Volleyball Central: at No. 13 Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Tennessee volleyball team heads to Gainesville, Florida to take on the No. 13 Florida on Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Vols (9-10, 3-6 SEC) are looking to snap a three-match losing streak after dropping Friday night's match at South Carolina. This will mark the third time in the last four matches that Tennessee has played a ranked opponent.

The Gators (16-3, 7-1 SEC) are riding a five-match winning streak heading into Sunday, winning their last three matches in straight-set fashion. Sophomore Thayer Hall had 15 kills (.484 hitting percentage) in the Friday night win over Alabama.

The first serve of Sunday afternoon's match against Florida is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET) in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The match can also be seen on SEC Network.

SENIOR LEADERS
Senior outside hitter Tessa Grubbs needs just 72 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.

Senior setter Sedona Hansen enters the Sunday needing just 88 digs to enter the top 10 in program history in career digs. She currently sits 15th with 1,052 just one digs back of 14th place and three digs back of 13th on the list.

LAST TIME
Tennessee at South Carolina (Oct. 25)
Result: L, 0-3

Tennessee dropped its third consecutive match, falling in straight sets in Columbia, South Carolina. Tessa Grubbs notched 12 kills in the losing effort.
- Sophomore Giana Pellizzon had a career night from the service stripe. She tallied three of the Lady Vols four aces while adding nine digs along the backline.

SERIES HISTORY
Versus Florida
Series: Florida leads 14-50-1
-Last: Nov. 21, 2018 W, 3-0 Knoxville, Tennessee

For the first time in the rally-scoring era and the first time since 1988 that the Lady Vols swept the Gators, holding them to the second-lowest hitting percentage for the Gators since the 2009 season.
- Danielle Mahaffey had a breakout performance who had a then career-high 11 kills while having a .450 hitting percentage.

STANDOUT STAT
Tennessee has tallied an SEC-best 529 digs during conference play with an average of 15.11 digs per set.

The Lady Vols are led by junior libero Madison Coulter comes into Sunday's match as the second in the SEC in total digs with 159 digs in nine matches. She has a 4.54 digs per set average in SEC matches.

QUEEN OF KILLS
Tessa Grubbs has averaged 4.05 kills per set though 19 matches this season, which ranks fourth in the SEC.

In 37 of the last 39 matches, the Tega Cay, S.C. native has notched double-digit kills in a match. During that stretch of 39 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 against No. 16 Kentucky on Oct. 16. 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 3,136 while ranking 15th in digs with 1,052.

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
After three straight road matches, the Lady Vols return home on Friday to take on Ole Miss. Earlier this season, Tennessee fell in a closely-contested five-set match in Oxford, Mississippi.

First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (ET) at Thompson-Boling Arena. The match will also air on SEC Network+.

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Players Mentioned

Madison Coulter

Tessa Grubbs

Sedona Hansen

Danielle Mahaffey

Giana Pellizzon

University of Tennessee Athletics