University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
7-8, 0-1
Arkansas
7-7, 1-0
Tennessee Blanked in SEC Opener
September 26, 2014 | Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2014
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Tennessee volleyball team dropped the 2014 SEC opener on Friday night, falling 3-0 to Arkansas at Barnhill Arena. UT is back in action Sunday against reigning conference champion Missouri.The Lady Vols (7-8, 0-1 SEC) were paced by Kendra Turner's nine kills and Lexi Dempsey's 29 assists. Claudia Coco, who got her first career start Friday night, registered a team-high nine digs.
"We've been playing low-error volleyball and controlling the ball well on our side over the last few matches, but we didn't do a good job of that tonight," said UT head coach Rob Patrick. "For some reason we didn't hit our serving spots to get Arkansas off balance, we didn't pass the ball very well, and that affected a lot of what we were and weren't able to do in terms of our sideout offense."
Meanwhile, Arkansas (7-7, 1-0 SEC) finished the match with 51 total kills, 24 of which came off the hand of outside hitter Meredith Hays. The senior entered the match averaging a conference-leading 4.3 kills per set. As a team, the Razorbacks swung .339 while Tennessee's 37 total kills came at a .235 clip.
"We knew who was going to get set [for Arkansas], but for some reason we did not set the blocks in the spots we wanted to. We were trying to get them to change where they were setting, but our inexperience got the best of us. Hays is a senior and is able to do a lot of things and we allowed her to hit with one blocker too many times when she was supposed to be our main focus defensively."
Friday's loss was the first sweep suffered against Arkansas since 2003 and marked the first time since 2007 that the Lady Vols were blanked in an SEC-opening match.
Tennessee never led in the first set, but kept within striking distance for much of the frame. It never trailed by more than five through the middle portion of the game, battling to within two when a kill from Kanisha Jimenez made the score 18-16. But Arkansas answered with a 6-1 rally to pull away and seal a 25-20 victory to open the match.
Set two teeter-tottered early and neither team led by more than two points during the initial sequence. The Lady Vols looked to be in business when a Razorback service error and a kill from Kelsey Bawcombe knotted the score at 11-11, but another lengthy run from the home team quashed the momentum. Using five kills and a service ace, Arkansas opened up a 7-0 run to take a commanding 18-11 lead. The Hogs would go on to take the set 25-15.
Tennessee found itself in a big hole in set three as Arkansas shot from the gates to take a quick 10-4 lead. That advantage would grow to as many as eight at 13-5 before the Lady Vols snapped into gear and began slowly chipping away. UT would score eight of the next 10 points to claw to within 15-13, getting a big effort from Jimenez and Shealyn Kolosky on a combined block to cap the rally. The Lady Vols kept things close over the next sequence, getting to within a pair again at 19-17 after a Turner kill. But it was Arkansas that mounted the final rally, ending the match on a 6-2 spurt to claim a 25-19 third set win.
Sunday's match at Missouri gets underway at 12 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network. It will be the first of four Lady Vols matches to be televised by the new network this fall.
