The Lady Vols didn’t have their usual scoring touch on Friday night.
Tennessee fell in a grueling and contested matchup with Georgia, 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 26-24, 23-25, 13-15). The Lady Vols (13-10, 6-7 SEC) couldn’t overcome a number of struggles in order to earn the season sweep of the Bulldogs (10-12, 4-8).
Nina Cajic and Hayden Kubik both recorded double-doubles in the loss. Paityn Chapman reached a season-high with 17 kills.
The Lady Vols got the set one victory, 25-21.
Chapman delivered an impressive seven kills on .545 hitting, one of the best single-set performances from the freshman.
“I thought she swung to score,” head coach Eve Rackham Watt said. “I thought she moved the ball around well when she didn’t have the set she liked.”
Tennessee sure needed Chapman’s contributions considering the team hitting percentage fell to a poor .167 for the frame. Neither team was able to buy much breathing room on the scoreboard due to a heavily defensive set. The Lady Vols were able to muster a late 3-0 run to grab the important set victory.
The Bulldogs tallied five team blocks while Kubik showed her versatility with seven digs.
Georgia fought its way to the win in set two, 25-20.
The Bulldogs controlled the pace throughout the set, fueled mainly by the dynamic play of Erykah Lovett. The first-year Georgia outside hitter shined in her first match back in Knoxville since transferring from Tennessee last season.
“They put the pressure on us very well,” Kubik said. “We’ve just got to remember what this feels like.”
The Lady Vols made an attempt at a comeback with a 3-0 run while Georgia was threatening with the set point. The rally proved to be too little, too late for Tennessee.
Lovett found herself in double-double territory by the end of the frame, lighting up the scoreboard with 10 kills and digs, adding three blocks to further add to the return to her former school.
Tennessee won set three, 26-24.
In one of their more gritty sets of the season, the Lady Vols trailed by as much as 4 points but were able to fight back to overcome the deficit. Tennessee was able to overcome what is usually a self-plaguing five service errors on the way to the win.
Kubik enjoyed a dominating, six-kill frame that helped drive her team towards the statement win and match advantage. The junior’s high-level play during the second half of the season has been a big reason for much of Tennessee’s successes.
The Bulldogs stayed alive with a 25-23 set four victory.
This time, Tennessee wasn’t so lucky and fell into the back-and-forth affair while committing seven service errors. Emily Beeker broke out for five kills in a strong offensive set for the middle blocker, but the Lady Vols couldn’t capitalize.
Nina Cajic swung her way into double-digits for the kill column after a slow start to the match.
Set five wasn’t to be for Tennessee, a 15-13 loss.
Much like the other sets of this nearly three-hour match, it came down to a matter of a few points to decide a crucial conference bout. The Lady Vols were able to cut things to 1 point as Georgia threatened for victory, but once again failed to break through.
“We didn’t get the offense we needed from anybody,” Rackham Watt said.
Tennessee will have a week off before facing Arkansas on Nov. 22.
