Tennessee Falls in Five to LSU

Friday, October 11

Knoxville

6:30 PM

University of Tennessee

8-7,2-3SEC

LSU

9-6,3-2SEC

LSU

Tennessee

October 11, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Lady Vols were led by sophomore Lily Felts first double double performance of the season

By: Andy Kovar

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For just the second time this season, the University of Tennessee volleyball team fell at home, dropping a five setter (26-24, 26-24, 22-25, 20-25, 11-15) to LSU Friday night.

Despite taking the opening two sets, the Lady Vols (8-7, 2-3 SEC) were unable close out the Tigers (9-6, 3-2 SEC). Tennessee was led by sophomore outside hitter Lily Felts who recorded her first double double in the loss with season-high 17 kills and 11 digs.

Felts got the Lady Vol offense off to a quick start with five kills in the first set to go along a pair of aces and four digs. She continued to be a go to option for the Tennessee offense in the second frame with five more kills while adding two more aces from the service stripe.

The Knoxville, Tennessee native notched four of the five Lady Vol aces in the match.

For the 14th time this season, senior Tessa Grubbs led Tennessee in kills finishing with 18 in the match while also having a team-high .371 hitting percentage on 35 swings.

Senior setter Sedona Hansen recorded a team-high 32 assists in the loss. This marks the 10th time this season Hansen has had 30-plus assists in a match.

From Coach Rackham:
On the difference in the match:
"Our service pressure really faded as the match went on. They were able to get their middles involved pretty heavily. It put a lot of pressure on our block and defense and we just we never really could regain service pressure so, we were having a hard time scoring points."-- Coach Eve Rackham

On Lily Felts match:
"I'm happy for Lily. She had 17 kills and 11 digs. It was a good night for her. She had a lot on her shoulders tonight. She was probably was our best server and a real bright spot serving. We relied on her to do a lot and Lily is capable of doing it."-- Coach Rackham

On learning from this match:
"I hope that they start to understand that being up 2-0 doesn't mean the match is over. We have to be able to capitalize more while playing at home. I think this one got away from us and it will sting for a little bit, but we're going to have to get over it and play on Sunday."-- Coach Rackham

Standout Stat

Lily Felts set a new career high with four service aces in the match. She broke her career high in the second set when she recorded her third ace. She tied Tessa Grubbs for the most aces in a single match this season.

Match Notables:

In the opening set of the match, Tessa Grubbs passed former Lady Vol Kelsey Robinson for 14th on Tennessee's all-time kill. Robinson, a U.S. Olympian, finished her Lady Vol career with 1,205 kills. Grubbs now has 1,220 kills in her career.
This marks just the third time in the last two years Tennessee has lost inside of Thompson-Boling Arena. Both home losses this season have coming in five sets.

Lily Felts now just needs two service aces to match her season total of 14 during her freshman season. She leads the team in both total aces (12) and aces per set (0.20).

Next Up
The Lady Vols continue their homestand against Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon. Last season, Tennessee swept the season series, winning both matches in straight sets.

First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (ET) at Thompson-Boling Arena. The match will also air on SEC Network+.