Lady Vols Fall to #8 Florida in Three Sets

Thursday, February 25

Knoxville

2 PM

University of Tennessee

6-5,6-5SEC

Florida

11-2,11-2SEC

Florida

Tennessee

February 25, 2021 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Vol volleyball team fell to No. 8 Florida, 3-0 (20-25, 18-25, 21-25), in a hard-fought match Thursday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee (6-5) was unable to contain Florida's (11-2) T'ara Ceasar as the redshirt junior scored 19 kills on a .417 hitting percentage. Ceasar tallied 15 digs for the double-double.

Lady Vols right side Morgahn Fingall led Tennessee in kills and points, notching 11 and 12. It is the third consecutive match Fingall has scored double-digit kills and is the second time this season she has led UT in the category.

Junior Danielle Mahaffey stood strong in the middle, recording eight kills on a career-high .615 hit percentage. The Cincinnati native recorded a team-high four blocks.

Setter Natalie Hayward earned her sixth double-double of the season and 20th of her career, setting up 26 assists and getting 13 digs.

The Lady Vols grabbed early leads in each set – going up 10-5 in set one, 4-0 in set two and 9-3 in the third – but were unable to sustain the early momentum. In each set, the Gators rallied back to win.

In total, the score was tied 16 times throughout the match and the lead changed hands eight times.

UP NEXT
Tennessee and Florida return to the court in Thompson-Boling Arena Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET. The final match of the series will be broadcast on SEC Network.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Eve Rackham Watt

On Tennessee taking early leads and Florida coming back…
"We got stuck in some rotations we couldn't fight out of. I liked the matchups we had early in the game but as the game went when we got to their better rotations against our weaker rotations that's when they started to separate themselves."

On what she told her team after the game…
"That I was disappointed in the outcome, but we also didn't play as disciplined as I've seen us play. In terms of that I go back to the coaching staff and make sure we play with discipline. I thought we had a really good game plan but we didn't execute it. That comes back to discipline and that's a direct reflection of coaching."