Volleyball Central: vs. Mississippi State

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee volleyball team is closes out the weekend at home Sunday against Mississippi State at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Lady Vols (8-7, 2-3 SEC) dropped a closely contested five-set match the LSU on Friday night. Tennessee took the opening two frames and nearly closed out its third conference win of the season before falling to the Tigers. Senior Tessa Grubbs led the way offensively with 18 kills while also having a team-high .371 hitting percentage.

The Bulldogs (11-6, 0-4 SEC) have yet to get a conference win this season after coming into SEC play with an 11-2 non-conference record. In their three conference road matches this season, Mississippi State has managed to win just two sets combined.

The first serve of Sunday's tilt against Mississippi State is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (ET) in Thompson-Boling Arena. The match can also be seen on SEC Network+.

PRIMETIME PERFORMER
Friday night against LSU sophomore Lily Felts had her best outing of the season for the Lady Vols. The Knoxville, Tennessee native recorded her first double double of the season with a season-high 17 kills to go along with 11 digs.

She also set a new career high with four aces in the match, doubling her previous career high. She accounted for four of the five Tennessee service aces in the match.

LAST TIME
Tennessee vs. LSU (Oct. 11)
Result: L, 3-2

Tennessee took the opening two sets in the match, but was unable to close out the Tigers, falling inside of Thompson-Boling Arena for just the third time in the last two seasons.
- Sophomore Lily Felts finished the match with a season-high 17 kills en route to her first double double of the season. She also recorded a career-high four aces.

SERIES HISTORY
Versus Mississippi State
Series: Tennessee leads 47-12
-Last: Nov. 11, 2018 W, 3-0 Starkville, Mississippi

Tennessee grabbed its third consecutive win in the series grabbing its second straight-set victory over the Bulldogs in the season.
- Tessa Grubbs tallied 21 kills including 10 kills in the final set to close out the match en route to winning SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors the next day.

STANDOUT STAT
With a win over the Bulldogs on Sunday, it would tie the most wins over an opponent in program history at 48 wins. Tennessee sports a 47-12 record heading into the match.

QUEEN OF KILLS
Tessa Grubbs has averaged 4.08 kills per set though 14 matches this season which ranks third in the SEC.

The Tega Cay, S.C. native has now had double-digit kills in 34 of the last 35 matches including all 15 matches this season. During that stretch, she has 11 matches with 20-plus kills.

Her career 3.71 kills per set ranks third in program history just trailing Tamala Bightman (4.32 K/S) and Ariana Wilson (4.08 K/S). Grubbs is also 21st on the career active leaders list among all of Division I.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Senior setter Sedona Hansen recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 25 assists and 11 digs Friday night at Georgia on October 4th. She is second all-time in program history for career double-doubles with 54 just eight matches off the all-time program record.

She currently ranks fifth all-time in career assists with 3,045 while ranking 15th in digs with 1,018.

During the Auburn match on Oct. 6, Hansen became just the fourth player in Tennessee history to have 3,000-plus assists and 1,000-plus digs in her career.
SENIOR CLASS AWARD
For the second consecutive season, Tennessee had a player named as a top 30 candidate for the Senior Class Award. Tessa Grubbs joined 2018 nominee Erica Treiber. Additionally, Grubbs was one of five players from the SEC to be named to the list.

Tennessee is the only SEC school to have players named to the list in the last two seasons and one of just five programs nationally to have that honor.

NEXT UP
The Lady Vols close out their three-match homestand against No. 16 Kentucky on Wednesday night. Last season, Kentucky won both matches in the series in four sets.

First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. (ET) at Thompson-Boling Arena. The match will also air on ESPNU.