Nov. 6, 2009

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee volleyball team (18-6, 11-3 Southeastern Conference) wasted little time sweeping Mississippi State (6-20, 2-13) in front of 805 Lady Volunteer faithful Friday evening, dominating virtually every aspect of the game and trailing for a total of just two points in a 25-13, 25-14, 25-19, victory at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.

"We've been playing a lot of tight matches lately, so it was nice to have one with a little breathing room," UT Head Coach Rob Patrick said. "I thought we controlled the ball pretty well which allowed us to score some real points in transition and our serving took them out of their offense a little bit. We also did a nice job setting up our block and making some adjustments during the match to stop what Mississippi State was trying to do to get kills."

For the eighth consecutive contest, junior Nikki Fowler registered a double-double with match-high totals of 10 kills and 16 digs. The Dallas, Texas, product hit at a .364 clip with just two errors in 22 swings as she moved into 13th all-time on UT's all-time career kills chart, increasing her career total to 1,109 to surpass Sarah Blum's mark of 1,101 which she set from 2003-06.

Junior Leah Hinkey also tallied 10 putaways in the contest, doing so on .600 hitting as she had only a single error in 15 attacks. Fellow middle blocker senior Farren Powe added a match-best seven blocks, as well as six kills and three digs. Pacing the attack were sophomore Kelsey Mahoney and freshman Natalie Guerra with assist totals of 21 and 19, respectively. With her effort, Mahoney moved into 10th on the Tennessee career assists list with 1,202 in her two years at Rocky Top.

"We always want to get our middles involved in our offense and we hadn't been too effective with that in the last couple of matches so we wanted to establish them early," Patrick said. "We were able to pass the ball and dig the ball in transition well enough to get it to Farren and Leah in positions where they could get some kills. They also did a nice job of hitting the ball past the block and putting it in spots on the court that weren't being defended."

Also moving up a Lady Vol career chart was senior Kylie Marshall, who had nine digs in the win over the Bulldogs to move two scoops past Julie Knytych's dig total of 1,265 for fifth all-time in Tennessee history. The Puyallup, Wash., native also hit a season-best .455 (6-1-11) and had four blocks and an assist. Fellow classmate Chloe Goldman, meanwhile, tallied a careerh-high tying three aces and freshman Leslie Cikra hit at a personal-best .400 clip with seven kills and just a single error in 15 swings.

As a team, Tennessee recorded its second-best offensive output of the season, hitting at a .374 clip, while holding Mississippi State to a miniscule .065 attack average. The Lady Vols doubled-up the Bulldogs in the kill category with 48 to their 24, and forced over half of MSU's attack errors, as 10 of their 18 miscues were due to a Big Orange block.

It was all Orange and White from the get-go, as it cruised to a 25-13 victory in the initial frame, holding Mississippi State to a -.034 hitting percentage and just five kills, while smashing out 15 of its own on .294 hitting. Hinkey led the way with five kills on six swings to give her a remarkable .833 attack average in the set.

After allowing the Bulldogs to score the first two points of the match, Tennessee rattled off six straight scores to take a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the evening. Hinkey got things started with a pair of kills, sandwiched around two MSU attack errors. The Glenwood Springs, Colo., product then served her first aced of the season before Powe finished off the spree with a blast to the back-left corner of the court.

Although Mississippi State would cut its deficit to just one at 8-7, that would be as close as it would get, as the Orange and White went on an 8-0 tear to take full control of the frame. Following another kill by Powe, Goldman tallied back-to-back aces to prompt State Head Coach Jenny Hazelwood to burn her first timeout of the match. The tactic did little to steady her team, however, as UT got consecutive putaways by Hinkey, a kill by Jeter, another ace from Goldman and a block by Marshall and Hinkey to go ahead 16-7.

With the scoreboard reading 21-13 in its favor just moments later, Tennessee closed out the set by scoring the final four points. Freshman Leslie Cikra got in on the action with a kill from the outside which was followed by a Bulldog attack error. Jeter and Marshall then gave their team the early advantage with consecutive hammers.

The second set was more of the same for the Big Orange, as it continued to keep the Mississippi State offense in check in a nearly identical, 25-14, triumph. UT held State to a .000 hitting percentage, while blasting away to the tune of a .406 average on its end of the court. While the Bulldogs had as many errors as kills (eight), the Lady Vols registered 15 putaways with just two miscues.

This time it was Tennessee that claimed the initial two points, getting a blast by Cikra down the left-side line and a kill from Hinkey. The Orange and White proceeded to slowly inch its way out to a 10-8 lead before striking the knockout blow with a 5-0 run, sparked by back-to-back smashes by Fowler.

The Bulldogs refused to go away that easily though, scoring three of the next four points before UT really put things out of reach with seven consecutive scores. Cikra and Jeter opened the spree with kills before Hazelwood tried to stop the momentum with a timeout. Once again, the short break did little to slow down the Big Orange, which finished off the run with a pair of blocks by Jeter and Powe, an MSU ball-handling error and kills from both Powe and Jeter. Just seconds later, redshirt freshman DeeDee Harrison sent Tennessee to the locker room with a 2-0 lead after taking a set from Guerra and slamming it home.

Fowler simply took over in the third and final frame, notching seven kills on nine swings, an ace, four digs and a block to lead the Orange and White to a 25-19 win. Although the Bulldog offense started to find its rhythm a little bit, Tennessee continued to roll with 18 kills and just four errors on 33 attacks for a .424 hitting percentage.

Although UT held the lead the entire frame, it was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads all the way to the finish. A 5-1 run put the Big Orange up 12-7 nearly halfway through the set. The two teams traded the next five scores before a State attack error and two Marshall kills ran the tally on the scoreboard to 17-10 in favor of Tennessee.

The Bulldogs came racing back within three, however, riding the right arm of Caitlin Rance during a four-point skein. Consecutive blasts by Marshall and Hinkey kept the attackers at bay though. Following another Rance kill, Fowler tallied consecutive putaways to move the score to 21-15 and force Hazelwood to call her final timeout of the match.

This time, the tactic netted her squad a pair of points on a Kellye Jordan kill and Ioana Demian ace, but it was not enough as Mahoney smartly dumped the ball to the middle of the court for a kill and Fowler and Powe joined up to block a Jordan kill on the next two plays. The squads then traded the final four points to account for the final score of the set.

The Lady Vols will next be in action Sunday afternoon when Alabama makes the trip to Knoxville for a 1:30 p.m. showdown. Following that contest, Tennessee will close out the road portion of its schedule with contests at Auburn and Georgia. The Orange and White will first take on the Tigers at 4 p.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 13 in Auburn, Ala., before making the trek to Athens, Ga., for a 2 p.m. showdown against the Bulldogs on Sunday, Nov. 15.

"Alabama is going to be a really tough match," Patrick said. "Anytime you have a team that can get kills on the pins like they do, that's going to be a hard team to play against. Even when they are out of system or there are two blocks up, they can still get kills, so we are going to have to be very disciplined and take advantage of any opportunities we have when we do get a dig on one of their outside hitters. They've been playing some really good volleyball lately and it sets up to be a very entertaining match on Sunday."