Inconsistency and inexperience has plagued the Tennessee Lady Volunteer volleyball team continuously this season– until Tuesday night, of course, when the Lady Vols went on the road and defeated Evansville, 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21).
“I was very happy with our overall performance,” head coach Rob Patrick said. “We played a lot of players in this match, and they did a good job of playing through a loud and energetic environment. We made some unforced errors, but I really liked the way we fought back tonight. We kept grinding and grinding and didn’t give up, and it showed.”
The Lady Vols will strive to continue their winning ways this weekend as they head to South Carolina to play in the Coastal Carolina Tournament. Tennessee will face off against Kennesaw State (4-3), Loyola Maryland (1-6) and the host, Coastal Carolina (4-2).
Patrick praised all three teams for their organization.
“They have some really experienced coaches,” Patrick said. “When you play teams that are going to be organized, you really have to be able to play the game. It’s actually easier to play a more physical team that isn’t organized than it is to play a less physical team that’s very organized.
“That’s why I like these matches. That’s why I scheduled them because I knew we’re going to be young and part of my thinking is that we’re going to have to be very organized when we play these teams.”
Addressing early season struggles, Patrick blamed unforced errors on fatigue and lack of experience.
“The effort was there,” Patrick said. “That’s what I was happy about. It’s not like it’s lack of effort or lack of execution. When you’re tired, you just break down; your techniques break down a bit more. I was really surprised some of the breakdowns we had. Part of it was just being tired. The other part is when you put stress on freshmen that are playing for the first time that’s what happens. It’s just an experience thing.”
The Tuesday win, the team’s first true road victory this season, ended a four-game losing streak and gave the Lady Vols a 3-4 record on the season.
Sophomore Jamie Lea led the team with 14 kills, while junior Lexi Dempsey helped the team with a season-high 42 assists.
“I liked the way we won tonight,” Patrick said. “We went into an opponent’s gym that had unbelievable support, and we just grinded. Those are my kinds of teams. We’re starting to get an identity that we’re just going to grind you and come up with the ball.”
Freshman Iesha Bryant hopes the team will learn from its early season struggles.
“I think this is something that we definitely need,” Bryant said. “We don’t want to take this season and turn it into last season because last season it wasn’t too good, and we just want to make something positive out of this. We just need a quick turn around.”
The Lady Vols will kick off their play in the Coastal Carolina Tournament at 9 a.m. against Kennesaw State. The second game of their Friday doubleheader is against Loyola Maryland at 5 p.m., and Patrick’s squad will finish off the tournament against Coastal Carolina at 1 p.m. Saturday.
