in the Knoxville area).