Volleyball Central: at South Carolina

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee volleyball team travels to Columbia, South Carolina for a matchup with South Carolina on Friday night.

The Lady Vols (9-9, 3-5 SEC) are looking to snap a two-match losing streak as they fell to at home to No. 16 Kentucky and on the road No. 25 Missouri last week. Tennessee is in the midst of a three-match road trip as it will travel to No. 13 Florida on Sunday.

The Gamecocks (11-8, 3-4 SEC) have been off for nine days after falling in three sets at No. 13 Florida on Oct. 16. South Carolina enters the match just a half game ahead of the Lady Vols in the conference standings.

The first serve of Friday night's tilt against South Carolina is scheduled for 7 p.m. (ET) in the Carolina Volleyball Center. The match can also be seen on SEC Network+.

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY
Senior outside hitter Tessa Grubbs needs just 84 more kills this season to enter the top-10 in program history in career kills. She would be just the second Lady Vol player in the 25-point rally-scoring era to enter the top-10 in career kills.

Earlier this season, she became the 21st member of the 1,000-kill club with a career-high 29 kills in the season opener against No. 6 Illinois.

LAST TIME
Tennessee vs. No. 25 Missouri (Oct. 20)
Result: L, 1-3

Tennessee had their highest single-set hitting percentage of the conference season in the third set against the nationally ranked Tigers. The Lady Vols hit at a .552 clip en route to a 25-18 third-set win.
- Tessa Grubbs led the way offensively with her fourth 20-plus kill match of the season. The senior outside hitter also finished the match with a team-high .436 hitting percentage.

SERIES HISTORY
Versus South Carolina
Series: Tennessee leads 38-31
-Last: Oct. 24, 2018 W, 3-0 Knoxville, Tennessee

For the first time since 2013, the Lady Vols swept the Gamecocks backed by six service aces and nine blocks in the match. Defensively, Tennessee held the SEC leaders in aces to just three in the match.
- Tessa Grubbs and Lily Felts posted double-digit kills in the victory while Sedona Hansen was just two digs away from a double double with a team-high 26 assists to go along with eight digs.

STANDOUT STAT
Senior setter Sedona Hansen enters the weekend needing just 96 digs to enter the top 10 in program history in career digs. She currently sits 15th with 1,044 digs just nine digs back of 14th place and 11 digs back of 13th on the list.

SHE'S BEEN MADJICAL
Junior libero Madison Coulter comes into Friday's match as the SEC leader in total digs during conference play with 152 digs in eight matches. She has a 4.75 digs per set average in SEC matches.

Coulter has a career-high 4.21 digs per set average this season. She is eighth in digs per set in a career with a mark of 3.22 digs per set.

QUEEN OF KILLS
Tessa Grubbs has averaged 4.06 kills per set though 18 matches this season, which ranks fourth in the SEC.

In 36 of the last 38 matches, the Tega Cay, S.C. native has notched double-digit kills in a match. During that stretch of 38 matches, she has 12 matches with 20-plus kills including four this season.

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 ninth double-double of the season with 15 assists and 12 digs Wednesday night against No. 16 Kentucky. She is second all-time in program history for career double-doubles with 55 just seven matches off the all-time program record.

She currently ranks fifth all-time in career assists with 3,112 while ranking 15th in digs with 1,044.

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.

NEXT UP
The Lady Vols face their third ranked opponent in the last four matches when they play No. 13 Florida on the road on Sunday. Last season, Tennessee knocked off Florida in three sets inside of Thompson-Boling Arena.

First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET) at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The match will also air on SEC Network.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Madison Coulter

Lily Felts

Tessa Grubbs

Sedona Hansen

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