University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
6-4
East Tennessee State
9-3
Lady Vols Sweep ETSU in Tennessee Classic Opener
September 20, 2019 | Volleyball
Tennessee has now won 22 straight matches in home non-conference tournaments
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In front the seventh-largest crowd in program history, the Lady Vols volleyball team started off the Tennessee Classic with a three-set victory over East Tennessee State (25-23, 25-12, 25-13).
Tennessee (4-4) has now won 14 straight in the Tennessee Classic and has 22 straight wins in home tournaments dating to 2014.
With a career-high of eight digs in the opening set from sophomore defensive specialist Giana Pellizzon, the Lady Vols topped ETSU in the first set, 25-23. Senior outside hitter Tessa Grubbs led the way offensively with seven kills in the first alone, which contributed to her 27th double-digit performance in the last 28 matches.
She finished with a match-high 17 kills, with 16 coming in the first two frames. This is now the fourth consecutive match Grubbs has had 15 or more kills in a match.
After the back-and-forth battle in the first set, Tennessee dominated in the second and third sets as it held the Buccaneers below the 15-point threshold twice to close out the match.
After taking the opening set, the Lady Vols never trailed, holding the ETSU attack to just a .061 hitting percentage. One of the key pieces to stopping the Buccaneer attack was freshman right side Morgahn Finagall. The Fairfax, Virginia, native finished the match with a team-high six blocks. It doubled her season-high of three total blocks, which she had at No. 6 Illinois on Sept. 1.
From Coach Rackham:
On the play of Giana Pellizzon:
"I actually think Gianna won the first set for us. She made some terrific plays on tip balls and put us in transition. We needed every single one of them. She's another one she just has been working and working to get better. I was excited. They targeted her in serve receive and she handled that well. We've been able to play her in multiple spots. Tonight, she played right back and they hit a lot of balls there. She did a great job there."-- Coach Eve Rackham
On the seventh largest crowd in program history:
"I can't thank the fans enough. Our goal is to continue to make this place one of the hardest places to play in the country. When people come out and support the way they do, I just feel really fortunate. I hope that they're enjoying what they get to watch and I know our players feed off the energy and they love it." -- Coach Rackham
On the play of Morgahn Fingall:
"Morgahn has been terrific. She's a great athlete. With being left handed she gives us kind of another look. She's a freshman. So she's had some really great moments and then she's had some freshman moments. What I was really excited about tonight was her blocking. She came on really strong, we started to make a few adjustments, and she really got the hang of it the last two sets. That's an area where I can she can really continue to help us."-- Coach Rackham
From Tessa Grubbs:
On connection with setter Sedona Hansen:
"We're best friends, we live together, we go on spring break together, she comes to my house down in South Carolina all the time. So having that connection off the court and being literally inseparable off the court leads us to that connection on the court because we can kind of tell each other anything. If I'm playing bad, she can get on me and I can get on her." – Senior Tessa Grubbs
On staying disciplined:
"A lot of this game goes to our discipline. We haven't been playing extremely disciplined against the other teams and we realized that our errors are going to affect the game. They can win us a game they can lose us a game and limiting that and just playing clean volleyball is definitely something that helped us tonight." – Senior Tessa Grubbs
From Giana Pellizzon:
On career-high 17 dig night:
"The block is putting up great funnels to me so it's very easy to read around them. I give all the credit to the block. When the ball comes over, it's great to just go and dig to make sure that our hitters are getting easier balls to hit." – Sophomore Giana Pellizzon
On relationship with libero Madison Coulter in the back row:
"We have a really great relationship; we help each other out a lot. She's one of my best friends on the team. Defensive-wise, we know exactly how both of us plays, so we're able to help each other and it's just a really good bond on the court." – Sophomore Giana Pellizzon
Standout Stat
- For the first time in her career, Pellizzon led the team in the digs with 17 on the night. She set a new career-high tonight, besting her previous high of 13 digs against No. 6 Illinois on Aug. 30.
Match Notables:
- Senior Sedona Hansen nearly had her fourth double-double of the season with 37 assists and nine digs. After her performance tonight, she sits at 2,799 assists in her collegiate career and 954 career digs.
- After recording 17 kills in the match, Grubbs now ranks 15th in career kills with 1,111. Tonight, she passed former teammate Erica Treiber (1,094) and Sara Blum (1,101) on the program's all-time list. Former Lady Vol Kelsey Robinson (1,205) is next on the list.
- Tennessee now leads the overall series, 29-7, over ETSU. The Lady Vols have won 21 of the last 23 matches in the series dating to 1979.
Next Up
The Lady Vols return to Thompson-Boling Arena Saturday against Georgia Southern at 12:30 p.m. (ET) and North Dakota State at 7 p.m. (ET). All Tennessee matches can be seen on the SEC Network+.
