University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
5-5 (0-0SEC)
Coastal Carolina
7-2 (0-0Big South)
Lady Vols Fall to Coastal, 3-1
September 13, 2014 | Volleyball
CONWAY, S.C. -- Tennessee came up just short in its bid for the Coastal Carolina Tournament title, falling 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 20-15, 18-25) to host CCU in the tournament finale on Saturday. UT departs Conway with a 2-1 record and outside hitter Jamie Lea was named to the All-Tournament team following the conclusion of Saturday's match.
Lea recorded her second double-double of the weekend with 14 kills and a team-high 17 digs. She was joined by teammate Ashley Mariani, who also had 14 kills in the match.
Lexi Dempsey registered a match-high 41 assists while Bridgette Villano added 13 digs.
"Even with the loss, it was a great weekend for us," said head coach Rob Patrick. "We're playing consistently for longer periods of time and that's something we've been working on. It wasn't that we were making a ton of errors on our side of the net -- we were actually playing very well -- it's that Coastal was making some better plays on their side of the net."
After suffering a first set loss in which it posted just a .088 hitting percentage, Tennessee (5-5) looked its strongest in the second set. The Lady Vols never trailed in the frame, bursting out to a 4-1 lead behind a kill from Lea and two more from freshman Kendra Turner. CCU (7-2) fought back to within one at 8-7, but UT took six of the next eight points to gain a bit of a cushion at the midway point. Lea and Mariani each had a pair of kills during the spurt and would go on to finish with four apiece in the frame.
Tennessee was able to steadily pull away from there, eventually leading by as many as eight when another Mariani kill gave the Lady Vols set point at 24-16. UT would end the second set with a hitting percentage of .333 while limiting the Chanticleers to just .095.
Unfortunately, that was the last time Tennessee would post those kinds of numbers for the match. Over the final two sets, UT's attack percentage never rose above .200 while CCU's never dropped below that mark. The Chanticleers pieced together several extended runs to pull away in the match, including a 10-0 spurt in set four that proved too much to overcome for the visitors.
"I saw for the first time a little fatigue that had set in with our team," said Patrick. "We've been on the road the last three weeks and we were just half a step slow in some of the moves we needed to make. But I was proud that we were trying to fight through it. We played a very, very good and experienced Coastal team and I thought we shut off some of the things they wanted to do but they found a way to get some kills and get the ball past our defense. We had some tired breakdowns in terms of serve/receive and getting organized that way."
Defensively, the Lady Vols posted more digs than their opponents at a 61-57 margin. However, Coastal came away with with 21 combined team blocks -- including 10 from senior middle blocker Katie Martin -- compared to just nine for UT. After having four players post four or more blocks on Friday night against Loyola, the Lady Vols were led by Raina Hembry's three on Saturday.
In earning All-Tournament team honors, Lea tallied 43 kills at a rate 3.58 per set. She also had 35 digs, second only to libero Villano for the team lead, and was second on the squad in total blocks with 10.
Other notable performances from the weekend include freshman Kendra Turner's 3.08 kills per set and junior Dempsey's 10.0 assists per set and 2.25 digs per frame.
"I thought Lexi Dempsey played a really solid tournament and was another person that could have been on the All-Tournament team," Patrick said. "She ran some great tempo in our offense and got better and more consistent in every game she played in this tournament."
Its 10-game, season-opening road swing now complete, Tennessee returns to Knoxville to wrap up non-conference play and make its home debut in four matches at the DISH Lady Vol Classic. UT opens play at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena against in-state foe Austin Peay. Other participants in the Classic include Memphis, Mercer, and Montana State.
