After marching to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and losing to the eventual champion Kentucky Wildcats, the Lady Vols drew a tough opening matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Utah State.
Despite mounting a late-game comeback, the Lady Vols lost the first-round matchup 3-2 (19-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-18, 11-15) against Utah State.
Starr Williams led the team in the kills category with 15 over five sets, followed by Sydney Jones with 12. Caroline Kerr tallied 43 assists as well.
The game kicked off back and forth between Utah State and Tennessee before the Aggies went on an early 7-2 run that pushed them ahead 10-5 early.
The defense presence at the net for the Lady Vols was nowhere close to where they needed to be. In a game of runs, the Lady Vols still responded in the latter half of the first set with a 6-0 run of their own.
The run gave the Lady Vols back the lead, 14-12, before the Aggies continued to press on with another 4-0 run of their own.
With the game tied at 19 in the opening round, it was really any team’s game to claim. The Aggies were sparked by a Loryn Helgesen kill, which began a 6-0 run, ending the first round with a 25-19 Aggies win.
Despite dropping the first point, the Lady Vols have been a team capable of coming back from almost any deficit. Yet a 14-3 Utah State start in set two put to bed any shot at them bouncing back just yet.
The Lady Vols used a 7-2 response to put the game back within reach, but a rough start gave the Aggies every ability to allow runs. Four set two errors, with two of them coming in the final two plays, were the punctuation on the second set for Tennessee.
A 25-15 Utah State set win gave them the quick 2-0 lead, with just one more needed to advance past the first round.
The offense on the night was not on par with what it usually had been for the Lady Vols. Hayden Kubik, the usual suspect for offensive firepower, was held to just seven kills through the first two and a half sets.
Despite the inconsistent play, set three fell in favor of the Lady Vols with a 25-20 win, clinched from a Utah State attack error.
With their first set win of the night, the Lady Vols at least avoided being swept from the tournament.
Set four saw the Lady Vols hold onto their lead the entire way through, winning 25-18 and notching the game back up at two sets even.
From trailing by two to tied, the Lady Vols once again showed their will to battle back, even at the biggest stages.
In the fifth and final set, the Lady Vols lost the footing they had spent the last two sets building up. The Aggies took an 8-4 lead after an attack error from Kubik and needed just a few more points to clinch the victory.
The Lady Vols brought it back within one, trailing just 12-11 after being down by as much as four. The Aggies responded with their biggest run of the night, winning the next three points to claim the final set, 15-11.
The Lady Vols’ season comes to an end with the loss, finishing fourth in the conference and 19th in the country.
