The Lady Vols drop 3 set match to No. 16 Kentucky

The Lady Vols volleyball team (9-7, 3-3 SEC) hosted No. 16 Kentucky (11-5, SEC 4-1) and fell to the Wildcats in three sets.

The Lady Vols fought hard in the first set, hitting .293 on with 15 kills. They were even with Kentucky at 19-19 due to a service ace by Madison Coulter, who ended the match with a career high two aces. They then relinquished the lead, dropping the first set 25-23 to the Wildcats who hit .347 in the frame.

Additionally, the Lady Vols continued to stumble in the second and ended up losing it 25-17. The abundance of errors committed by the Lady Vols in the second set included a total of 10 attack errors and 2 service errors. These errors proved costly, as Kentucky finished the set with an 8-point cushion.

The Lady Vols came out on fire in the third set. They were leading Kentucky 20-16 while hitting .313 on 48 attacks and 19 kills. However, the Lady Vols were unable to sustain the energy they began the set with and lost the final set 30-28.

After a somewhat slow start to the season, the Lady Vols are on the verge of breaking out. Kentucky is one of the conference’s best serving teams, and the Lady Vol receivers were able to handle the service pressure. Though they lost 3-0, the contest showed that Tennessee can compete against a nationally ranked opponent.

Sedona Hansen was a bright spot in the match for Tennessee. She joined some elite company in the program’s history when she recorded her ninth double double of the season giving her 55 for her collegiate career.

“I am proud of the team’s efforts, we put ourselves in a position to have success tonight. It wasn’t our night, but I liked the way our team came out, and I liked a lot of the stuff we did,” Tennessee coach Eve Rackham said after the game.

The Lady Vols (9-8, 3-4 SEC) will now hit the road again to face No. 25 Missouri (10-4, SEC 2-2).

The match is set to begin at 3 p.m. EST in Hearnes Center on Oct. 20.

Featured image courtesy of Tennessee Volleyball’s Twitter page (@Vol_VBall)

Edited by Christian Knox and Ciera Noe