No. 25 Lady Vols Top Ole Miss in Four Sets

Friday, November 2

Oxford, MS

7:30 pm

University of Tennessee

19-5 (10-2SEC)

Ole Miss

13-13 (3-9SEC)

Tennessee

Ole Miss

November 02, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score

Erica Treiber tallies 1,000 career kill and moves into top five in blocks in program history as Tennessee moves into second in conference standings

By: Andy Kovar

OXFORD, Miss. -- The No. 25 University of Tennessee volleyball team captured its 10th Southeastern Conference victory of the season with a four-set win over Ole Miss Friday night.

With the win, the Lady Vols (19-5,10-2 SEC) move into a tie for second place in the conference.

With the match tied at a set a piece and Tennessee trailing 24-22, a Tessa Grubbs kills brought the Lady Vols within a point. On the next point, Ole Miss (13-13, 3-9 SEC) set the left pin but, it was sealed off by senior Erica Treiber and sophomore Callie Williams, tying the set 24-24.

The block was the fifth of the match for Treiber and moved into fifth all-time in program history with block number 467 in her career. On the very next point, Williams set Treiber who hit it off the block as it went straight down to the floor to give Tennessee the lead 25-24.

It was the kill number 1,000 for her career as she became the 20th person in program history to reach that marker.

An attack error by the Rebels on the next play gave Tennessee the set 26-24 putting them in from 2-1 sets.

Trailing 21-18 in the fourth set, Williams found Grubbs on three consecutive plays to tie the match. On the next play, the Lady Vols took the lead for good as Addisyn Rowe found the floor for her career-high 17th kill of the match.

At match point, the Rebels set Emily Stoup on the left pin but, it was blocked off by Rowe and freshman Danielle Mahaffey and Tennessee took the fourth set 25-23.

Rowe's 17 kills in the match broke her season-high of 13 by four and her career-high of 15 by two kills. It was the second consecutive match Tessa Grubbs has had 20+ kills and she is averaging 5.44 kills per set over the last two matches.

From Coach Rackham:
On tonight's win:
"We found a way to win. We played a number of different lineups. We went to the 5-1 after Sedona went out. We relied on our defensive specialists to do a good job in serve receive and defense when we go to the 5-1. I thought that that was a good change in the match. It took some pressure off of the outsides to pass so, they could concentrate on scoring. We were able to get the ball to Addisyn (Rowe) a ton. It was a great offensive battle back-and-forth where both teams were not able to string much together." – Coach Eve Rackham

On Erica Treiber at the end of the third and career accomplishments:
"That's why you love Treiber. When the game is on the line, you can count on her. We obviously didn't want to be in that situation but, we got there. This team has found a way to will themselves in the toughest of situations and they stay fairly composed. I'm just so happy for Treiber because she has worked so hard and she has been so good for us. To have that (1,000th) kill in that moment is pretty memorable." Coach Eve Rackham

On Callie Williams and her playing in the 5-1 late:
"She did a really nice job especially in the fourth set. She served us back into the game. She came up with a big dig. She made some really nice choices and delivered some really nice balls to our hitters. Callie is a competitor so; you can put her in any situation. I feel like the tougher the moment the better she is." Coach Eve Rackham

From Erica Treiber:
On grabbing the 10th win in SEC play:
"Tonight was a huge team win. A lot of girls came in and stepped up. We were kind of thrown out of sorts at some points but, we brought it together and found a way to pull out a win. 10th win in SEC play is huge. That was a great team that we beat tonight. Now, we just have to keep our momentum going forward. We have a lot of teams left and any team can pull out any game at this point." – Erica Treiber

On the career accomplishments set in the win:
"Shout out to Callie (Williams) for that block in that point in the match. Everything is working so well on the court behind me. As a team, having everything flowing makes all of those accomplishments possible. It has definitely helped bring me to this point" – Erica Treiber

Standout Stat:

Erica Treiber has now hit over .400 in the last three SEC matches and over .500 in back-to-back wins. Tennessee is 12-2 and 6-0 in SEC play when Treiber hits .400-plus in a match. She now has a hitting percentage of .400 on the season which is second in the conference.

Match Notables:

With a team-high five blocks, Erica Treiber passed Ariana Wilson for fifth on the all-time blocks list. The Vols finished with 11.0 blocks in the match, making it the fifth time in conference play they have had 10.0 or more.
With 11 digs, Brooke Schumacher now has 1,311 in her career at Tennessee. The senior needs just 27 digs to enter the top five in program history and two to have sole possession of sixth place on the list.
Sedona Hansen finished with a team-high 34 assists (11.33 assists/set) in three sets played. She now has 2,287 assists in her three-year career.

Next Up:
Tennessee returns home for a match-up with Texas A&M on Sunday night. The Lady Vols defeated the Aggies in five sets earlier this season in College Station. The Aggies currently sit at 6-6 in conference play and sixth in the conference standings. Tennessee will be in search of its 20th win of the season. It would be the Vols 24th 20-win season in program history and the first since 2015.

The match will air on ESPNU with the first serve scheduled for 5:00 p.m. (ET) in Thompson-Boling Arena.