University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Set to Open Road Schedule at Xavier Invitational
September 03, 2009 | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2009
Xavier Invitational Tournament Central
By Cameron Harris, Assistant Media Relations Director
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee volleyball team (3-0) will hit the road for the first time in 2009 as it is set to travel up I-75 to Cincinnati, Ohio, to compete in the Xavier Invitational at the Cintas Center this weekend. Live stats will be available at both GoXavier.com and UTLadyVols.com.
The Lady Vols will open the tournament with a 4 p.m. showdown on Friday against No. 7 Michigan (2-0), which is coming off victories over a pair of ranked teams at the AVCA Showcase in Omaha, Neb. The Wolverines started their season with an impressive sweep of third-ranked Nebraska before taking out No. 22 Kansas State in four sets.
Tennessee will also square off with Notre Dame (2-1), which swept No. 5 Stanford this past weekend, at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and host Xavier (1-2) at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
With a sweep of Lipscomb last Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Big Orange laid claim to the Comcast Lady Vol Classic title for the fifth time in six seasons. The Lady Vols picked up a hard-fought, three-set decision, 26-24, 25-22, 25-23, to move to 3-0 on the season.
Junior Nikki Fowler was tabbed as the tournament MVP, while senior Farren Powe and freshman Leslie Cikra also earned mention on the all-tournament team. With 15 kills in the championship match against Lipscomb, Fowler moved her total to 41 putaways on the weekend, good for second-best among all tournament performers behind only Alex Kelly of Lipscomb who tallied 42. Fowler also finished with the second-most digs in the tournament with a team-high 38 and was tied for third with 10 blocks and tied for the tournament lead with four aces.
Although Powe had a rough day offensively on Sunday, she still hit at an impressive .367 clip with 22 kills for the weekend. In just three sets against Lipscomb, the Mobile, Ala., product tallied 10 total blocks, including a pair of solo putbacks, and four digs. She finished as the tournament leader with 16 blocks in three matches, good for an average of 1.45 per set. A freshman from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Cikra finished the weekend second on the team with 26 kills on 74 swings. She also added five blocks in her initial foray into collegiate volleyball.
Following this weekend's competition, Tennessee will close out its tournament schedule at the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C., Sept. 11-12. The Orange and White will open with host North Carolina at 7 p.m. on Friday before closing out its stay with contests against Colorado State and Marshall the next day.
