#16 Lady Vols Begin Postseason at SEC Tournament

NORMAN, Okla. - The No. 19 University of Tennessee women's tennis team (13-8, 8-7 SEC) is set to begin the 2026 postseason this weekend with SEC Tournament action on the University of Oklahoma campus. The Lady Vols will first meet ninth-seeded No. 15 LSU in a second-round matchup Thursday. First serve is slated for 4 p.m. ET.

"[The SEC Tournament] is incredibly tough and arguably harder to win than the NCAA tournament," Tennessee head coach Alison Ojeda said. "So, the fact that we get an opportunity like this to compete against most of the best schools in the country, hopefully for consecutive days, is exciting to any great competitor."

"It is clear the whole team is excited for the postseason," Tennessee associate head coach Robin Goodman said. "It's tournament time, which is the most fun part of the year. The girls are ready to get out there and give everything they have for each other for this last stretch."

Tournament Information
Fans can visit the SEC Tournament home page for more information on the 2026 SEC Women's Tennis Championships. Fans can also find live video links and other information at the host site landing page.

Last Time Out
The Lady Vols are coming off a two-win weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., to close out the regular season, first defeating then-No. 38 Ole Miss, 4-1, on Thursday, before collecting a win over then-No. 12 LSU, 4-3, on Sunday. The wins secured the No. 8 seed and a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament for Tennessee.

Trina's Triumphs
In Thursday's win over Ole Miss, then-No. 29 Katrina Scott was the first to finish her singles match, downing the Rebels' No. 18 Emily Welker in dominant 6-0, 6-2 fashion. Despite Welker landing 73 percent of her first serves, Scott managed to win over half of her return points (55 percent). She also carded a 6-3 doubles triumph on court three alongside Maeve Thornton to win the doubles point for Tennessee.

On Saturday, she not only clinched the doubles point yet again with a 6-3 set on court three, but also sealed the 4-3 decision over No. 12 LSU via a 7-6 (6), 6-1 singles victory over No. 26 Cadence Brace. Per UTR, Brace was the then-top-rated collegiate player in the nation (11.52 UTR) and Scott ranked as the sixth-highest (11.37 UTR).

Her sensational weekend earned her SEC Player of the Week honors, as announced by the league office Tuesday. She also earned the No. 10 spot on ITA's singles rankings, the first top-10 singles ranking for a Lady Vol this season.

Scouting LSU
The No. 15 Tigers enter the postseason ranked one spot ahead of the Lady Vols in the ITA team rankings. Sporting an identical 8-7 record in SEC competition, the Lady Vols earned the higher seed following last weekend's head-to-head victory. The Tigers had four singles entries and three doubles pairs included in ITA's April 14 update, headlined by No. 18 Brace and No. 46 Kayla Cross—now the No. 4 (11.39) and No. 3 (11.43) collegiate players in the nation according to UTR—on the singles list. Cross and Ella McDonald make up the No. 16 doubles tandem on ITA's list.

Third Time's the Charm
The matchup between Tennessee and LSU will be the third meeting of the season for the two squads, following the Lady Vols' most recent matchup and a Feb. 6 contest in the opening match of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. LSU won the first affair, 4-0. The rubber match with the Tigers will mark the first time since 2010 that the Lady Vols will face any opponent on three or more occasions in a season (Vanderbilt, four times in 2010, 3-1 record).

It will be the first time in over 20 years that the Lady Vols will play an SEC opponent in back-to-back matches. The last time Tennessee faced the same SEC team in consecutive matchups was in 2005, when the Lady Vols faced Georgia on the last weekend of SEC play and the first match of the SEC tournament. The Lady Vols and Bulldogs split those two matchups, with Georgia taking the SEC Tournament contest.

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Players Mentioned

Katrina Scott

Maeve Thornton

University of Tennessee Athletics