Lady Vols Take Care of Business in Home Opener, Defeat Georgia 3-1

Wednesday, October 28

Knoxville

7 P.M.

University of Tennessee

1-2,1-2SEC

Georgia

1-2,1-2SEC

Georgia

Tennessee

Lady Vols Take Care of Business in Home Opener, Defeat Georgia 3-1

October 28, 2020 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Playing in Thompson-Boling Arena for the first time since November 2019, the Tennessee Lady Vol volleyball team treated the home crowd to a four-set victory (25-16, 25-19, 24-26, 25-15) over the Georgia Bulldogs.

"It was great to be back home in front of our fans," head coach Eve Rackham-Watt said. "Even though it was limited capacity our fans really showed up and we could hear them. We really had a home court advantage tonight."

Tennessee (1-2, 1-2 SEC) scored 58 kills and hit .268 on the night, while limiting UGA (1-2, 1-2 SEC) to just a .144 hitting percentage.

Lily Felts led the offense with 15 kills on the night, while Danielle Mahaffey and freshman Jasmine Brooks each chipped in with 12. Junior middle blocker Ava Bell rounded out the group with 11 kill.

Junior transfer Natalie Hayward paced the Lady Vol offense with 41 assists, tying her career high. The Bothell, Washington, native tacked on 11 digs to record her first double-double of the season.

The Lady Vols won the opening set 25-16, after closing the opener on a 7-2 run. It was more of the same in the second set as UT opened up an 8-5 lead after erasing an early three point deficit with a seven point run.

Georgia stayed close midway through the second, eventually tying the score at 13-13, but an 8-2 run pushed UT's lead out to six and the Lady Vols closed out the second with a 25-19 win.

Late charge in the third set, Tennessee fought off set point three times to tie the score at 24-24. However, UT ran out of steam as Georgia scored the final two points to take the third, 26-24.

In the fourth and final set of the night, the Big Orange got back on track and used a 10-3 run to take the set 25-15 and win the match 3-1.

UP NEXT
Tennessee and Georgia return to Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday for the second match of the midweek series. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.

QUOTABLES
Eve Rackham-Watt
On what she saw from the team tonight…
"I saw a lot and it was going to be a game time decision on what rotation we were going to be in and I thought the players that were out there played very well together. We didn't make a lot of subs and I thought from the service line our pressure was really good. Our setting was great, I thought Natalie Hayward had a great night and it's the first time she had really been in a 5-1 for us, running the offense from the get go. She made our hitters comfortable across the board so we were able to take good swings."

Lily Felts
On the home opening win…
"We feel pretty freaking good. It was a great game and we executed at a really high level and it was really exciting and gives us a ton of momentum. To be able to win our home opener gives us confidence heading into tomorrow."

Danielle Mahaffey
On her mentality heading into Wednesday's match…
"Just compete and be vocal. Those are the two things that are constantly in our team's mind. Just always competing and always fighting. Always be vocal and communicate with each other, that really takes us a long way when we do."