University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
7-15, 0-8
Georgia
10-9, 2-5
Tennessee Comes Up Short at Georgia, 3-0
October 19, 2014 | Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2014
ATHENS, Ga. -- After fighting its way out of a 2-0 deficit Friday night at Mississippi State, the Tennessee volleyball team couldn't find the same formula at Georgia on Sunday, falling to the Bulldogs 3-0 (17-25, 17-25, 21-25). Kendra Turner led UT with nine kills and while Jamie Lea and Kanisha Jimenez each supplied six.The Lady Vols (7-15, 0-8 SEC) finished the match with an attack percentage of .120 while UGA (10-9, 2-5 SEC) posted a hitting clip better than .400 for the third time this season. The Bulldogs finished with 44 kills at a .404 percentage.
Lexi Dempsey recorded a match-high 19 assists and Jimenez came away with the team lead in digs with eight.
Tennessee is back in action next Sunday when it hosts Ole Miss at Thompson-Boling Arena. First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET.
"We fought hard the whole match, but we were just snakebitten by too many unforced errors," said UT head coach Rob Patrick. "We don't make those kinds of errors in practice so we have to continue to work on it so it transfers to the matches. But we also had to move our lineup around due to a few injuries today and that's tough on the team where we're starting to get comfortable in a stable lineup and then we have to switch things around. I give the team credit for playing through that, but we got a little unorganized initially because of the new lineup."
Georgia's steady performance at the net began in the first set when it posted kills on nine of its first 11 swings to open the match, taking a five-point lead at 11-6 in the early going. A kill from Iesha Bryant started a quick 3-0 rally for the Lady Vols that brought them to within two at 11-9, but UGA was able to extend the advantage back to five with more effective play at the net. The Bulldogs led 17-10 when Tennessee used a lengthy rally to pull itself back into the game. After a timeout, Jimenez put down a kill that sparked a 6-1 spurt for UT. Turner and Bryant also delivered kills in the sequence to get the Lady Vols within a pair of 18-16.
But making the most of a timeout of their own, UGA claimed the next three points to take a five-point, 21-16 lead late in the frame. That cushion was enough for the home team as it rode out a 25-17 victory to open the match.
UGA posted a .556 hitting percentage in set one, tallying 18 kills against just eight for Tennessee. Two kills apiece for Shealyn Kolosky, Jimenez, Bryant, and Turner made up UT's .200 attacking clip.
UGA maintained a hot hand in set two, jumping out to a 6-1 lead to begin the game. The Bulldogs never looked back from there, using 15 more kills and a .371 attack percentage to grab another 25-17 win. The Lady Vols scored eight of the set's final 14 points behind three kills apiece from Lea and Ashley Mariani, but the initial deficit was too much to overcome as the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into match break.
Turner delivered three kills over UT's first four points of set three, keeping the Lady Vols within striking distance in the early going. That effort set the table for a quick 3-0 spurt -- featuring a big block from Bryant and Dempsey -- that brought UT back to within just two points at 10-8. Tennessee fought to within a pair on four more occasions over the course of the set, but couldn't break the two-point threshold. Late in the set UGA benefitted from two UT attack errors to go up 19-15 and was able to maintain the margin to a 25-21 victory.
"We're starting to get dinged up a little bit so we're going to give the players some time off to rest their bodies," said Patrick of the upcoming break between matches. "We'll get healthy and then get back in the gym and keep working hard."
