Lady Vols top LSU in four sets to sweep the weekend

Sunday, October 21

Baton Rouge, LA

2 pm

University of Tennessee

16-5, 7-2SEC

LSU

7-13, 2-7SEC

Tennessee

LSU

October 21, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score

Backed by a combined 39 kills from Grubbs and Treiber, Tennessee rolls over Tigers in four sets

By: Andy Kovar

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The University of Tennessee volleyball team captured its second win of the weekend on the road as the Lady Vols beat LSU in four sets.

Backed by a 20-kill match from junior Tessa Grubbs and a career-high tying 19 kills from senior Erica Treiber, the Lady Vols moved to 3-1 on the road in Southeastern Conference play.

Tennessee battled back from a set down to take the final three sets. In the fourth and final set, the Lady Vols offense came alive, hitting .359 en route to a wire-to-wire 25-15 set victory. It is the second consecutive win in Baton Rouge for the Lady Vols after sweeping the Tigers last season.

After dropping the opening set, Tennessee took control of the match in the second set. After trading the first few points, back-to-back kills from freshman Lily Felts and Addisyn Rowe put the Lady Vols up 8-6 as they would hold the lead for the remainder of the frame.

In the second set, the Tennessee offense shifted fully to a 5-1 offense with junior Sedona Hansen as the setter. Hansen, who tallied a season-high 48 assists in the match, helped guide the offense to a 25-19 set victory to tie up the match.

Down 23-21 in the third set, kills from Grubbs and Treiber helped the Lady Vols go on a 3-0 run to take a 24-23 advantage. From there, both teams traded points before an attack from LSU's Milan Stokes was called long to give the set to Tennessee 30-28.

Junior Asha Phillips tallied 10 of her career-high 12 digs in the set helping Tennessee go up 2-1 in the match.

Fellow defensive specialist Brooke Schumacher also had a milestone night as her 18-dig performance moved her into eighth on the all-time digs list in program history. Schumacher passed Julie Knytych (2002-05) and now sits just 11 digs away from tying Nikki Fowler (2007-10) for seventh in Tennessee history at 1,281 digs.

From Coach Rackham:
On the defensive performance:
"I think our defensive performance was a combination of good serving with discipline blocking. It helped our back row players be in better situations to make digs. It was a team effort out there. It's sometimes easy to look at the numbers and think we had a good match defensively but, it starts from the service line and the pressure we put on them.
We have worked a lot on being disciplined on defense and going to balls we maybe thought we out of our range. To get that many digs is a step in the right direction." – Coach Eve Rackham

On going 2-0 on the road in conference play:
"I told the team that maybe it was our toughest weekend we have had this season. To get two wins on the road in conference is huge. You can see across the board that is hard to win on the road. For us to be able to get both of them and to be put in tough situations in both matches is good for us. We were really challenged in certain sets. I'm proud of the girls for the way they played. They stayed competitive and in it the whole time. I'm happy for them and hopefully this just continues to build their confidence" – Coach Eve Rackham

From Brooke Schumacher:
On the 88-dig performance as a team:
"Our block was set up in a great spot for us as back row players to be able to dig around them. We were so locked in on not letting a ball hit the floor." – Brooke Schumacher

On moving into eighth on the all-time digs list:
"It is an amazing feeling to just be in the top 10. Being in eighth now, it is awesome to say that I can look back at what I have done at the University of Tennessee." – Brooke Schumacher

On sweeping the weekend on the road:
"With weekend matches on the road, you just have to stay mentally engaged. This year our team is always there ready to go. After this weekend of going 2-0, it shows this team is doing an incredible job of growing as a whole." – Brooke Schumacher

Standout Stat:

Tennessee compiled a season-high 88 digs in the match surpassing its previous mark of 83 set in a five setter against East Tennessee State in early September. Four players finished with double figure digs including a team-high 23 from libero Madison Coulter.

Match Notables:

Sedona Hansen recorded her 11th double-double of the season with a season-high 48 assists to go along with 13 digs. This is her fifth in conference play and her second consecutive after posting 27 assists and 12 digs against Texas A&M on Friday.
Tessa Grubbs has now recorded double-digit kills in 15 of the 17 matches she has played this season including every match in SEC play. The junior has led Tennessee in kills nine times this season including four of the five SEC matches she has played.
Erica Treiber matched her career-high with 19 kills in the match. This is the third time this season she has had 19 kills in a match with the other two coming against Michigan State and Missouri.

Next Up:
Tennessee returns home to face off against the South Carolina Gamecocks in a midweek matchup between two of the conference's top teams. South Carolina moved to 6-3 in SEC play as it defeated Georgia at home on Sunday.

The match will air on ESPNU with the first serve scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (ET) in Knoxville, Tenn.