Tennessee Powers Past Alabama in Sweep

Friday, November 22

Knoxville

6:30 PM

University of Tennessee

13-12,7-8SEC

Alabama

12-14,4-11SEC

Alabama

Tennessee

November 22, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery Post-Match Interview

The Lady Vols sweep the season series over the Crimson Tide, winning both matches in straight-set fashion

By: Andy Kovar

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee volleyball team swept Alabama (26-24, 25-16, 25-18) to extend its winning streak to three matches on Friday night in Thompson-Boling Arena.

This is the second time this season the Lady Vols (13-12, 7-8 SEC) have swept the Crimson Tide (12-14, 4-11 SEC) after winning in straight sets 12 days ago in Tuscaloosa. They have now won three straight matches in the series against Alabama dating back to 2017.

Senior outside hitter Tessa Grubbs, who had a game-high 14 kills on the night, helped close out the match in the third set. In the final frame, the 2018 AVCA All-American tallied seven kills on 10 swings. She a match-high .571 hitting percentage, hitting .600 percent in the final set alone.

As a team, Tennessee had a .385 hitting percentage in the match, which is the fourth highest hitting percentage in the series during the rally scoring era. Grubbs was helped on the opposite pin by a combination of 18 kills from sophomore Danielle Mahaffey and freshman Morgahn Fingall.

Mahaffey had a career-high .550 hitting percentage with 12 kills while Fingall added six kills of her own, hitting .308 percent. Junior middle blocker Addisyn Rowe continued to provide plenty of offense from the middle as she had eight kills. She has had eight or more kills in four of the last five matches.

After she had 14 kills in the first match this season, the Lady Vols were able to limit junior Doris Carter to just seven kills on Friday night as she hit just .120 percent. No Alabama player had more than nine kills in the match.

With the win, Tennessee passed Ole Miss in the conference standings and enter Sunday just a match back of LSU in the SEC standings.

From Coach Adams:
On defeating Alabama in three sets:
"We played them 12 days ago. It was kind of a unique, quick turnaround. They played great in the first set and had a bunch of chances to win. We fought. And after that first set, we settled down a little bit and executed at a much higher level."—Coach Tyler Adams

On the turning point in the final set:
"We went on a couple of big service runs in that third set. Lily had a really big one that took us from down a few to up two or three. We backed up that good service pressure with good defense along the back row."-- Coach Adams

On the production from the right sides:
"They managed a lot of tough situations. They got a lot of bump sets from our libero. They got a lot of bad ball situations and they did a good job, either scoring or putting pressure on Alabama. That is a huge stride for those two."-- Coach Adams

From Danielle Mahaffey:
On her night attacking:
"I just wanted to keep the ball in play and be patient. We always talk about being patient and waiting on the ball, waiting for your time to come. Whether the set is there or not just be patient and keep the ball in play. It was good for me to definitely be patient." – Sophomore Danielle Mahaffey

On the team's effort and fight:
"I loved how we were down at some points especially there in the first set. We were able to fight through and get right back in it."– Sophomore Danielle Mahaffey

Standout Stat

This season Tennessee has recorded the second highest (.419 pct. on Nov. 10) and the fourth highest (.385 pct. on Nov. 22) hitting percentages in the series against Alabama since the start of the rally-scoring era.

Match Notables:

During the two matches against Alabama this season, Tennessee averaged 17.50 kills per set. The Lady Vols finished the match with 52 total kills Friday night.
Tessa Grubbs .571 hitting percentage against the Crimson Tide ties her fourth highest mark in her career and was her second highest percentage this season (.600 pct. vs. NDSU).
With six digs on Friday night, Sedona Hansen just needs 11 more digs to tie Kelli Scott (1999-2002) and Bridgette Villano (2013-16) for 11th on the program's all-time digs list.

Next Up
The Lady Vols continue their three-match homestand on Sunday afternoon against Missouri. Earlier this season, the Lady Vols fell in four sets in Columbia, Missouri. Tessa Grubbs had a then SEC-best .436 hitting percentage and tallied 20 kills.

First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET) in Knoxville, Tenn. The match will also air on SEC Network.