University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
5-4 (0-0SEC)
Loyola Maryland
1-8 (0-0Patriot)
UT Holds Off Loyola Maryland for 3-1 Win
September 12, 2014 | Volleyball
CONWAY, S.C. -- A different story was told on either side of intermission for the Tennessee volleyball team on Friday night, but the conclusion was nonetheless a victory as UT held off Loyola, 3-1 (25-13, 25-10, 27-29, 25-21) at the Coastal Carolina Tournament.
The Lady Vols (5-4) cruised through the first two sets, enjoying winning margins of 12 and 15 behind a pair of stellar attacking efforts. UT swung an impressive .387 in the first set and followed that up with an even stronger .450 effort in the second set. No attacking errors were made by the Orange and White in the second frame as the Lady Vols enjoyed an 80 percent sideout percentage.
"I was very excited about how we came out very strong in the first two sets," said UT head coach Rob Patrick. "We played as `low-error' as we've ever played at Tennessee. One error in two sets and about fifty of sixty swings. Our passers did a fantastic job and we really got into a great groove early and took the game to Loyola."
Those figures dropped dramatically over the final two sets, though. UT came out on the wrong end of a tightly contested third set, which featured 13 ties and four lead changes along the way, after posting just a .095 attack percentage. The hitting clip improved slightly in the fourth set to .189, but the Lady Vols never led by more than four against the pesky Greyhounds (1-8).
"Loyola really picked up their game in the third set and made it hard for us to get kills," Patrick said. "They put a lot of pressure on us and took the third set and we lost momentum. But we worked really hard to get that momentum back in the fourth set and I thought we did a great job of that. I was very pleased with the overall match for us."
For the second straight match, UT was led offensively by the outside hitting tandem of Jamie Lea and Kendra Turner. Lea posted 11 kills while Turner came in with 10. Meanwhile, middle blocker Raina Hembry turned in a nice performance with seven kills to go along with a match-high seven total blocks.
Libero Bridgette Villano augmented the defensive effort with a career-best 24 kills on the night. She was followed by 14 kills from junior defensive specialist Megan Hatcher, whose 14 digs also represented a new career-best.
Fresh off a 44-assist performance against Kennesaw State on Friday morning, setter Lexi Dempsey chipped in 35 assists on the night.
After convincing wins in sets one and two, Tennessee found itself in a bit of a dogfight early in the third set. Over the prior to games, Loyola had faced a big deficit early after quick starts from the Lady Vols. This time it was the Greyhounds making that initial push, gaining some separation at 15-12 behind a kill and UT attack error. The lead was relatively short-lived, though, as Tennessee battled back with three straight points to tie things up at 15-15.
But another Loyola run saw the Greyhounds take their largest lead of the match at 20-16. Again the Lady Vols responded, tying the score at 23-all. From that point, Loyola twice moved the game to set-point, but were twice denied on kills from Lea. UT even had a chance to seal the match when it led 27-26 following a Turner kill, but the Greyhounds closed things out on a 3-0 run to extend the match.
Loyola's momentum carried into the fourth set as it jumped out to a quick 4-1 advantage to start the frame. But after another pair of Lea kills, a kill from Shealyn Kolosky, and an ace from Kanisha Jimenez, Tennessee overtook the Greyhounds at 10-7. The Lady Vols would not relinquish the lead from there, even growing the advantage to as much as five.
Such an advantage was not safe, however, and Loyola battled all the way back to within one on a couple of occasions late in the set. The Greyhounds inched to within 20-19 and 22-21 before finally bowing out to three consecutive UT points.
Loyola finished the match with an attack percentage of .067 and had just eight total blocks in the match. The Greyhounds finish out their weekend against Kennesaw State on Saturday.
Meanwhile Tennessee, winners of three straight, will look to clinch the Coastal Carolina Tournament championship on Saturday when it meets host CCU at 1 p.m. ET.
