Tennessee volleyball kept rolling with another sweep, this time over Rider on Thursday night at Food City Center. Coming off weekend sweeps of St. John’s and Delaware State, the freshly ranked No. 24 Lady Vols (8-1) stayed hot, taking another match in dominant fashion.
The dominant effort that helped the Lady Vols get back into the top 25 continued as the team rolled through the match. Tennessee allowed only one true scoring run for the Broncos coming in the second set, to which the Lady Vols responded with a 7-2 run of their own to take the set.
Tennessee has won 10 consecutive sets dating back to the win against Georgia Tech, with the offensive production spread throughout the lineup. Yet for all the offensive success from behind the line and at the net, it was the defense on display Thursday night.
The Lady Vols continue to bring pressure at the net, with the physicality of this year’s squad being a point of emphasis all season long for head coach Eve Rackham Watt. Chelsea Sutton led the defensive effort, notching seven blocks and one assist with one dig on the night, as Tennessee limited the Broncos to no more than 18 points in a set Thursday night.
“Chelsea has a knack for blocking,” Rackham Watt said. “She loves to block. What I love about Chelsea is her aggressiveness, that’s her favorite part of the game, so when she’s out there, she thinks and wants to block everything, so that’s really helpful for the defense.”
The Lady Vols suffocated the Broncos all night long, forcing Rider’s top hitters in Brynn Johnson and Rylah Robinson into negative hitting percentages of -.133% and -.263% respectively.
Communication has been another emphasis this season for Tennessee as the team winds down its nonconference play. With just one more match on Friday night to tune up before Georgia comes to town, Rackham Watt likes where the team is at.
“I think we’ve gotten better every single week, we’ve played a number of different lineups, a number of different players, we’ve utilized our depth and I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves which is always the goal in the nonconference,” Rackham Watt said.
Offensively, Tennessee strung together scoring runs of 8-1 twice, 7-2, and 10-1 in the sweep, with Hayden Kubik and Mackenzie Plante at the center of the Lady Vols’ offense. The pair used their physicality to create openings for Tennessee, up front as well as from behind the line.
It was another strong night for Kubik all around, collecting 10 kills on 23 attacks and three aces from behind the line while notching seven digs defensively for the evening.
“Hayden is one of the best volleyball players I’ve ever coached,” Rackham Watt said. “She can do any skill at an elite level, and I think we saw some of that tonight, some of the digs she made, some of the plays she made, she’s a tremendous server, and she’s got great range as an attacker.”
Sutton also played a role in the Lady Vols’ offensive attack, notching five kills on eight attacks for the night.
Plante and Gulce Guctekin also chipped in for Tennessee in the win, with Plante recording seven kills on 19 attacks and an ace on the night. Guctekin was a force to be reckoned with defensively, collecting eight digs, an assist and two aces as well.
Guctekin also recorded her 1,000th career dig Thursday night, a testament to the notion that volleyball players come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. The 5-foot-5 senior will continue to play a crucial role in the Lady Vols’ defense this season as a setter.
“I feel like we have to be really good as a unit, so it starts with serving,” Guctekin said. “We have to serve tougher and put the other side in pressure so we can have a solid block in deep.”
Tennessee will take on Kennesaw State on Friday at 6:30 pm as its final tune-up of nonconference play before the Georgia Bulldogs come to Thompson-Boling Arena to kick off the SEC slate for the Lady Vols.
