Volleyball Central: at Mississippi State

Saturday, November 30

Starkville, MS

2 PM

University of Tennessee

Mississippi State

November 29, 2019 | Volleyball

Watch Live Stats Game Notes

Tennessee closes out the regular season on Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Mississippi

By: Andy Kovar

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee volleyball team closes out the regular season with a road match against Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Vols (14-13, 8-9 SEC) have won four of the last five matches coming into the weekend including a four-set victory over Auburn on Senior Night. Lily Felts notched her fifth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 14 digs.

The Bulldogs (13-16, 2-15 SEC) have lost their last six matches coming into the match on Saturday. Sophomore Gabby Walden, MSU's leader in kills per set (3.21 k/s), tallied 16 kills in a five-set loss to Arkansas on Sunday.

The first serve of Saturday's match against Mississippi State is scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET) in Newell-Grissom Building. The match can also be seen on SEC Network+.

SERIES DOMINANCE
Heading into the 61st meeting in the series, Tennessee holds a 48-12 advantage against the Mississippi State. The Lady Vols have won the last four matches including three straight sweeps.

LAST TIME
Tennessee vs. Auburn (Nov. 27)
Result: W, 3-1

It wasn't until midway through the second set that UT had recorded a hitting error, notching 18 kills before the first error at 11-8 in the second set. With the offense hitting .302 percent through the first two frames, Tennessee cruised to a 2-0 lead in the match en route to a four-set win.
- The Lady Vols were led by a career-high performance form senior Asha Phillips, who recorded 28 digs.

SERIES HISTORY
Versus Mississippi State
Series: Tennessee leads 48-12
Last: Oct. 13, 2019 W, 3-0 Knoxville, Tennessee

Tennessee held the Bulldogs to under a .100 hitting percentage. It also limited Mississippi State to just 30 kills in the match, tying the fewest allowed by the Lady Vols in conference play this season.
- Tennessee had three players finish with double-digit kills. Sophomore outside hitter Lily Felts led the way with 11 kill in the match while notching seven digs.

STANDOUT STAT
Tennessee tallied a season-best 19.50 digs per set in the four-set victory over Auburn on Wednesday. The Lady Vols totaled 78 digs in the win with four players posting double-digit digs.

QUEEN OF KILLS
Tessa Grubbs has averaged 4.10 kills per set though 27 matches this season, which ranks fifth in the SEC.

In 45 of the last 47 matches, the Tega Cay, S.C. native has notched double-digit kills. During that stretch of 47 matches, she has 15 matches with 20-plus kills including in seven matches this season.

Her career 3.76 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 26th on the career active leaders list among all of Division I.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Senior setter Sedona Hansen recorded her 13th double-double of the season with a team-high 41 assists and 14 digs on Sunday against Missouri. She will finish second all-time in program history for career double-doubles and currently has 60, entering the final match of the season.

She currently ranks fifth all-time in career assists with 3,471 while ranking 11th in digs with 1,123.

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.

MONTH OF NOVEMBER
In the Eve Rackham era, Tennessee holds a 13-2 record in the month of November including a 7-0 record away from Knoxville. Over the last two seasons, the Lady Vols have won 41 of 59 sets they have played with four sweeps.

NEXT UP
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air Sunday night.

The selection show will air on ESPNU with the broadcast scheduled for 8:30 p.m. (ET).