Lady Vols Drop Five-Set Match at Ole Miss

Friday, September 27

Oxford, Ms

7:30 PM

University of Tennessee

6-5

Ole Miss

9-3

Tennessee

Ole Miss

September 27, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score

Sedona Hansen, Danielle Mahaffey and Madison Coulter finish with career-high performances in the road defeat

By: Andy Kovar

OXFORD, Miss. – In the SEC opener, he Tennessee volleyball team dropped a tough five-set match against Ole Miss (25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 24-26, 13-15) at Gillom Performance Center.

The Lady Vols (6-5, 0-1 SEC) were led by career performances from senior setter Sedona Hansen, junior Madison Coulter and sophomore Danielle Mahaffey. Hansen, who recorded her fifth double double of the season and her 52nd of her career, finished the match with 60 assists, topping her previous career-high by four assists.

Mahaffey, who was playing in her fourth consecutive match as the six-rotation outside hitter, tallied a career-high in both kills with 17 and digs with 21. Defensively, Tennessee was led by Coulter who notched 35 digs in the SEC opener against Ole Miss (9-3, 1-0 SEC). It marks just the 10th time in program history a Lady Vol has had 35 or more digs in a match

Senior Tessa Grubbs got the Lady Vols offense off and rolling early as she tallied 11 kills in the set, hitting .667 en route to a 25-20 win in the opening frame. During the set, Tennessee had a .357 hitting percentage while tallying 21 kills as a team.

Grubbs finished the night with a team-high 19 kills just one kill shy of her fourth 20-plus kill outing of the season.

After trailing 23-15 in the fourth set, Tennessee nearly climbed all the way back from an eight-point deficit for the second time this season. With the help of a pair of Raquel Perinar kills, the Lady Vols staved off four set points in the fourth set climbing all the way back to make it 24-24. The Rebels responded, scoring the next two points to take the match to a fifth set.

Ole Miss never trailing in the final frame and narrowly got past Tennessee with a 15-13 fifth-set win to decide the match.

Standout Stat

For the first time in her collegiate career, sophomore Danielle Mahaffey recorded a double double, finishing the match with a career-high in both kills with 17 and digs with 21. She also finished the match with a team-high and career-high 50 attacks.

Match Notables:

Senior setter Sedona Hansen recorded her fifth double double of the season and the 52nd in her career. She is now tied with Nikki Fowler for second in program history and just 10 double doubles off the all-time record.
This marks the first time in the last two seasons that Tennessee finished the match with a higher hitting percentage than its opponent and lost the match.
With her career-high 60 assists in the match, Hansen moves into seventh on Tennessee's all-time assists list, passing Christy Warren (1995-98). She enters Sunday's match with 2,927 assists which is just 30 shy of Laurie Caraher (1984-87) for sixth all-time.

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.