Game Recap: Volleyball | October 06, 2024
STARKVILLE, Miss. – For the fourth time this season, Tennessee earned a sweep, topping Mississippi State (25-14, 25-16, 25-19) on the road on Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Vols (9-5, 2-2 SEC) had the hot hand offensively, finishing with 43 kills on .351 hitting to go along with 41 assists and eight aces. With an average of 14.3 kills per set, the Big Orange attack was spearheaded by the trio of Nina Cajic, Paityn Chapman and Hayden Kubik. Cajic had 10 kills, seven digs and an ace, while Chapman posted 10 kills on .625 hitting.
Kubik narrowly missed the double-double, as she recorded 10 digs and nine kills. With an average of 13 assists per set, redshirt sophomore setter Caroline Kerr had a strong outing, tallying 39 assists, seven digs, three aces, three blocks and two kills.
On the defensive side, Tennessee held the Bulldogs (7-5, 1-2 SEC) to just 33 kills on .184 hitting thanks to 44 digs and six blocks. Mississippi State entered the weekend ranked sixth nationally in kills per set at 14.29 but were held well short Sunday afternoon by the Lady Vol defense.
The first set was dictated at the net thanks to five blocks, while the back row defense enjoyed one of its best outings of the season. Five different Lady Vols recorded at least five digs on the day. Redshirt freshman Eryn Jones had eight digs, while sophomore libero Katie Barrier tallied six. Barrier earned the first start of her career in the match, holding one of the two libero spots.
The Big Orange came out on fire in the contest, using a 10-1 run to open the match and gain the early momentum. UT found success in all areas, posting 11 kills on .500 hitting and two aces, while the defense had five blocks, eight digs and held the Bulldogs to .103 hitting. The offense was spread out with five Lady Vols posting two kills each.
Tennessee kept it rolling in the second stanza, as Cajic heated up with five kills in the frame. As a team, UT 16 kills on .484 hitting to go along with three aces and a block to keep scoring in its favor. The third was more competitive but the Big Orange pulled away in the end to complete the sweep. Despite having eight attacking errors, the Lady Vol back row held strong 21 digs in the final frame to keep State from scoring.
Up next, Tennessee concludes its four-match road streak with at Missouri next Sunday. First serve for that contest will be at 3 p.m. ET and can be streamed on SEC Network+.
