University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
8-24, 1-17SEC
Alabama
25-7, 13-5SEC
Tennessee Drops Season Finale at Alabama
November 29, 2014 | Volleyball
Nov. 29, 2014
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Tennessee fell to Alabama in its season finale on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 3-0 (11-25, 20-25, 14-25) decision at Foster Auditorium. The Lady Vols conclude the season with a record of 8-24, with a 1-17 mark in SEC play.
Kanisha Jimenez and Ashley Mariani led the Crimson Tide with seven kills apiece with Kendra Turner not far behind with six. As a team, Tennessee would finish the match with 27 kills -- its lowest kill total in a match since recording only 21 against Florida on Nov. 2. UT swung .176 on 85 attack attempts on Saturday.
Setter Lexi Dempsey posted 26 assists on those 27 kills.
Defensively, UT recorded 7.0 total team blocks and was led by four from Shealyn Kolosky, playing in her final collegiate match. Kolosky also had five kills on a .571 attacking clip.
"I thought we did a nice job when we were able to control the ball," said Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick. "We were able to keep them off balance when we passed the ball well. We got some splits in the block and Kendra did a nice job of hitting the seams. We had a good game plan and we did a good job against their better hitters at the net, but we didn't do a good enough job digging the ball to give ourselves a chance to score points."
Alabama (25-7, 13-5 SEC) wasted no time in set one, jumping out to a 6-1 advantage behind three consecutive service aces from Krystal Rivers. UT hung around through the middle portion of the frame, largely behind four kills from Ashley Mariani, but the Crimson Tide rode a .321 hitting percentage and five aces for the set to a 25-11 victory.
The serving game would continue to provide a spark for Alabama throughout the match, ultimately closing things out with eight total aces. On the flip side, Tennessee finished with 12 service errors in the contest, matching a season-worst.
"We certainly did not serve as tough as we needed to in order to take them out of their system and what they wanted to do offensively," Patrick said.
After a back-and-forth start to the second set that saw the two teams reach a 9-9 tie, Tennessee gained the upper hand behind a 3-0 spurt that featured another kills from Mariani and Kendra Turner. The short spurt prompted a timeout from the UA bench, but the Lady Vols maintained the momentum after the break. Shealyn Kolosky got in a couple blocks during the sequence, combining first with Turner before teaming up with Mariani for the stuff, and Jimenez delivered another kill to give UT a 15-12 advantage.
Still, the home team would not go away as it answered with a 4-0 run to recapture the lead at 16-15. Another kill from Jimenez leveled the score again, but the Tide scored six of the next eight points to push the set to the brink. Turner delivered a couple kills to keep UT within striking distance late before Alabama finally closed things out at a 25-20 score line.
After hitting just .036 in the first set, Tennessee found an offensive groove in the second with a hitting efficiency of .346. Jimenez and turner each finished with three kills in the set while Kolosky's three blocks came with a trio of kills.
In the third set, UA used an 8-3 rally to break an early 4-4 deadlock, seizing a control over the set it would never relinquish. UT pulled itself to within four after a Mariani kill not long thereafter, but it was as close as the Lady Vols would come as the Crimson Tide finished the match with a 25-14 win, giving them a school record 25 victories this season.
