University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Selected to NCAA Tournament
November 28, 2021 | Volleyball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee volleyball has been selected for its 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament after earning an at-large bid into the field. The bracket was revealed Sunday night on ESPNU.
The Lady Vols will travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the opening two rounds the first weekend of December. Ohio State – the No. 9 national seed – will play host to Tennessee, North Carolina and Howard.
UT faces North Carolina in the first round on Friday at 5 p.m. ET. The Tar Heels enter the tournament with a 21-8 (10-8 ACC) record and finished sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Orange & White head into the tournament 19-9 overall and 11-7 in SEC play. The Lady Vols finished fourth in the the SEC, a conference which earned six bids to the tournament.
Tennessee holds a 9-4 record against North Carolina all-time. The last meeting came in 2009, the Tar Heels took that match in five sets.
This will be the second NCAA Tournament appearance for Tennessee under head coach Eve Rackham Watt and the first since 2018. The Lady Vols advanced to the second round of the tournament in Rackham Watt's first season after defeating Colorado State in the first round.
Six Lady Vols have NCAA Tournament experience under their belts, including Lily Felts, Danielle Mahaffey, Giana Pellizzon and Raquel Perinar who were on the 2018 Lady Vol squad. Breana Runnels made four trips to the tournament with Colorado State, while Nicole Shanahan made several deep postseason runs at Wisconsin.
For Rackham Watt, it is her 10th postseason appearance as a coach – second as head coach – with the eight previous trips to the tournament coming as an assistant at North Carolina. Rackham Watt also made four postseason trips as a player.
