University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
8-23, 1-16SEC
Arkansas
15-15, 9-8SEC
Kolosky Hits Career Mark on Senior Night
November 26, 2014 | Volleyball
Nov. 26, 2014
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Senior Shealyn Kolosky turned in a career offensive performance in her final match at Thompson-Boling Arena, delivering 13 kills in Tennessee's 3-1 loss to Arkansas on Wednesday night. The 13 kills, a new career-high, were accompanied by seven total blocks, matching a season-best.
Kolosky was the only Lady Vol to find her way into double-digit kills, doing so on a team-high hitting efficiency of .500. Kanisha Jimenez and Kendra Turner followed with nine kills apiece, the former just missing out on the double-double after notching 10 digs. Taylor Johnson had 33 assists, just one short of tying her career-high.
The lone senior on this year's UT squad, Kolosky was honored on Senior Night in a pre-match ceremony. A four-year contributor for the Lady Vols, Kolosky has competed in two NCAA Tournaments and was started every match with the 2011 squad that won the SEC Championship. She currently ranks 23rd among the SEC's active kills leaders with 513 to her name.
"I spoke with Shealyn last week and I wanted to thank her for all that she's done for this program," said UT head coach Rob Patrick. "She's an incredible person -- she took care of her business off the court, took care her business on the court. And she's been playing injured for two years. She's going to be successful in anything she does and it was so fitting for her to play her last home match and have such a strong performance."
Tennessee (8-23, 1-16 SEC) opened the match with a win in the first set, getting 10 combined kills from Kolosky and Turner to take the opening stanza by a 25-21 score line. Dead even through the midway point, the first set featured eight ties as neither side could find any separation as late as 19-19. Back-to-back Arkansas errors gave UT the advantage at 21-19, and three straight Lady Vols points clinched the win as back-to-back kills preceded a Villano service ace.
Four team blocks in the opening stanza helped Tennessee limit the Razorbacks to an attack percentage of just .146.
"We came out strong and played some really good volleyball," said Patrick. "I thought we defended very well tonight and our middles did a nice job in limiting their senior outside hitter, Meredith Hays. We did a nice job, but a couple unforced errors here and there -- some serving and hitting -- were the difference in us being able to put a little more pressure on Arkansas."
Despite a continued defensive effort in set two, the offense eluded UT as the Lady Vols recorded just eight kills in the second game. Arkansas used a 5-0 run to break a 4-4 deadlock early in the set and never looked back, gaining the lead by as many as eight on its way to a 25-16 win. Kolosky added three more kills in the set while Jimenez tacked on a trio of her own, but the Lady Vols committed eight attacking errors to negate their eight kills in the frame.
Looking to regain the momentum in the third set, Tennessee matched Arkansas point-for-point to after match break, reaching a 6-6 stalemate early on. Another 5-0 spurt from the visitors put them in control and forced the home side to play catch up for the remainder of the match. Slowly chipping away and never falling behind by more than five from that point, UT got itself to within a pair at 22-20 after Kolosky put down a kill. But the Lady Vols were unable to turn the corner, trading points with Arkansas down the stretch to a 25-22 defeat in the third.
Looking to force a fifth set, Tennessee posted its best hitting percentage of the night at .211 in the fourth game. However, Arkansas answered with a stellar .519 hitting percentage to cruise to a match-winning 25-13 decision, getting 15 kills on only 27 swings. The Lady Vols could muster only one team block in the final frame along with a match-low nine digs.
UT will hit the road following the Thanksgiving holiday for its 2014 season finale when it faces Alabama on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
