Lady Vols Drop Closely Contested Four-Set Match to Missouri

Sunday, November 24

Knoxville

2 PM

University of Tennessee

13-13,7-9SEC

Missouri

19-7,11-5SEC

Missouri

Tennessee

Lady Vols Drop Closely Contested Four-Set Match to Missouri

November 24, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Tennessee limited the potent Tiger offense to just a .238 hitting percentage in the defeat

By: Andy Kovar

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee volleyball team dropped a closely contested four-set match (25-18, 18-25, 24-26, 23-25) to Missouri on Sunday afternoon in Thompson-Boling Arena.

The loss ended a three-match winning streak for the Lady Vols (13-13, 7-9 SEC) as for the second time this season the Tigers (19-7, 11-5 SEC) defeated UT in four sets.

Tennessee jumped all over Missouri in the opening set as it led from the opening point. The Lady Vols never trailed and the score was never tied. The Tigers offense came into the match a .307 hitting percentage, the second highest mark in the country. Tennessee forced them to make eight errors in the first while limiting Missouri to a .086 hitting percentage.

The Tigers' Kylie Deberg came into the match with an SEC-best 4.85 kills per set while having a .294 hitting percentage. Through the first frame, she was hitting -.286 with four hitting errors to just two kills.

For the match, Tennessee forced DeBerg to make 11 hitting errors, which was just one off her season high. She managed to hit just .193 for the match, which was more than .100 points lower than her season average.

The Lady Vols also held Missouri as a team to just a .238 hitting percentage in the match, nearly .070 points lower than their season average.

Offensively, UT was able to get balanced scoring from all three positions on Sunday. This included 19 kills combined from the middle blocking combination of Alyssa Andreno and Addisyn Rowe. They combined to have a .400 hitting percentage for the match while also combining for seven blocks. In total, five players had more than seven kills with Tessa Grubbs (15 kills) and Rowe (12 kills) posting double-figures.

At 15-7 in the third set, Tennessee trailed by eight points. It nearly came all the way back to take a 2-1 advantage in the match. The Lady Vols responded, going on an 8-2 run with senior Sedona Hansen and sophomore Lily Felts back on the service line, making it 17-16.

The set remained tight the rest of the way with Tennessee taking its first lead at 23-22, but it was ultimately unable to close it out as the Tigers took the frame 26-24.

The final set of the match was close throughout as neither team led by more than two points.

In total, the set was tied 11 times. With the Lady Vols trailing 23-21, they turned to their senior leaders to try to get them back in the set. A Grubbs kill brought them with brought the score to 23-22, but a kill from Missouri's Leketor Member-Meneh bumped its lead back to two points.

This time an Andreno kill brought UT within a point at 24-23. With Andreno back to serve, the Tigers again turned to Member-Meneh again as she squeezed a shot through the Tennessee block to give them the set and the match at 25-23 in the fourth.

From Coach Adams:
On controlling one of the top offenses in the country:
"We first wanted to try to make them one dimensional. We were dealing with some really good hitters. I thought we did a really good job especially the first three sets holding them well under their season averages."—Coach Tyler Adams

On the contributions from the middles:
"They've played four or five matches in a row where they have really produced for us. That's a credit to them. They've worked hard in practice. In games, they've taken smart swings and taken aggressive approaches."-- Coach Adams

On focus heading into final week of the regular season:
"We are going to keep improving, keep competing and keep enjoying the process. We need to keep playing hard for this senior class, who only has a couple games left. It is Senior Night on Wednesday and it is going to be an emotional moment for this group who has been through a lot."-- Coach Adams

Standout Stat

With 14 digs in the match, Sedona Hansen is now 11th on the Tennessee all-time digs list, passing Kelli Scott (1999-2002) and Bridgette Villano (2013-16). She needs more 22 digs to reach the top-10 in program history.

Match Notables:

Sedona Hansen notched her 13th double-double of the season, accomplishing the feat within the first two sets of play. She now has 60 double-doubles for her career just two off the all-time program record. Hansen finished the match with 41 assists and 14 digs.
For the eighth time this season, Madison Coulter had gone for 20-plus digs in a match. She finished with a match-high 23 digs. She now had 971 digs in her career as she could potentially become the 17th player in program history to have 1,000 career digs.
Lily Felts fell one kill shy of her fifth double-double of the season, posting nine kills and 11 digs on the afternoon.

Next Up
It's Senior Night in Thompson-Boling Arena as the Lady Vols host Auburn to close out their home schedule on Wednesday night. Earlier this season, Tennessee grabbed a straight-set victory, holding the Tigers to just a .092 hitting percentage.

First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m. (ET) in Knoxville, Tenn. The match will also air on SEC Network+.