No. 10 Tennessee gets one more shot at home to straighten things out, and Mississippi State is the team standing across the net Friday night in Knoxville.
The Lady Vols enter the first of two matches to close out the home schedule at 16-5 overall and 7-4 in SEC play, looking to halt a two-match slide after a difficult trip to Texas A&M and Missouri. Tennessee has been especially strong at home, going 9-1 at the Food City Center, with seven of those nine wins coming in sweeps.
Mississippi State arrives with momentum of its own. The Bulldogs are 17-5 and also 7-4 in the SEC, and they’ve won four straight over Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. All four are common opponents, and Tennessee has beaten three of them, with Alabama still on deck Sunday.
This matchup will be the 72nd all-time meeting between the programs. Last season in Starkville, Tennessee came away with a four-set win.
The Lady Vols will lean on one of the nation’s most explosive offenses to try to break through a Mississippi State defense that has been tough to crack. Tennessee leads the country with 14.45 kills per set and ranks 10th nationally with a .282 hitting percentage.
That kind of production has become a Tennessee trademark under Eve Rackham Watt. In eight seasons, the Lady Vols have finished in the top 20 nationally in kills per set or hitting percentage five times. Last year’s team was even better in both categories, ranking 10th in hitting percentage at .292 and 11th in kills per set at 14.27.
Kennedi Rogers has powered the attack in her first season on Rocky Top. The sophomore outside hitter has 288 kills, and her 4.30 kills per set lead the team and sit sixth in the SEC.
Tennessee also gets major production in the middle from Chelsea Sutton and Jalyn Stout, who both rank among the conference’s top 10 in hitting percentage. Sutton is sixth at .376, while Stout is 10th at .333.
Running the show is Caroline Kerr, one of the best setters in the sport. Kerr became the fourth Lady Vol in program history to reach 4,000 assists, and this season she has 787 assists while ranking ninth in Division I with 10.78 assists per set.
Mississippi State, though, brings a defense built to extend rallies. The Bulldogs lead the SEC with 15.36 digs per set, and McKenna Yates has piled up 339 digs, the second-most in the league. That’s the kind of back-row pressure Tennessee will have to solve if it wants to get back on track.
In Other News...
Tennessee Just Got A Huge Edge In A Massive Kentucky Showdown
Saturday night at Neyland Stadium already had the feel of a measuring-stick game, and now Tennessee enters it with a clean bill of health on the current roster. The 13th-ranked Volunteers will host No. 6 Kentucky at 6:15 p.m. ET in an SEC rivalry matchup that carries real weight for both teams, with each still eyeing the playoff picture and knowing a win would do plenty for the rsum.
For Tennessee, the absence of any new injury changes matters as much as the ranking gap. The Vols are still dealing with six season-ending injuries, but otherwise look ready for a game that could reshape the league conversation, while Kentucky got a small boost of its own with defensive back Isaiah McMillian moving to probable after previously being listed as questionable. In a matchup this big, the margins are thin, and availability could end up being part of the story before the first snap even arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Faces A Costly Problem At The Worst Time Against Kentucky
Penalty issues have been a recurring problem for Tennessee all season, and they come into this matchup with Kentucky needing a cleaner performance than the one that has too often followed them around. The Volunteers have been flagged 61 times and have given away too many yards in the process, a costly habit for a team trying to stay sharp in a rivalry game where every mistake can swing momentum.
Kentucky brings a different kind of challenge, one that shows up in the details. The Wildcats have been much better at avoiding self-inflicted damage and have built a strong turnover margin, while Josh Heupel has already pointed to the importance of Tennessee playing a disciplined game. Against an opponent that protects the football and limits mistakes, the margin for error is thin, and the Volunteers cannot afford another sloppy afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Kim Caldwell Sees One Clear Issue Despite Tennessees 2-0 Start
Tennessee opened the season 2-0 and handled Coppin State 98-60, but Kim Caldwell still found room for a sharp critique in the aftermath. In her postgame interviews on MEAC Network TV and Vol Network radio, the Lady Vols coach pointed to the teams defensive adjustments, the play of younger pieces, and the early contributions from Kennedy Fauntleroy and Gabby Minus as reasons for optimism, even with the lopsided win in hand.
The bigger concern, Caldwell said, was the kind of issue that can linger long after a comfortable result: ball sharing, defense and shot selection. With a young roster still settling in, Tennessee has already shown it can overwhelm an opponent, but the next step is making those stretches more complete and more consistent, especially once the competition tightens and the margin for error shrinks. [Read more 🡒]