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Sept. 4, 2010

Final Stats

By Cameron Harris, Assistant Media Relations Director

HOUSTON, Texas - With the offense struggling a little bit for the first time this season, the 17th-ranked University of Tennessee volleyball team turned to its defense to get the job done against Houston. The Lady Volunteers held the Cougars to a .059 hitting percentage en route to the Houston Invitational championship and their sixth straight sweep, 25-13, 25-17, 25-22, on Saturday evening at the Athletics/Alumni Center.

"This was a great tournament," UT Head Coach Rob Patrick said. "We played three teams from good volleyball conferences that are very well coached and also ran three different systems. I was really excited about how our team played against its first ranked opponent in Florida State, a very athletic team in Oklahoma and Houston in front of its home crowd. Our team met all of the challenges and did it in a very team-oriented fashion."

Senior Nikki Fowler was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player for the second straight weekend and was joined by sophomore Leslie Cikra and freshman Kelsey Robinson on the all-tournament team. Fowler led UT with 39 kills this weekend, while hitting .348 and averaging 4.33 kills, 2.78 digs and 0.56 blocks per set. Robinson recorded 26 kills and had a squad-best 30 digs, while Cikra pounded out 22 putaways and hit .364 with five blocks.

"Nikki really put it all out there this whole tournament," Patrick said. "She led us in kills, was digging balls all over the place and had a tough jump serve. I can't say enough about what she means to this team, especially with what she does to calm everybody else down and increase the cohesiveness of our team. We would not have been as successful this weekend if she had not played at the level at which she did.

"Kelsey has really taken to the role that we have given her. We need her to control the ball in serve-receive and play some great defense and she did just that this weekend. On top of that, she was able to get some kills, which really isn't something that we've asked her to do. With all freshmen, one of the things you want to watch for is how consistent they are on the court and here we are in only the second weekend of her career and she had a real nice, consistent weekend.

"I am very happy for Leslie. She missed a few practices during our preseason and needed some repetitions to get her timing down. For her to come in and play at such a high level against three great teams this weekend was exciting to see. She is only going to gain more confidence offensively and is just a tremendous presence at the net for us that can take over one half of the court with her blocking."

Tennessee's six straight wins to start the season are the most since it kicked off the 2004 campaign with nine straight victories en route to a 32-3 record and a regional semifinal appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The six consecutive sweeps also tie the school record, previously accomplished by the 1973, 1983 and 2008 squads.

In the contest against the Cougars on Saturday, Fowler and Robinson led the Big Orange with nine kills and nine digs each. Junior libero Amanda Friday also tallied nine digs, while senior Leah Hinkey topped the squad with four blocks.

While UT's .287 hitting percentage was its lowest of the season, the squad still crushed out 40 kills compared to the 26 it allowed Houston. The Big Orange also collected 15 more assists than the Cougars (38-23), eight more digs (44-36) and two more blocks (15-13).

Despite a slow start in the initial set, the Lady Vols took advantage of 16 Houston errors and were able to find their rhythm on offense late to cruise to a 25-13 victory. Robinson led the UT attack with three kills, but the key to the frame was the fact that Houston was held to a -.067 hitting percentage with just five kills and seven attack errors on 30 attempts.

With the score tied at 5-5, Tennessee used three unforced errors, a kill by Robinson and a sharp block by senior Leah Hinkey and Cikra to race out to a five-point advantage at 10-5. After trading the next three scores with UH, the Orange and White put the frame out of reach with a seven-point run that featured an absolute blast out of the back row by Robinson, a kill by Hinkey, three more Houston miscues and a putback by junior Kayla Jeter and Hinkey.

While the offense struggled to get going again in the second set, the Big Orange defense took control of the match as it tallied eight blocks to lead UT to a 25-17 triumph and a two-set lead heading into the break. Three of those putbacks came from sophomore DeeDee Harrison while Fowler led the offensive attack with three kills.

After quickly falling behind 5-1, the Lady Vols started to step up their effort and immediately tied the score with four consecutive points, including a pair of blocks by Harrison and Cikra and kills from both Fowler and Harrison.

Houston kept fighting though and regained the lead at 10-9, but that would be the last time it would threaten in the second set. On the very next play, Fowler split a pair of defenders with a blast from the back row to tie the score. A kill by Jeter, three straight Cougar errors and an ace by Robinson put UT up for good at 15-10. Houston wouldn't get closer than four the rest of the way before Robinson pushed a kill to the back-left corner of the court to end the frame.

The Tennessee offense finally got going in the third and final set, hitting .444 with 19 kills and just three errors on 36 attack attempts. Even with the additional offense, it was the most hotly contested stanza of the evening with 15 tie scores and three lead changes before a late rally gave the Orange and White a 25-22 victory.

Houston actually led for most of the frame, going up by as much as three scores at the 20-17 mark. At that point though, the Lady Vols really started to find their groove, smashing out kills on eight of the next 10 plays to finish things off. Cikra jumpstarted the squad with a pair of putaways from the outside, sandwiched around a cross-court shot by Fowler from the right side to tie the score at 20-all.

Although a serving error would give the lead back to the Cougars, Cikra sent the set right back to a deadlock with a laser down the left side of the court. Once again, however, a UT serve found the net and Houston looked poised to take control of the frame. That was not meant to be though as Harrison crushed a set from senior Emily Steinbeck straight down off the Cougar block.

Robinson then followed with a kill that landed wide off the right-side block before Harrison added another putaway to give the Lady Vols two chances at match point. UH Head Coach Molly Alvey would call a timeout, but it only served to delay the inevitable as Robinson finished off the match and UT's tournament sweep with her ninth kill of the night.

The Big Orange will hit the hardwood again next weekend when it travels to Athens, Ohio, to compete in a two-day tournament hosted by Ohio University. Tennessee will open the competition against Northwestern and Ohio at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, on Friday, Sept. 10, before taking on Pittsburgh the following day at noon in its final tune-up before the beginning of Southeastern Conference action.