University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
9-0
Evansville
3-5
Volleyball Rallies Past Evansville, 3-1
September 08, 2015 | Volleyball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- After a slow start, the Tennessee Volunteers bounced back for a 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-15) victory over the Evansville Purple Aces on Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols are now off to a 9-0 begin the year, the program's best start since going 9-0 to open the 2004 season. Tennessee's teams already in action this fall -- volleyball, soccer and football -- are a combined 13-0-3 to start the 2015-16 season.
For the first time this season, four Vols had at least 10 kills: Kanisha Jimenez (16), Raina Hembry (14), Erica Treiber (11) and sophomore Kelsey Bawcombe (11).
Bawcombe had her best match of the season, recording her first double-double as a sophomore. She had 11 digs to go along with her 11 kills, while striking three aces and two blocks. Hembry also recorded her season high in kills.
"Lexi Dempsey didn't set as consistent as she has, but she made unbelievable great choices in terms of who she was setting and when she was setting them," Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick said. "We had five people with 20 attempts. That is really spreading it out, and that is on her. She really did that. The match became easier for us because they were a little bit more one-dimensional, but it got harder for them because they were still trying to chase us down."
Now, the work begins on the road for Tennessee. The Vols are away from Thompson-Boling Arena the next three weekends, beginning with the College of Charleston Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Evansville led the first set 6-0, but Tennessee climbed back into the match, courtesy of three aces in four points and a kill by Jimenez to tie things up at 10-10. Down 20-15, Evansville closed strong by winning 10 of the final 12 points to capture the set 25-22.
"We have actually been playing pretty cleanly," Patrick said. "We haven't been making a lot of errors, and we've been organized on the court, but for some reason, we were very, very unorganized and making some uncharacteristic errors. It really put us in a hole."
The second set was every bit as close as the first. Erica Treiber broke the tie with a kill to put Tennessee up 14-13, and the Vols stayed ahead the rest of the way. Tennessee never led by more than four points. Evansville cut the score to 21-20 but UT won four of the final five points to take the set. Jimenez put away a shot to give the Vols the set at the break, 25-22.
The Vols needed a late comeback of their own in the third set. Trailing 21-19, Tennessee won 6 of 7 points to close out the set 25-22. Both teams' hitting improved in the third set, with Tennessee hitting .375 and Evansville at .222.
Tennessee's hitting escalated in the final set. The Vols hit .432 and pulled away for a 25-15 win in the frame. They took a 5-4 lead on an ace by Jimenez and led the rest of the match.
Tennessee continued their streak of out-digging every opponent this season. The Vols held a 69-64 advantage in digs. Junior libero Bridgette Villano led the team with 18 digs, and freshman Brooke Schumacher added 12.
Senior Lexi Dempsey led Tennessee in assists with 48. As a team, the Vols hit .281.
Genesis Miranda led Evansville with 21 kills, the most an individual has had against Tennessee this season.
