No. 22 Lady Vols move past Arkansas in four sets

Sunday, November 18

Fayetteville, AR

2 pm

University of Tennessee

23-5, 14-2SEC

Arkansas

11-15, 5-11SEC

Tennessee

Arkansas

November 18, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score

Tennessee finishes Southeastern Conference road play 8-1 with Sunday's victory over the Razorbacks

By: Andy Kovar

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- No. 22 University of Tennessee captured its ninth consecutive victory with a four-set win over Arkansas on Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Vols (23-5, 14-2 Southeastern Conference) were led out of the middle with 30 combined kills from senior Erica Treiber and sophomore Addisyn Rowe in the victory over the Razorbacks (11-15, 5-11 SEC). Treiber led the team with 18 kills which was just one short of tying her career-high. Both players finished the match hitting over .400 as Tennessee tallied its eighth SEC road win of the season.

Defensively, the Lady Vols finished with 85 digs on the afternoon as four player posted double figure outings. Junior libero Madison Coulter was just two short of her career high with 23 digs to lead the way. Junior Sedona Hansen posted her second double-double of the week with a team-high 28 assists to go along with 12 digs.

Up 2-1 heading into the fourth, the Tennessee block came alive. The team had six of its nine blocks in the final frame. Five of the blocks came in a midst of a 7-3 run with a double block from junior Tessa Grubbs and Rowe completing the run and tying the set 21-21.

Two points later, Grubbs 16th of the match put Tennessee up for good, hitting it deep court. Junior Sedona Hansen found Grubbs again for her 17th kill of the match to close out the set and match 25-23 in the fourth.

The middles paced the offense early on as both players were hitting .500-plus with 17 kills through the first two sets with Tennessee taking the first and Arkansas won the second frame.

With the Lady Vols down 18-17 in the third and sophomore Callie Williams on the service line, Tennessee went on a 4-0 run with an ace from Williams and three kills from freshman Lily Felts. Kills from Treiber and Grubbs helped close out the set 25-20 in favor of the Lady Vols.

They extended their season-long winning streak to nine games and is tied for second in the conference standings with No. 14 Florida heading into Wednesday's match-up with the Gators.

From Coach Adams:
On offense from the middles:
"That came within the flow of the offense. Our serve receive was pretty good today so, we were in situations where we could set them a bunch. They both had a great night."-- Coach Tyler Adams

On Callie Williams serving in the third:
"She went on a huge run for us that included an ace within that run. She has a really good serve and a scrappy mentality when she goes back to the service line and we definitely needed it. We like when our best servers get back there at the crunch time in the game." -- Coach Tyler Adams

On blocks in the fourth set:
"I think some of it was that it was getting late in the match and we were getting an idea of what they wanted to run in certain situations. Mostly, it was really was just great execution by our players out there. In the last set, it's nice to get quick points and it's definitely demoralizing to the other team when they are trying to come back." – Coach Tyler Adams

From Erica Treiber:
On last road SEC road match for the seniors:
"Going into the last road SEC game, it really meant a lot to go out, work hard and get the win. I think we didn't play the best as a team but, we stuck together and we were able to pull the win out. It meant a lot to get this road win."– Erica Treiber

On rhythm of the middles offensively:
"I think it came within the flow of the offense. The libero was really working hard on their side of the net. For us to get the ball to our middles, it was easier for us to hit our angles and score with her in the middle back." – Erica Treiber

On winning in different ways:
"It means a lot to get wins in different ways. It will definitely help going forward when we get into tough situations and how to get out of those. It teaches us how to work together, how to play hard and give it all we have no matter the situation we get put in in the future games." – Erica Treiber

Standout Stat:

Tennessee moves ahead in the all-time series against Arkansas 21-20 with the season sweep of the Razorbacks. This is the first time since the 2011 season the Lady Vols have defeated Arkansas twice in the same season.

Match Notables:

Erica Treiber's 18 kills is one short of the senior's career-high as she finished with a game-high .472 hitting percentage which marks the sixth time in the last seven matches she has hit .400-plus in a match.
Addisyn Rowe's 12 kills marks the seventh time this season that she has had double-digit kills. All seven matches have come in conference play with Tennessee holding a 7-0 record in the matches. She went for double-digit kills in both Arkansas matches this season.
Lily Felts finished one kill shy of her fourth double-double of the season. She finished the match with 13 digs which was just two shy of her season-high.

Next Up:
The Lady Vols return home for the final two matches of the regular season with a midweek match-up vs. No. 14 Florida set for Wednesday in Thompson-Boling Arena. Both teams are currently tied for second in the conference standings. The last time that both teams were ranked in 2011 Tennessee defeated the Gators in five sets.

The match will air on SEC Network+ with first serve scheduled for 5:00 p.m. (ET) in Knoxville, Tenn.