Volleyball Central: at Ole Miss

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Volleyball team travels down to Oxford, Mississippi to open up SEC play against Ole Miss on Friday night.

The Lady Vols (6-4, 0-0 SEC) are coming off a 3-0 weekend in the Tennessee Classic, winning the tournament for the fifth consecutive season. They won six of their last seven matches to round out non-conference play with four wins coming in straight-set fashion.

After dropping its first three matches of the season, the Rebels (8-3, 0-0 SEC) enter the SEC opener on an eight-match win streak. They are led by All-SEC outside hitter Emily Stroup who comes into the match ranked fifth in program history in kills (1,278 kills).

Friday's match against the Rebels is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (ET) in Gillom Athletics Performance Center. The match can also be seen on SEC Network+.

SEC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
After being named the MVP of the Tennessee Classic, senior Sedona Hansen was named the SEC Player of the Week while also being named SEC Setter of the Week. Fellow senior Tessa Grubbs took home Offensive Player of the Week honors, an award she earned twice last season.

Hansen played out of the 5-1 in all three matches as the team nearly averaged a .400 hitting percentage, finishing with a .399 hitting percentage on the weekend. Grubbs posted 5.00 kills per set this week with 12 or more kills in all straight-set victories.

LAST TIME
Tennessee vs. North Dakota State (Nov. 21)
Result: W, 3-0

Tennessee extended its winning streak in the Tennessee Classic to 16 matches with a sweep victory over the Bison to close out the tournament.
- Tessa Grubbs hit a career-high .600 hitting percentage while tallying a match-high 16 kills.

SERIES HISTORY
Versus Ole Miss
Series: Tennessee leads 45-10
-Last: Nov. 24, 2018 W, 3-1 Knoxville, Tennessee

In the 2018 regular season finale, Tennessee grabbed its 25th victory of the season and extended its winning streak to 11 matches.
- Erica Treiber tallied her first career double double. She finished the match with 16 kills and a career-high 11 blocks en route to winning AVCA National Player of the Week.

STANDOUT STAT
Tennessee has a higher winning percentage, .818 percent, over Ole Miss than any other school in the SEC. The Lady Vols swept the season series a year ago, winning both matches in four sets.

WINNING WAYS
The Lady Vols enter Friday night with an 11-match winning streak in conference play this includes a seven-match winning streak in road matches. Tennessee finished with an 8-1 record in SEC road matches last season.

QUEEN OF KILLS
Over the last two seasons, Tessa Grubbs has averaged 4.23 kills per set including a 4.32 kills/set though 10 matches this season.

The Tega Cay, S.C. native has now had double-digit kills in 29 of the last 30 matches including all 10 matches this season. During that stretch, she has 11 matches with 20-plus kills.

Her career 3.71 kills per set rank third in program history just trailing Tamala Bightman (4.32 K/S) and Ariana Wilson (4.08 K/S).

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Senior setter Sedona Hansen recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 35 assists and 10 digs in a three-set sweep over Georgia Southern on Sept. 20. She is now third all-time in program history in career double-doubles with 51 just 11 matches off the all-time program record.

She currently ranks eighth all-time in career assists with 2,867 while ranking 16th in digs with 968.

Hansen is just 32 digs away from becoming just the third player in Tennessee history to have 2,500-plus assists and 1,000-plus digs.

NEXT UP
The Lady Vols come back to Knoxville for the SEC home opener against Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon. Last season, Tennessee swept the season series including a four-set win at home.

First serve is scheduled for 3 p.m. (ET) at the Thompson-Boling Arena. The match will also air on SEC Network.