The Lady Vols’ five-game win streak came to a close on Sunday after a tough-fought loss to Wofford at the end of the four-game road trip.
The team returned to Food City Center, this time welcoming in Western Michigan for the first of two matchups to take place over Thursday and Friday.
By the end, the Lady Vols found themselves victorious over Western Michigan in a battle that included a program record from one of Tennessee’s own.
Here are three takeaways from the Lady Vols’ return home against Western Michigan.
Wofford struggles carry into first set
The Lady Vols kicked off the game with a big scoring run in favor of Tennessee 8-2, forcing a Western Michigan timeout.
The first set carried on with the Lady Vols and Western Michigan trading blows, all while the Lady Vols maintained a lead of 15-10, but the wheels wouldn’t stay on much longer.
Quickly, Western Michigan pounced on any given chance, pushing the lead to just two in favor of Tennessee, before tying the game up two frames later.
“They pass the ball very, very well, and they have a great setter,” Tennessee head coach Eve Rackham Watt said. “She gives them a lot of options, very much like us — when you have a great setter, you have offensive rhythm pretty much all the time.”
An important stat to note is the Lady Vols’ early success in set one compared to later in the frame. The team started their night on a roll, hitting a perfect 1.000 through the first eight points, but by the 21-19 score mark in favor of Western Michigan, the Lady Vols’ hitting percentage had gone down to .115
Ultimately, the Lady Vols dropped a crucial first set by a close finish of 26-24 in favor of Western Michigan. The Lady Vols found themselves back in front at a point, 22-21, before losing hold on the lead.
Nina Cajic leads the attack
The Lady Vols have yet to find consistency in the attacking end, but a constant force to be reckoned with has been Towson University transfer Nina Cajic.
On Sept. 1 against No. 6 Louisville, Cajic tallied her 1,000 career kill, a big feat for any volleyball player, but the transfer student didn’t take her foot off the gas in any way during Thursday’s contest.
Against Western Michigan, Cajic led not only the team, but the entire match in the category of kills, attacks and total points scored on the night.
“I told her I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed something live as good as what I just watched, it was pretty impressive,” Rackham Watt said. “She started feeling it for sure.”
The record broke Stephanie Ehler’s record of 41 kills against Washington State on Sept. 24, 1988.
By the end of the match, Cajic finished with 42 kills. In addition to her kills, Cajic had 76 total attacks along with 44.5 total points scored for the Lady Vols en route to their win over Western Michigan.
Cajic and Kerr finish the job
Despite Western Michigan’s constant battling, the Lady Vols persisted through a tough fourth-set victory, and the finishing touches were added by two of the team’s leaders.
The final difference maker once again was the duo of Cajic and Kerr who delivered the final attack to give the Lady Vols the win off of a nice set from Kerr.
“I’m just so thankful for (Caroline Kerr), our setter,” Cajic said. “She kept feeding me the ball, and she knew I was ready. I kept telling her every time before the play ‘CK I’m ready, just set me the ball.’’’
The two were clicking all night — Kerr finished the night with a game-leading 57 assists.
“I think it’s a mutual trust thing, confidence in each other,” Cajic said. “So she kept feeding me, and I was taking big swings, just thinking of the team.”
Tennessee will return to the court Friday for the second match of a doubleheader against the Broncos.
