No. 21 Tennessee Defeats Miami (OH) in Three Sets

Friday, September 6

East Lansing, Mi

5 PM

University of Tennessee

1-3

Miami (OH)

2-3

Tennessee

Miami (OH)

September 06, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score

The Lady Vols ace the Redhawks 12 times during the match led by four from Tessa Grubbs

By: Andy Kovar

EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 21 Tennessee picked up its first victory of the year in straight-set fashion over Miami (OH) Friday afternoon.

The Lady Vols aced the Redhawks a season-high 12 times en route to the three set victory (25-20, 25-15, 25-15). Senior Tessa Grubbs accounted for four of those aces, a new career high for the Tega Cay, S.C. native.

Grubbs also led the team in kills, tallying a match-high 13 kills on 22 swings (.333 hitting percentage).

Midway through the first set, Grubbs helped turn the momentum in the match converting on back-to-back kills before stepping back to the service stripe. There she had back-to-back service aces, helping Tennessee take the lead at 18-16 in the set before taking the opening frame 25-20.

Making her first start this season for the Lady Vols, middle blocker Ava Bell had six kills on seven swing (.857 hitting percentage) including four kills in the second frame.

Freshman setter Kailey Keeble nearly recorded her first collegiate double double, finishing with a team-high 15 assists and eight digs in the win over Miami (OH).

From Coach Rackham:
On the first win of the season:
"We're excited to get our first win of the season. It was definitely a hard-fought victory for us. We're still searching for some answers. I'm happy we settled into a lineup today and played the same lineup consistently. So, we hope to build on that tomorrow." -- Coach Eve Rackham

On Ava Bell's performance:
"She has been working really hard at practice. She's just been getting better and better learning our system and adjusting. She finally got an opportunity to get in today and she was six for seven attacking and had a couple blocks and just really played really solid and just gave us another offensive weapon that we needed." -- Coach Rackham

On the service pressure:
"The service pressure is huge. It just makes blocking and defense that much easier. Tessa had a great serving match. So many people contributed today Alyssa, Madison and Lily. It was a nice spread across the board. We've got a lot of people to contribute. It's a part of the game that I still think we really need to improve on, but I was happy to see that." -- Coach Rackham

From Ava Bell:
On her first start as a Lady Vol:
"It was a really exciting opportunity for our team to show what we're capable of doing. We kind of made a statement out there because we played our game." – Sophomore Ava Bell

On her offensive performance:
"I was putting very good situations starting with the defense. They were putting up good balls and our setters Kailey and Sedona were delivering every set. It made it really easy for me to move around a block and see the court well." – Sophomore Ava Bell

Standout Stat

Tennessee's 12 service aces against the Redhawks are the most since it had 16 in a three-set win over Appalachian State in 2007. It tied the third highest mark by any Lady Vol team in the rally-scoring era. Last season, Tennessee's season high in aces was nine against Evansville.

Match Notables:

For the second consecutive match, both right sides had a season-high hitting percentage. Sophomore Danielle Mahaffey finished the match with five kills, hitting .714 and freshman Morgahn Fingall hit .500 with six kills.
Senior middle blocker Alyssa Andreno finished with three service aces in the match. This marked the first three aces in her career.
Grubbs has now had double-digit kills in 23 of the last 24 matches including all three matches this season. During that stretch she has nine matches with 20-plus kills.

Next Up:
The Lady Vols close out the Spartan Invitational against host Michigan State tomorrow at Jenison Fieldhouse.

First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network+.